How do I get rid of cutworms, and there offspring?
by
Clair M
+5
They hav been coming back for 3 yrs now and are in my ornamental flower pots on my deck. Mostly petunias. They hav nearly ruined my deck garden!
7 answers
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Do you reuse the soil in you flower pots, Clair? Your best defenses are cultural, that is to regularly check your your flower pots, especially during late afternoon and evening when cutworms are more active, so you can detect their activity when they are first present. Also inspect your plants in the morning when damage is fresh and easier to see. Cutworms should curl up into a tight "C" when you touch them. If you must rely on an insecticide, choose one containing carbyl, cyfluthrin or permethrin as the active ingredient.
Douglas Hunt
on May 26, 2012
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You sound like you know what you are talking about, Mr. Hunt. My boss had 3 tomato plants that got cut by a cutworm that he never saw, and the other day it cut a cantaloupe vine. My boss is frustrated. He looked on the internet and put part of an empty toilet paper roll around the base of the 3rd tomato plant, but even that didn't work. He did buy an insecticide, but the cutworm got the cantaloupe vine after that! I will check and see if the product he bought has the ingredients you suggest, but is there anything else he can do?
Jill Klein
on Jul 14, 2013
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Tell your boss to try an aluminum collar instead of the toilet paper roll, making sure it goes into the soil by a couple of inches as well as above. (And I don't know where you are, but cutworms are usually an issue much earlier in the season, so is your boss sure this is what the problem is?)
Douglas Hunt
on Jul 14, 2013
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Well, he looked up what it could have been, and it definitely looks cut. We are in the desert part of Southern CA, and we hadn't had this problem before. It actually happened on a cantaloupe plant, too. Thank you for the information, Douglas!!
Jill Klein
on Jul 29, 2013
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For Garden cutworm collars I take an cut up cottage cheese containers and put them around each plant and it serves as a water reserve too. Just cut out the bottom and put it over the plant.
Bonnie Foster
on Jun 18, 2015
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Add brokened eggshells, epsom salts, and coffee grounds around your soil. Helps the soil, plants, and the worms should not like the salts and broken sharp eggshells.
Audrey Brow Stapleford
on Jun 28, 2015
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sprinkle baby powder for cut worms and snails too
Lisa Gage
on Mar 13, 2016
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