This worked great for the broccoli and cabbage seedlings since they were small enough to fit down inside the paper tube. I cut them in half and put them around my smallest seedlings when transplanting them out. ![]() Instead we collected toilet paper rolls for a few weeks. You can buy plant collars, but look at the price of these things! We’re too frugal for that option. Plant collars. Since cutworms wrap around the plant stem to cut it off, plant collars can be really helpful. If you have chickens, figure out a way to let them into the garden to eat the cutworms without them eating your seedlings!ģ. The killdeer, sparrows, starlings and robins flocked to the garden and feasted for days. By tilling the soil, it turned over the grass clods where the cutworms were hiding out. This first year we decided to till the soil. Our garden is about 7000 square feet and a former horse pasture. We just happened to be putting in our new garden when we discovered the cutworms. Expose the cutworms and let the birds feast. Our honey bee hives are right next to our vegetable garden so I didn’t want to chance it.Ģ. Unfortunately for us we did not try this method since we read that it will also kill bees if it gets on them. Diatomaceous Earth kills soft bodied insects ( you can find it here). ![]() ![]() This was the most recommended natural remedy to get rid of cutworms. We will never use a toxic pesticide in our gardens so it was important to find natural, organic methods to get rid of cutworms in our garden. I did a lot of research and asked about cutworms in several homesteading and gardening forums I’m in. Once I started finding the moth pupae instead of the worms, I was pretty excited since I knew our danger zone was passing! ![]() I guess that’s a good thing, but they’re still a pain to deal with!īy early summer, a cutworm should be moving into the next life phase of a pupae (cocoon). Hence the name! When disturbed, the cutworms curl up in to a “C” shape.Ī cutworm’s lifecycle is short so these buggers won’t be an issue all season. The most common type of cutworm climbs up the stem of a young plant, wraps around it and cuts it down as it feeds on it. I took a few pictures to make identification easier and started researching.Ī cutworm is the larvae of a species of moth that is most often found in the top inch or two of soil. Once I lost count of how many cutworms I was finding in the dirt, I realized these little buggers could be problematic and needed to identify them. The first time I found a cutworm in our new garden space, I actually threw it aside and kept raking the beds.
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