CUTWORMS

[cjp1953]

For the first time in over 20 years of having a garden I have lost 2 tomato plants and my only Hot Cayenne pepper plant I raised from a seed.My 8 sweet pepper plants have holes all over their leaves.Is there a safe way to make a spray to apply to my 30 plants that will help stop them?We have had over 2 inches of rain the last 2 weeks.It has rained almost everyday including this morning.Looks like more rain later next week.

[b54red]

When you are getting hammered by chewing insects and want to stop them fast the best thing to use is Sevin. There will be a waiting period indicated on the label for most vegetables. It is not the safest thing to use but is probably the most effective thing you can use that is recommended for vegetables. Spray in the evening if possible near or after sundown. By morning most of those pests that are consuming your garden will be dead. Of course if most of them have laid eggs you may have to repeat the process once more. I usually have to spray one or two different crops at one time or another with Sevin because the chewing pests and caterpillars become too many and too destructive. This type of thing frequently occurs during long rainy stretches when it is much harder to keep them under control with strictly organic methods. It is a good idea to keep BT on most plants through spring and early summer when chewing insects are at their worst but sometimes you need a more powerful and quicker solution. It sounds like you are at that stage.

Cutworms chew the base of a plant right at the soil level or just below or above it. They can be controlled by sticking two toothpicks right beside the plant when you set it out. Just push the toothpicks about an inch into the ground and make sure they are right up next to the stem. I have been doing this for many years and haven't lost a plant to a cutworm since I started doing it.

Bill

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by b54red

When you are getting hammered by chewing insects and want to stop them fast the best thing to use is Sevin. There will be a waiting period indicated on the label for most vegetables. It is not the safest thing to use but is probably the most effective thing you can use that is recommended for vegetables. Spray in the evening if possible near or after sundown. By morning most of those pests that are consuming your garden will be dead. Of course if most of them have laid eggs you may have to repeat the process once more. I usually have to spray one or two different crops at one time or another with Sevin because the chewing pests and caterpillars become too many and too destructive. This type of thing frequently occurs during long rainy stretches when it is much harder to keep them under control with strictly organic methods. It is a good idea to keep BT on most plants through spring and early summer when chewing insects are at their worst but sometimes you need a more powerful and quicker solution. It sounds like you are at that stage.

Cutworms chew the base of a plant right at the soil level or just below or above it. They can be controlled by sticking two toothpicks right beside the plant when you set it out. Just push the toothpicks about an inch into the ground and make sure they are right up next to the stem. I have been doing this for many years and haven't lost a plant to a cutworm since I started doing it.

Bill

Do you use the spray or dust?And forgive me for this dumb question but what is BT?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by b54red

When you are getting hammered by chewing insects and want to stop them fast the best thing to use is Sevin. There will be a waiting period indicated on the label for most vegetables. It is not the safest thing to use but is probably the most effective thing you can use that is recommended for vegetables. Spray in the evening if possible near or after sundown. By morning most of those pests that are consuming your garden will be dead. Of course if most of them have laid eggs you may have to repeat the process once more. I usually have to spray one or two different crops at one time or another with Sevin because the chewing pests and caterpillars become too many and too destructive. This type of thing frequently occurs during long rainy stretches when it is much harder to keep them under control with strictly organic methods. It is a good idea to keep BT on most plants through spring and early summer when chewing insects are at their worst but sometimes you need a more powerful and quicker solution. It sounds like you are at that stage.

Cutworms chew the base of a plant right at the soil level or just below or above it. They can be controlled by sticking two toothpicks right beside the plant when you set it out. Just push the toothpicks about an inch into the ground and make sure they are right up next to the stem. I have been doing this for many years and haven't lost a plant to a cutworm since I started doing it.

Bill

I agree with you completely Bill,but I did it a bit differently and here's why.

I would put some dead Golden Rod stems right up next to the stem, and that b/c most folks don't know that those most common cutworms, the whitish/gray ones,HAVE to encircle the whole stem before they can start gnawing.

It gave me great pleasure to see them just drop off and go home.

Some used long nails, which isn't a good idea and some would put collars around the stems but that never works since the cut worms can come right up inside those collars.

There's more than one species of cut worms and one of them can actually climb the stem and gnaw higher up.

Carolyn

[cjp1953]

I just bought some Sevin but reading the instructions and warnings I don't know if I want to use it.Is Goldenrod in bloom now?I could get some growing in any field and try that first.I don't want to use anything that is not organic if I can help it.Don't want to harm any bees.Thank you Carolyn for responding before I used it.Thank you b54red for your answer and advice.I'm going to hang on to it,but if I don't use it I'll return it to Home Depot where I bought.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by cjp1953

I just bought some Sevin but reading the instructions and warnings I don't know if I want to use it.Is Goldenrod in bloom now?I could get some growing in any field and try that first.I don't want to use anything that is not organic if I can help it.Don't want to harm any bees.Thank you Carolyn for responding before I used it.Thank you b54red for your answer and advice.I'm going to hang on to it,but if I don't use it I'll return it to Home Depot where I bought.

Sevin is not going to help.

No,Golden Rod only blooms in the Fall I used dead twigs from the previous Fall,but there are lots of other options as well that you can use to increase the size of the stem.

How about wooden tongue depressors,they would wrok I'm pretty sure, again small twigs from anything that got blown down in the wineter.

And I forgot to say that cut worms will only attack plants that have spindly stems already,plants that have thick stems are not attacked.

How do the cut worms know that? All of them graduated from cut worm school.

Carolyn

[cjp1953]

I just need to put something along the stem of the plants to make it difficult for the cutworm to wrap itself around the plant if I understand this correctly.

[b54red]

That is right. I use the toothpicks because they are just so easy and they do work. I have only had a couple of incidences of those climbing cutworms and that was nearly 20 years ago so I don't worry about them so much.

I was suggesting the Sevin because you were seemed to indicate more than cutworms working on your plants. I agree Sevin won't do it for cutworms.

Bill

[cjp1953]

Thanks Bill,you have been most helpful.

[Worth1]

Outdoor lights draw the moth that lays the eggs the cutworms hatch from.
I use toothpicks or sticks too when needed.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

I break wooden shish-k-bob skewers in half and use them the same way as toothpicks. I started using the skewers because I had a lot of them just sitting around. They are also taller than toothpicks.

[cjp1953]

Well I found out what's putting holes in my pepper and cucumber plants,slugs.I found one on my cucumber plant this morning.It fell off when I tried to remove it.I put coffee grounds around both plants this morning.I'm going to Home Depot to return the Sevin I bought and pick up some Diatomaceous Earth and dust my pepper and cucumber plants.

[Worth1]

You would be better off for everything if you got the Bug Geta snail and slug bait from Ortho.

Worth

[brownrexx]

Organic gardeners use iron phosphate slug bait. Check the labels because they are not all iron phosphate based.

[Worth1]

Bug Geta is sulfur based and doesn't wipe out other critters like spiders like DE does.