Cutworms are every gardener’s nightmare as they can devastate perfectly healthy crops in as little as a few hours. These nocturnal creatures are actually the larvae of certain species of moth, and they chew their way through stalks and stems of plants as they feed. There are few things that can be done to reduce infestations and protect your crops, and many of them don’t involve the use of pesticides. Let’s look at a few solutions to keep in mind if and when you encounter a problem with cutworms.
Search and Destroy
The most immediate and preventive steps that you can take involve getting out into the garden at night and looking for signs of an emerging infestation. You will see plants that have either been completely cut at the stems just above the ground or plants that are damaged and wilted. The cutworms themselves will either be crawling on the plants or burrowed just beneath the soil near them. They can come in many different colors and sizes, so it’s better to err on the side of caution and catch what you can. Using a flashlight will help to illuminate the area as you conduct the search, but they may burrow into the soil to hide.
Unfortunately, this initial step is time-consuming and labor-intensive, depending on the size of your garden. However, identifying, seeking and picking the cutworms manually will go a long way to nip the problem in the bud. Put the caught cutworms into a bucket filled with dish detergent and water, and the worms will drown. Dispose of them in a secure location away from the garden.
Treatments
Once you’ve made an initial pass through the garden to remove the ones that you see, then you can go after the ones that are still hiding. One of the easiest things to do is to sprinkle some diatomaceous earth around the plants as the worms, and other insects, will get cut by the material and either dehydrate or become mortally wounded. Another option is to sprinkle a bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a popular and relatively-harmless natural pesticide that is found in most lawn and garden shops. You can also grind up some eggshells and sprinkle the powder around the plants as well. For some reason, cutworms do not respond well from exposure to cornmeal, and sprinkling a generous coating atop leaves and stems when you see cutworms can also prove to be fatal.
Keep in mind that if you decide to use pesticides or products that are designed to kill moths, you may also end up killing off harmless caterpillars. Try to use them as sparingly as possible, and do a little bit of research into how to safely apply pesticides that will specifically kill cutworms.
Plant Protection
Another simple solution is to create and install collars around the main stems of plants in order to prevent the cutworms from being able to climb the stalks. You also want to bury the collars so they will provide a couple of inches of protection below the soil as well. You don’t need large collars, perhaps ones that rise just a few inches above the ground, to create a barrier that cutworms will most-likely not be able to penetrate.
Other practical steps include tilling the soil and keeping the garden as debris-free as possible after harvest and before planting in the spring. You can also border your garden with some perennial flowers that will die off in the fall as opposed to grasses and shrubs that make for ideal breeding and egg-laying grounds for cutworms.
These are just a few of many options that are available to keep cutworm problems to a minimum, and they can be very effective if you are actively managing the garden. Try to focus on preventive steps and manually scouring the garden for signs of this voracious pest in order to eliminate this threat before it becomes a major problem.
