straintester
Member
So its not organic but will pretty much disintingrate in full sunlight with no residue or harmful effects?
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Controlling the damn Caterpillars this year
- Thread starter Sideways
- Start date
straintester
Member
K
kannubis
Thanks for the tip nomaad. 
I forgot about these guys. used them last year...i beleieve the are called trichogramma wasps or somethijng.... they actually lay their own eggs inside the caterpillar eggs... when their eggs hatch, the baby wasps eat the cat larva. elegant death.
NorCalMeds
Member
safer caterpillar and dipel df are able to sprayed while budding is going on? this not cause damage to the bud
Yesca73
Member
thaks for all the great info. will pik up some safers cat killer . is it ok to use on flowering plants? I have some that are 5 weeks into flowering and some others trhat are still in veg. best time to spray ? late evening? been pretty hot lately upper 90's &100's.
also throw some plants out in march they finished 1st week of may. they were also attacked by these catipillers . so they must be around all the time
also throw some plants out in march they finished 1st week of may. they were also attacked by these catipillers . so they must be around all the time
microgram
Member
You can get BT, aka BTK in a variety of places including some home depots. Nursery is of course your best bet. the BT 'family' is a great biological bacteria that kills tons of pests 
. Caterpillars are the worst. You can stick up a fence to get rid of the deer, you can plant in pots/totes/trashcans to get rid of rodents, but you can't do a damn thing about caterpillars.
The only 'organic' way is to wrap the stock with tree-wrap and tanglefoot? Pymetherin or pyretherin will work good, it's a safe toxin, same with most horticultural pest sprays, but if you don't get rid of em before flowering, you're definitely going to hurt your end product.
Tanglefoot - leevalley
You don't need the tape, just the 'treewrap' and the tanglefoot. It'll stop them from climbing up stalks, but it wont prevent them from dropping out from the trees.
. Caterpillars are the worst. You can stick up a fence to get rid of the deer, you can plant in pots/totes/trashcans to get rid of rodents, but you can't do a damn thing about caterpillars. The only 'organic' way is to wrap the stock with tree-wrap and tanglefoot? Pymetherin or pyretherin will work good, it's a safe toxin, same with most horticultural pest sprays, but if you don't get rid of em before flowering, you're definitely going to hurt your end product.
Tanglefoot - leevalley
You don't need the tape, just the 'treewrap' and the tanglefoot. It'll stop them from climbing up stalks, but it wont prevent them from dropping out from the trees.
straintester
Member
Great info guys and thank you kindly sirYou can get BT, aka BTK in a variety of places including some home depots. Nursery is of course your best bet. the BT 'family' is a great biological bacteria that kills tons of pests
The only 'organic' way is to wrap the stock with tree-wrap and tanglefoot? Pymetherin or pyretherin will work good, it's a safe toxin, same with most horticultural pest sprays, but if you don't get rid of em before flowering, you're definitely going to hurt your end product.
Tanglefoot - leevalley
You don't need the tape, just the 'treewrap' and the tanglefoot. It'll stop them from climbing up stalks, but it wont prevent them from dropping out from the trees.
This is most helpful
BT is not always "aka BTK"... the specific strain of Bacillus Thurigensis you are looking for to control caterpillars is Kurstaki. Other BT strains, most commonly israelensis, are found in other products and are more effective against fly family pests like mosquitos and fungus gnats.
feenom
Member
u foilared ur plants all the way till the end of september???
diamondmine
Member
Ok here's the thing about preventative spraying of BT. Say you start spraying as your plant start flowering, the BT won't just stay there until harvest you have to keep reapplying it. But what's the point of spraying BT if you haven't seen any cats yet, seems to me your just drenching the plant with unnecessary chemicals however organic BT may be. So doesn't it make since to just wait until you see a leaf rolled up with cat inside or buds eaten and then spray?
On another note I think it would be much more effective to prevent the moths from laying eggs than killing the cat because the cat has to actually eat(destroy) the plant before it dies. Seems to me your gonna have damage no matter what because I don't think the cat will die before it has a nicely filled stomach. After all that's how they die right, from the BT destroying the cats stomach. There has to be some kind of chemical that can be sprayed "around" the plants and not on them that will prevent moths from coming near the patch. Fly strips maybe??
On another note I think it would be much more effective to prevent the moths from laying eggs than killing the cat because the cat has to actually eat(destroy) the plant before it dies. Seems to me your gonna have damage no matter what because I don't think the cat will die before it has a nicely filled stomach. After all that's how they die right, from the BT destroying the cats stomach. There has to be some kind of chemical that can be sprayed "around" the plants and not on them that will prevent moths from coming near the patch. Fly strips maybe??
Sideways
Active member
Diamond- Seems difficult to prevent the moths unless you covered the plants totally. I have thought about trying mosquito its netting and covering the plants, but given the size and spacing of the plants its not really feasible.
I have not heard of any fly strips or chemicals that would be effective and safe. Others have talked about setting up bird houses and frogs, bats might also work.
I have not heard of any fly strips or chemicals that would be effective and safe. Others have talked about setting up bird houses and frogs, bats might also work.
Last year, it was right about now that I started noticing clusters of eggs on leaves and the occaisional webby, rolled up leave with a cat inside. I started using the Safer at that point. This year the moths are 10x worse than last year. The plants are too big to search deeply for eggs.
I agree that BT prophylaxis is not the best solution, but i didn't get caterpillars last year, so I'm sticking with it.
Maybe I will employ the wasps universally and stop spraying one plant with BT as a control and see if I gain any good intel this year.
