Cutworms, don't you hate them. Plants are here one day and gone the next! Their life cycle is shown above. Folks....there is no good moth in the garden, no good cocoon. Often times people have a difficult time deciding what the menace is in the garden. We do have a lot of issues to choose from:
- Diseases
- Disorders
- Plant injury
- Insect damage
- Animal damage
- Gardener error
Today's topic......the dreaded cutworm. This year may be bad for gardeners due to the warm winter. Many of the cutworm that winter over here survived, verses a really cold winter when many may have froze out. Also, the warm spring will contribute to the adult cutworm moths that come in on the southerly winds. Not all of our foes spend the winters here.
Above is the cutworm damage, very obvious. If you find a plant cut off and laying there, likely cutworms. If the plant is completely gone, likely rabbits. If you suspect a cutworm, gently dig in the soil around the most freshly killed plant if you have more than one to choose from. The cutworms are night feeders and are just below the soil surface during the day. Often when just digging around you will find them......stab & jab! Some cutworms actually defoliate large plants too. You can always go out at night with a flashlight to find these guys. Don't worry about looking silly! How to avoid this happening;
- Place a tiny twig directly next to the plant stem of a pepper/tomato etc. when planting.
- you can use nails also or foil, but a twig can just get tilled in
- late fall tilling, like November, will help expose cocoons to the surface to freeze
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