Budworms

We’ve had an interesting first growing and wildcrafting season on the homestead. Even though we had record breaking temperatures that sustained for the month of July and encountered more pests than ever before, we managed to double the size of our gardens and established several new varieties of medicinal herbs.

The most devastating pest we encountered were bud worms on my calendula plants.   Calendula blossoms are my most widely used ingredient for medicinal salves, lip balms and herbal oils and they typically flourish with an abundance of blossoms all summer. I began watching the plants closely as they began to bud in late spring but began to get suspicious after buds were prevalent for about a week without opening.  At closer inspection, I noticed a tiny hole at the base of the bud, just above the stem.  Then I realized that every single flower bud had been eaten from the inside out!  All of my calendula flower buds were totally hollow!

I went through and picked out all the worms, cut back the plants and started researching.  Budworms, also known as tobacco budworms will overwinter in the soil unless it is a particularly harsh winter.  This last winter was very cold and we had a blizzard which dumped nearly two feet of snow that lasted for several weeks. Even though it was a cold winter, the snow insulated the ground, likely making it possible for the budworms to survive.  Unfortunately, handpicking was not enough unless I dedicated an hour a day to the task.  This wasn’t feasible with a full time job.  A friend told me about Bt, an organic instecticide powder that the worms eat and then die.  The only problem I could find with it was that it does not discriminate between different types of worms or caterpillars, so butterfly larvae would not survive either.  As I watched my calendula plants whither, and therefore my ability to make the majority of my herbal products, I decided to try it.  It actually worked great and I’ve been able to get what I hope is just enough calendula blossoms to make several batches of infused oil.