pepper plants cut off at stem

[nachoqtpie]

Cutworms have priority feeding. If you kill, pull whatever they prefer, they will go on down the list. Sometimes, weeds are a good thing when it comes to insects.

Best way to kill them is use a 20 ga loaded w/buckshot and blow them up. Don't have a shot gun? Use your bazooka or heat seaking missiles.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not going to criticize you for using pesticides. I don't like to use them, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I can find the cutworm maybe 75% of the time in the top two inches of soil, usually within three or four inches of the plant. I use newspaper under sraw or old wood chips for mulch and have found them hiding under the newspaper or in the mulch, especially if the ground is wet. They are a dark greyish green with a smooth skin, probably less than an inch long.

And sometimes I cannot find that thing at all, though I know it has to be there.

 

[journey11]

I can find the cutworm maybe 75% of the time in the top two inches of soil, usually within three or four inches of the plant. I use newspaper under sraw or old wood chips for mulch and have found them hiding under the newspaper or in the mulch, especially if the ground is wet. They are a dark greyish green with a smooth skin, probably less than an inch long.

And sometimes I cannot find that thing at all, though I know it has to be there.

Cutworms give me fits. I can definitely sympathize with the shotgun method.

But what Ridgerunner does is how I handle them too. I usually plant too much stuff and it would take me a lot of collars, but I go poking around in the soil around the ones that had just been cut and usually find the worm and take really way too much pleasure in *squishing* 'em. Then I check the plants closest to the other casualties just to be sure. I never find very many of them, but this seems to do the trick.

Funny story, I thought the cutworms were hitting my new tomato plants this year, but I didn't find any in the soil, so I dusted them good with sevin dust just to be sure. Came back later and found out it was baby groundhogs. They continued eating them, sevin dust and all. They ate 80% of what I planted. Now those puppies DO require a shotgun!! The war still rages on....

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Baby groundhogs? How darling sounding! I'll have to look up a pic.

May I mail you some gophers? I hates them suckers.....They've eaten 4 of my tomatoes so far...

 

[journey11]

LOL, yeah they're all cute until they eat your peas.

Gophers and voles are 2 things I haven't had to deal with.

 

[4grandbabies]

I remember the year that I washed canning jars,got everything ready, then went to the garden to get the cabbage -only to find that all of it had the hearts eaten out!.
We found a ground hog hole near by.. apparently momma was out training her babies how to harvest! I was one day too late. Lost a whole row.

 

[digitS']

I'm going to suggest an organic choice but keep in mind that I've never used it for anything. This year, that will change. I will buy a bottle to protect the eggplants from Colorado potato beetles. However, both U of I and Cornell say that Spinosad is effective against cutworms.

http://suffolk-lamp.cit.cornell.edu/assets/Horticulture-Leaflets/Cutworms.pdf

Sluggo makes a bait with Spinosad. You have to check the label to be sure that it isn't the one just for slugs and snails.

There is also something called Seduce (Certis) that is a bait for cutworms and earwigs made with Spinosad.

Spinosad is supposed to be useful against some beetles and very effective against caterpillars. Since I will have the spray, if I think cutworms are killing plants, maybe spraying the soil around the plant stem will put a stop to them.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Speaking of pests...I have been randomly finding plants torn out of their pots inside my greenhouse... it's certainly open in a few areas, so it could be anything... but what we have the most of is squirrels. Do you think they would pull whole plants out of pots? I haven't seen too much actually EATEN yet though...I've been able to just collect the plant and pot and put them back together.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

I've been hunting groundhog(s?) around here for as long as I've owned the house. It's getting to be Caddy Shack-esque comical. I haven't been able to hit a darned one whether it's with a .22 or a .410. They're just too fast and wiley here. They run when they see me grab my gun INSIDE the house. Really.

So then I put out traps and caught:
1. Skunk
2. Housecat
3. Bobcat (not making this up)
4. Skunk
5. Skunk
6. Gave up.

The groundhog(s) continue to eat my garden and miss my lead poisoning. Last year my last squash of the season I had been watching it and saw it in the morning and figured I'd come home and fry it up, it was perfect. I get home to it eaten all down the length, but only half of it. None was salvageable since he and/or she ate it down the length.

 

[vfem]

Cutworms have priority feeding. If you kill, pull whatever they prefer, they will go on down the list. Sometimes, weeds are a good thing when it comes to insects.

Best way to kill them is use a 20 ga loaded w/buckshot and blow them up. Don't have a shot gun? Use your bazooka or heat seaking missiles.