Orange burrowing larvae

[alaeddin]

I went and looked at my plants closely for the first time in a long time because I can hardly stay with my plants for a long time, and I found that the some new shoots were black and dead. I thought it was some kind of fungus due to the rainy weather, and decided to pinch these infected parts off. I took some off until i realized that the stem was hollow below the shoot. So I rip the stem open, to find an orange larva feedins inside the stem. It doesnt seem to affect the plant in any other way than to kill of the new shoots, and it looks as though its only feeding on the pith, how can I get rid of these and what are they? I already killed a few that I could find but I just don't want to loose my plants so close to harvest... I would post a picture if it didnt rain so much...

 

[PazVerdeRadical]

fucking damaging bugs are so damn annoying... good luck getting rid of those shit heads--- peace man

 

[alaeddin]

(I had to chop a few tops, unfortunately, they would have yielded like crazy. I then made some butter from the immature flowers. Then I liked the cup which still had some of the mixture. I was pretty suprised, I didn't think it would have got me this high...) just wanted to add this anectode...Thanks for the support PazVerdeRadical, I want to get rid of those shit heads very badly.

 

[sproutco]

This sort of pest could be termed a borer. I didn't know mj was a host to any borers. Learn something new everyday. Borers are a pest to vegetable crops. The european corn borer, for example, attacks pepper plants. The more serious infestations are caused by the second generation of worms in July and August. The adult moth lays eggs on the leaves. The eggs hatch and the young borers burrow into and feed inside the pepper. The peppers decay inside and become unfit to eat.

I found this:

http://mojo.calyx.net/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/iha03201.html

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.

 

[alaeddin]

Yeah thats it, thanks very much, now I only have to find a way to get rid of the borers.

 

[alaeddin]

I have found my bug.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lilacash_a.jpg

Podosesia syringae, this is actually a moth, it is a wasp mimmicker, and that is why for all these years I've feared the creature. It comes at this year every year, they come in dozens and they are loud. They attack a pear tree and a week later there are no pears left on the tree, they are very strong and are hard to kill even with pest sprays that are sprayed straight onto them, I have tried it.

They have come for five years now, but this year they chose the cannabis to lye eggs on. This was the first time I planted and they didn't waste any time. Now that I know they don't sting and are not related to bees which I quite like actually, I will be very harsh on them. They came a few weeks ago, so now the nex generation is growing. I read that 5 of them can kill off a mature plant. I have killed off three that I could find. Also, they have a long way to go before they reach the stems so I hope I will still get some yield.

Anyone else ever got them? They are pretty big when mature, 3cm I'd say at least.

 

[sproutco]

According to the link I provided, there are other borers like this one:

Hemp borers (HBs) are smaller than ECBs . HBs cause similar stem damage and are much more destructive in flowering tops. HBs are also called hemp leaf rollers and hemp seed eaters. In Russia, HBs have destroyed 80% of a crop's flowering tops (Kryachko et al. 1965). Bes (1974) reports 41% seed losses in unprotected Yugoslavian hemp. Each larva consumes an average of 16 Cannabis seeds (Smith and Haney 1973). HBs appear host-specific on Cannabis (Mushtaque et al. 1973), so they have attracted attention as potential biocontrol agents against marijuana. Baloch et al. (1974) determined that 40 larvae will kill a Cannabis seedling (15-25 cm tall) in 10 days. As little as 10 larvae per plant cripple growth and seed production.

 

[Guest]

You can use a piece of guitar string to fish the grub out...it works very well.

Hope this helps,
Seed

 

[alaeddin]

Gee thanks, thats a good one, I'll get a fresh electrix guitar string and do it. I wonder which thickness...