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Cutworms

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ChinaVoodoo

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I dug up a never used patch of ground today beside my driveway in the back alley to fit the last five of my two hundred tobacco plants. There was Manitoba maple (grrr!), raspberry, old piled sod, concrete, carpet, vapour barrier, etc there. I noticed two worms in the ground that I dug up that I had never seen before. I was researching horn worms and saw a photo of a cutworm. Those are the little **********s I saw today, I think. What should I do other than worry?
 

ProfessorPangloss

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Thuricide (or any bacillus thuricide v. Kurtsaki - also know as BTk) can be effective against cutworms if you make a bait out of it. It's not generally considered effective by itself against cutworms, but apparently you get better luck by getting them to ingest more. You use moistened bran and molasses (plus BTk) to make the bait and scatter it on the ground near your stuff. I hope that works for you.

Here's one one you can probably buy at Home Despot. http://www.amazon.com/Bonide-Chemical-Bacillus-Thuricide-8-Ounce/dp/B009ONSQ6O

you may also make cutworm collars as a temporary prophylactic for the plants you think are susceptible. It's free *shrug*. http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-worms.html

lastly (this is probably the best idea), jitterbugdude swears by diatomaceous earth. It's really cool. It's made of jagged little particles that shred the worms like miniature tank traps. It's organic (but don't inhale it or it'll shred you). Make sure to buy the kind for gardening and not the pool kind which is much less expensive.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Thank you Professor. I already have BTK for cabbage moths. I will try making a bait, like you say. The collar option seems easy enough. The combination may be enough.
 

wrapper

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You may have already removed them.

Bob

I remove them manually, but then I am probably evil. Safely concealed during the day under the cool moist soil, they emerge at night to saw off your precious plants at ground level: a regular sort of wriggling chain saw, they are. So with a torch (flash light?) you can spot them after dark and rudely interrupt their meal. The evil bit? I keep them till morning and feed them to the birds: gone in 60 seconds....

With seedlings in trays that are under attack from cut worms you can see recently disturbed soil in some of the cells. This is where they have made their safe house for the daylight hours, just like a vampire.... Ha! Dig 'em out and feed to the birds.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Let us revisit this topic with some photos. Cut worms can be devastating. They chew the bark off of the tobacco seedlings, sometimes chew through the stems, and sometimes just chew the bottom leaves. I have killed about ten of them this year, and they have killed three plants. If confronted with a damaged plant, scrape away about a half inch depth of soil in a perimeter around the plant, and you might find them.
IMG_20180605_125350129_HDR~2.jpg

IMG_20180605_125344547_HDR~2.jpg

IMG_20180607_072148347~2.jpg
 

BarG

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I am lazy, If I get worm problems I break out the same stuff I use on my veggies, liquid seven concentrate, 1.5 ounce per gallon and just spray everything. heat and brutal sun killed the plants I have lost with a late planting, the survivers are doing well , maybe a couple lost to armadillos rooting around.
 

deluxestogie

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I was told by the US Army survival school guys in south Texas that armadillo meat is greasy, but much tastier than yucca hearts.

Bob
 

Jitterbugdude

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I sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth (DE) on my plants for about a week when I first plant them. It completely stops cut worms and slugs. The only downside is it has to be reapplied after every rain.. and it rained 20 days of of 30 this past May. DE also stops any sucking/chewing insects that want to make a salad with the leaves.
 

Jack in NB

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I relied on Wilson's Earwig and Cutworm destroyer, a 5% carbaryl product from local garden centers. A 500 g package lasts a long time! i tried different approaches; finally bit the bullet and spent $8 or so . . .

I was losing up to 10%; after the carbaryl that dropped to zero if I got it on immediately. A 3 day gap, however, and the buggers had lunch again!

It's in pelleted form, and I dropped a pellet near each new transplant . The pellet would dissolve with rainfall, and I replaced with fresh pellets up to 3-4 weeks after planting. After that either the plants got tough enough to survive on their own, or the cutworms morphed to the next stage.

(Edited due to accidental caps-lock -- CV)
 
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ChinaVoodoo

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I considered the DE. Are there risks to breathing that stuff in?

Wilson's destroyer sounds alright too. I get centipedes and those little armadillo looking things in my basement. Do you think that would help with those guys too?
 

deluxestogie

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Those little armadillo things are usually called pill bugs on insecticide labels. Diatomaceous earth is essentially composed of razor sharp silica skeletons of diatoms. Breathing the dust causes silicosis.

Bob
 

Charly

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Good luck with your nasty hungry little critters ! :D

Each year I have some damage, but in the end, there is still enough tobacco to play with ;)
 

deluxestogie

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I've discovered that imidacloprid in the transplant water does not kill cutworms...until they bite a plant. So they get one meal. In practical terms, this means that a replacement transplant will not meet the same fate, and digging for the culprit is unnecessary.

Bob
 

Jitterbugdude

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I considered the DE. Are there risks to breathing that stuff in?

Not really. The same risks for any powder that you spread (such as fertilizers). I've been using it for close to 30 years and never once breathed the stuff in. I just walk through the garden with a bucket full of DE. I scoop some out with a plastic cup and sprinkle each plant. Considering that the plants are only a few inches high there's minimal chance of the wind blowing it upwards as you sprinkle it.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Interesting thread...I guess I'm lucky, no cutworms or horn-worms. I get some damage from earwigs, but imidacloprid does a pretty good job of taking care of them. I've lost a couple of seedlings lately. I was going to blame the neighbors' cats until yesterday...when I walked out the door and was confronted by a hen turkey and her dozen or so chicks. You can guess that I figured out who's been scratching my seedlings. This is the first time I've seen a turkey on my side of the river. There are large numbers of the pesky critters on the other side of town. The game dept. has had to come in and clean them out in the past because they are such pests. I have a cure for turkeys also, but I shouldn't mention that on the forum. I think you get my drift...

Also as a by-the-by, diatomaceous earth is the main ingredient in various types of cat litter. DE is used in a lot of things, not just cat litter. Wyoming is the main producer here in the US. DE, being a form of free silica, is probably banned in California.

Aren't cutworms a serious pest in cornfields?

Wes H.
 
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