Bud Rot, White Flies, Thrips and Caterpillars - How to Stop Them!

[00:00] Alright, so it's great to have you back in the garden, Matt. We got some bugs and some mold to look at. So yeah, let's check it out. There's one over here. I've been spraying with BT and I've seen some little ones, but for instance, something like this — you can see a bit of damage up here. I would've cut this sooner, but I knew you guys were coming, so I figured I'd leave them so we can show other people how to spot signs of this.
 

[00:17] Let's crack this open. Oh man, we have some secondary mould. Yeah, if you can find one where one of the leaves — yes, this is a great one. When you look in here, you can kind of see some of these darkened leaves. When you crack this bud open — I guess what that would be is probably Botrytis, or one of the various bud rot pathogens.
 

[00:51] So most of these plants went onto a SCROG, so you get these larger top buds, but that can work against you especially when you have high humidity and you're working on getting better air movement.
 

[01:20] One interesting thing about these bud rot pathogens is that there's a bunch of them. A lot of them have very similar symptoms but you can't really tell the difference in the field. And they can even grow in the plant systemically without any symptoms. Research shows that the chunkier the bud, basically the more likely you were to have bud rot incidents — so there is definitely some correlation with bud structure.
 

[01:40] I've seen some grows out in the desert where they have to add humidity to the air. But here, with these screened walls, I'm just at the mercy of the environment. All I can do is really move air through here. I've been spraying with Regalia — a cannabis-grade fungicide. We did the wettable sulfur earlier in the grow when there were no flowers on the plant.
 

[02:17] I'm gonna take out what I can and then probably take this stuff down sooner than later. We've been having caterpillar damage — BT spray is the most effective organic control for that. The caterpillars actually bore into the bud, cause secondary mould, and that's when you really lose the whole cola.
 

[02:35] Mesh screens keep some of the humidity in because they're kind of like a 50% wall depending on the aperture size. The more screen you have, essentially the more the incoming air gets buffeted and slows down. So airflow management with screens is about finding the balance — enough screening for privacy and support, but enough open area for air to move through freely.
 

[03:30] For white flies — you'll see them as tiny white flies on the underside of leaves. They reproduce incredibly fast in warm conditions. Insecticidal soap or neem oil are effective organic treatments. Sticky yellow traps help monitor and catch adults. Apply early morning when flies are less active.
 

[04:15] Thrips leave a distinctive silver streaking on leaves where they've rasped the surface to feed. They're tiny but visible if you look closely, especially on the underside of leaves. Spinosad-based products and predatory insects like Amblyseius cucumeris are very effective biological controls.
 

[06:00] Caterpillars — most likely tobacco budworms or cabbage loopers — are often found inside buds where they're invisible until you crack open an affected cola. BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) is the gold standard organic control and is safe to use right up to harvest. Spray late in the day as BT degrades in UV light.
 

[08:30] The main takeaway: prevention through airflow, early detection through daily scouting, and don't hesitate to harvest early if bud rot is spreading — salvaging 80% of a crop is far better than losing it all. Stay on top of IPM from the start of the season and these issues become manageable.