THC worms, no, REALLY!

[jamminman]

First off, I am not debating the existence of or any myth associated with them. THC is only mentioned for clarification and identifying ONLY!!!
Little white or cream color worms that turn bright orange, pink, or red.
These little bstrds reek much havoc! They start by boring up the branches to the bud and then spin silk and crap all over leading to other problems like mold and disease. I am pretty sure they are a moth larvae. Hot pepper wax, neem, soap, sprays all fail. How can they be dealt with?
I have already exhausted myself talking to people that "help" by saying "I know people who will pay extra for them so just go with it".

To them, just put some other bug or plastic or something in your bowl to give the same "extra high and headrush" from coughing out your brain!That advice is NOT helpful and will be met with an unkind response.

 

[GOOROO]

Ders red worms all over my trichromes.

Sounds like you got spider mites. And your pistils are changing color.

 

[jamminman]

No, these are just slightly smaller than but look like a maggot.

 

[jamminman]

It's a common Midwest problem.

 

[Weezard]

First off, I am not debating the existence of or any myth associated with them. THC is only mentioned for clarification and identifying ONLY!!!
Little white or cream color worms that turn bright orange, pink, or red.
These little bstrds reek much havoc! They start by boring up the branches to the bud

Actually, hollow stems are common and unrelated to the bud worms.
The moth lays eggs on the plant, and when the worm is ready to pupate, it burrows into the bud to hide from hungry birds.
The mold is caused by their poo.

The moths are nocturnal.
Since they use scent to find your buds, I'm guessing that dryer sheet will repel them.

I used to average 3 ruined buds per bush.
Been using the Kirkland dryer sheets on the soil surface for about a year now and have not had one bud worm.
I realize that that proves nothing, ( I don't have tigers either.)
But, it does not hurt to try.
At the least, you will not miss the fungus gnats and whitefly.
Dryer sheets have eliminated them from my garden.


and then spin silk and crap all over leading to other problems like mold and disease. I am pretty sure they are a moth larvae. Hot pepper wax, neem, soap, sprays all fail. How can they be dealt with?
I have already exhausted myself talking to people that "help" by saying "I know people who will pay extra for them so just go with it".View Image To them, just put some other bug or plastic or something in your bowl to give the same "extra high and headrush" from coughing out your brain!That advice is NOT helpful and will be met with an unkind response.

Can't say as I blame ya on that one.
It's hard to see the humor when your buds are getting hosed.

The only other control is time consuming and tedious.
I took a strong light, a good lens and 2 toothpicks to every damn bud to try and catch the worms before the damage was done.
Success was, um, less than complete.

So, dryer sheets are a good bet.

Aloha,
Wee 'zard

 

[jamminman]

I should also add, this has been a battle for decades. The only thing I haven't tried, but thought about, is putting mothballs around them. Not sure about that, I know it will kill cats though and don't like that idea.

 

[foomar]

Those 2mm long maggots chewing their way up the stems hit my veg box a couple of seasons ago , identified as carott root fly by the RHS so accurate , probably from next doors abandoned veg patch , was suprised to have it on canna but apparently this happens with many species that are assumed to be plant specific , easy kill in this case.

They had eaten 5 nodes up leaving an exit wound , quite distinctive , plants never really recovered from this .

 

[TribalSeeds]

I knew a guy who use to buy $100 1/8. Long story short... One day he found his own hookup. The dude hands me a nug to break up and a live worm was squirming around in it. Needless to say, he continued to pay $100 1/8.

 

[jamminman]

Weezard,thanks man! That sounds like the devil I'm talkin about. If you had lions before but not after, that would be enough for my endorsement. Come to think of it, a lion would sure repel some pests. It also appears that they like the pith (when they can find it) and the seeds (when they can find them), but don't damaged the rest of the plant except for their house keeping habits.

 

[supermanlives]

corn borers?

 

[jamminman]

Supermanlives- I thought so some time back but they look more like a maggot than a caterpillar. Sure it's some kind of borer though. They bore in just above the node, and some times kill off the whole branch but not always. Usually some dieing off right at the tip.

 

[Weezard]

Three suggestions that I've stumbled upon.
Small nylon "footies" filled with mothballs hung in the branches, cedar chips mulch, and BT. (bacillus thurengesis).
Of those, the cedar chips are the most appealing to me.

So, should my dryer sheets ever fail me . . .

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[foomar]

Sounds lie ECB,s to me or the smaller but similar hemp borer

European corn borers (ECBs) attract a lot of scientific attention thanks to their amazing appetite for corn plants. ECBs are native to eastern Europe, where Cannabis sativa and Humulus lupulus (hops) served as original host plants. ECBs switched to maize after Zea mays cultivation began in Europe two centuries ago (Nagy 1976, 1986). About one century ago ECBs moved to North America and plagued American hemp, where they "nourished themselves upon the marrow within stalks" (Dodge 1898). More recently ECBs have infested marijuana crops (Bush Doctor 1987).

ECB feeding induces stem cankers, which are structurally weak. Stems supporting heavily flowering tops often break at cankers. Larvae boring into smaller branches cause wilting of distal plant parts. Under heavy infestations entire plants collapse. Emchuk (1937) states 5-12 larvae can destroy a hemp plant. ECB entry holes in stems are essentially open wounds, providing access for fungi such as Macrophomina phaseolina. Other insects may also crawl in. ECBs hatching late in the season may infest flowering tops instead of stems, where they spin webs and scatter feces.

 

[schwilly]

I've dealt with what I think you're describing in the midwest.

No idea what they are but they look like a clear/white maggot with dark head that eats into buds. To me they look like a giant version of a fungus gnat larva.

only ever saw a few of them because they are hard to spot. also, i sprayed bt thoroughly.

take it from someone that did successful runs in the great black swamp, which is full of everything you don't want around buds -- BT is the only thing that will keep them at bay

 

[jamminman]

Trying to stay super covert so don't want to hang stuff that doesn't look natural. But I think drier sheets and cedar chips may be my last shot before acceptance. I also just came across info on hemp borers which sound like exactly what they are and they are wherever hemp has been grown.

 

[djonkoman]

never had them, but you could try garlic
I've tested it against slugs, and works perfectly, except that it's effectvity is not long enough(garlicslices formed a barrier the slugs couldn't pass but only lasted 1 day)
and while researching garlic I found some research papers describing how garlic/garlicextract/the chemical responsible for the smell kill the larvae of certain mosquito species
and apparently a lot of animals don't like the smell of garlic and are deterred by it

I made a waterextract by slicing some garlic and putting it in water, I think about 3 parts on a 0,5 litre bottle with water, in my case I let it sot for a few weeks and opening the bottle would smell up the entire room within a second, the hallway too

amd if the moths they maybe come from are nocturnal and navigate by smell, spraying such garlicwater in the evening could work
and garlic is dirtcheap, used to buy it at the supermarket(3 bulbs, 80 cents), but today I found it even cheaper at a cheap store we have here in the netherlands(aldi), 500 grams(8 bulbs) for 1,50
immediatly bught it and planted a barrier around a part of my veggiepatch, hope that will help heep slugs away(together with the beertraps I also placed)

 

[jamminman]

Tried BT too but they are inside the branch and unaffected. Not deterred from boring in either.

 

[jamminman]

Ah, garlic. I have been contemplating planting both garlic and clover (housing for predator beetles), but that might raise a flag. Ditch weed is common out in those fields but not garlic.

 

[Weezard]

Turns out, there are half a dozen flavors of stalk borers.
And all kinds of predators, fungi, virii, etc, that are effective in controlling them.

http://books.google.com/books?id=cD...d=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hemp borers&f=false

That's everything you will ever need to know about them.

Thanks for bringing this up.
I just learned a hell of a lot about pests.

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[foomar]

This is consise and relevant read.

http://www.plantwise.org/?dsid=25948
&loadmodule=plantwisedatasheet&page=4270&site=234



These might do the trick for odd plants , most other solutions are more for a field full.

Macrocentrus species

Macrocentrus delicatus heavily parasitized G. delineana in Illinois, USA (Smith and Haney, 1973). A related braconid, Macrocentrus ancylivora has been mass-reared for field use against fruitworms, leafrollers and stem borers. The parasitoid is native to New Jersey, and has become established in an area ranging from Massachusetts to Georgia, west to the Mississippi river. In orchards, Cydia molesta is controlled by releasing three to six M. ancylivorous females per tree (Mahr, 1998).