Re: [gardeners] cutworms
Bill Loke (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 8 Mar 1999 12:39:40 -0500
I have found that the au'tomato'rs exclude cutworms so my tomatoes and
peppers are safe. With brassicas, I check every day for cutworm activity.
They are usually just under the soil and a few inches from the cut plant. SO
if I find a cutworm I make it cutworms! Since I have been doing this on a
regular basis, damage has been less and less. We have also saved our coffee
grounds and sprinkled them around the vulnerable plants. This also deters
them. Tilling just one more time seems to help as well.
Friends are the flowers in the Garden of LIfe
Bill Loke USDA 4b
RR#1 Kars Ont K0A 2E0
-----Original Message-----
From: margaret lauterbach <mlaute@micron.net>
To: Gardens@lsv.uky.edu <Gardens@lsv.uky.edu>
Cc: gardeners@globalgarden.com <gardeners@globalgarden.com>;
mgarden@listproc.wsu.edu <mgarden@listproc.wsu.edu>
Date: Monday, March 08, 1999 11:09 AM
Subject: [gardeners] cutworms
>Okay, let's go back to garden fundamentals. How do you foil cutworms?
>Many people put a nail or a toothpick adjacent to the stem of a seedling,
>and claim that deters cutworms. I've always wondered about this because it
>would require the cutworm circling the seedling to see if there was
>something that would prevent his chewing all the way through the stem. I
>talked to Dr. Bob Stoltz, Extension entomologist in Twin Falls, Idaho, last
>week about this, and he said to the best of his knowledge, that was not
>indicative of cutworm behavior. He thought people who deterred cutworms
>with the use of toothpicks or nails had just been lucky.
>
>You can't use toilet paper rolls because a)you'd risk trapping the cutworm
>inside the roll, and b)they deteriorate quickly anyway. Paper cups would
>trap cutworms inside, too.
>
>I have split sections of drinking straw and fastened those around seedling
>stems, but it's difficult to do that without injuring the seedling. So I'm
>interested in what the rest of you gardeners do about cutworms. Margaret L
>