Caterpillars eating my hops

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laneg004

laneg004

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I have maybe 50 or 60 of these little black caterpillars on my Zeus hops.

hops.jpg

http://www.lanegillespie.com/hops.jpg

I'm in Maine. Can anyone identify them? Should I spray w/ neem oil or just leave them alone?

Thank you!
 
I think these are Eastern Comma butterfly larva also known as the Hop Merchant. Can anyone suggest what to spray with?

Neem Oil? BT? Sevin? Something else?
 
I have a friend who is a doctoral organic horticulturalist and I was told to use BTK (Bacillus Thuringiensis, subspec. Kurstaki). I just sprayed yesterday and I await the results. She told me it will "rip their guts out". =)

I didn't use Sevin because it's not organic, it would have killed all insects, including any beneficial ones like lady bugs. And because since I won't be washing the hops, the Sevin could end up in the beer they'll be used to make.

The BTK seemed like the best choice since its only going to kill the harmful caterpillars I'm targeting and because it is harmless to humans (and dogs).

I got the BTK concentrate at homedepot for around $6. It is an 8oz container which is enough to mix up around 5 gallons of spray.
 
I just found these same little jerks on my Willamette hops this morning. I sprayed with Shultz's three-way Garden Safe. How did your eradication go Laneg?

The battle begins!
 
SPRAY THE CRAP OUT OF THEM!!! I lost about 10 palm-sized leaves last year in 8 hours. SPRAY, SPRAY SPRAY!!!

This was full of huge leaves when I left for work. Picture taken later that day ~5p.
DSC_6982.jpg
 
Luckily I wasn't working yesterday and spent the day spraying when I caught them in the morning. By evening I had only lost two leaves with a bunch of holes in about eight or ten others AND none of these little creepies. I'll check again today, but the battle to save my willamettes may be going my way!
 
Victory is mine!!

The key was catching these pests early and taking action right away.

In addition to spraying with the Shultz insecticidal mix, later in the day I sprayed underneath the leaves with the hose to knock off any remaining munchers. I know the spray is organic, but I hate to use anything really. Next year I'll buy some lady beetle larvae early on.

While it was heartbreaking to see these pests at first, once I realized last night that I had them under control; it was a little fun finding them, learning how to take care of them, and getting rid of them.
 
Ladybugs are not going to control a caterpillar problem. The only solution is sprays, or parasitiod wasps (Trichogramms ssp. and others). Caterpillars really, really suck.
 
I had some similar earlier in the season....one dose with Bondie Garden Dust from the sprayer and they were falling off.

Funny thing is the set of 4 bines they ate all the leaves off were the first to flower by about two weeks.
 
I recommend the "Bio Smash". These critters, being black, are easy to see against the green leaves. Get on a ladder, go hunting and squish the little buggers with your thumb and forefinger.

I did it with my hops when they were being eaten by caterpillars and it worked.
It's therapeutic and you won't be spraying nasty chemicals with unknown long term health effects on your plants and property.
 
I went out to water the hops today while my strike water was heating up only to find my best cascade vine covered in these little bastards.

Gotta wait for the brew day to finish to pick up something to kill em off.

They only seem to be hitting the cascade. The goldings are pretty much untouched.
 
laneg004 said:
I have a friend who is a doctoral organic horticulturalist and I was told to use BTK (Bacillus Thuringiensis, subspec. Kurstaki). I just sprayed yesterday and I await the results. She told me it will "rip their guts out". =)

I didn't use Sevin because it's not organic, it would have killed all insects, including any beneficial ones like lady bugs. And because since I won't be washing the hops, the Sevin could end up in the beer they'll be used to make.

The BTK seemed like the best choice since its only going to kill the harmful caterpillars I'm targeting and because it is harmless to humans (and dogs).

I got the BTK concentrate at homedepot for around $6. It is an 8oz container which is enough to mix up around 5 gallons of spray.
Click to expand...

This,there are many types of BT one is called safer. It is a bacteria that causes the caterpillars to no longer be able to process their food and they die.
 
CanadianQuaffer said:
I recommend the "Bio Smash". These critters, being black, are easy to see against the green leaves. Get on a ladder, go hunting and squish the little buggers with your thumb and forefinger.

I did it with my hops when they were being eaten by caterpillars and it worked.
It's therapeutic and you won't be spraying nasty chemicals with unknown long term health effects on your plants and property.
Click to expand...

Yup just kill them by hand the best organic way... I killed over 150 one night...slugs..catopillers.larve oh my..bot I hav sprinkled seven dust around the base of all of them now...
 

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