Re: [gardeners] cutworms
William McKay (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 08 Mar 1999 11:11:46 PST
I make collars. I cut something (old file folders, old newspaper, etc
about 14 inches long and 2 inches wide. (One year I even used some old
black felt roofing paper; worked great except it did not breakdown)
Scoop out some soil around the plant to make a circle maybe 5 or six
inches in diameter. Put the collar in the hole, lapping it slightly,
and put the soil back around. End result is a collar down about 1 inch
in the soil with a bit sticking up. Seems to work fine. Only problem
is what if you trap a cutworm inside the collar. It chops off the
plant, but at least he can not move to the next one. I always keep a
few extra plants to take care of these guys.
Bill McKay in E. Mass (where the soil under the snow has thawed out,
mostly)
>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
>
>
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