Budworms in harvested buds!

[slayer1]

I have been drying my small outdoor guerilla crop and noticed what I thought was budrot. After checking it out I find tiny worms white to orange in color at the damaged areas. I started pulling the chunkiest buds apart and have been finding them crawling around in even the healthiest looking buds. What can I do? Wondering if they will leave the buds as they dry. I don't want to smoke a bunch of dead worms along with my nugs.

 

[Scott817]

I dont know what they are but maybe you can try that water cure method and see if you can just rinse them out maybe?

 

[Muddy]

They are fairly common in outdoor crops round here. Last year I had a problem with them but so far this year only 1 or 2. Since you're already drying you don't want to treat your buds with anything as it would leave a residue that would be worse to smoke than the odd caterpillar. Try to find as many as you can and pick them off by hand. Once your crop starts to dry they will loose their food source and either move on or die. Remove any damaged areas and then do a water cure as Scott suggested. Then use it to make oil or hash.

 

[JM]

well depending how much they are through it... you could trim and hang and I'd expect as they dry theyd stop.... might be best to cut as many out as possible and definetly dont let them near your indoor op if you have one.

can we see some pics? I've never heard / seen this before.

 

[mattinuk3]

if you get a hair dryer and hit the buds, those worms will GTFO as fast as they can. All it takes is a second and they'll drop right out, so no worry about quick drying them or vaping them. They realize that something's not right and rappel down on little silk strings.

 

[JM]

sworry for the double post there muddy... good to know... any idea what they are or are called?

 

[mattinuk3]

i'm not too sure... they appear to be a corn borer or something. i think a type of moth larvae

 

[JM]

i think i know the little f@kers ur talkin about.

 

[slayer1]

thanks, I guess I will just see what happens after another day of drying. I hate digging through the buds so much but they are really in the middle. They also burrow into the stems in places! The pieces that are bad I think I will add to my trimmings and try making hash.

 

[mattinuk3]

no, hit them with a hair dryer! all it takes is hitting each bud for 2-3 seconds and all the worms will jump off the buds. don't let them eat (and shit) on your buds any longer than you need to!