If it's a lepitoptera, it doesn't matter which one. Use BT.

Steve

Got out my Peterson Caterpillar guide, and judging by the picture, what you have is a variegated cutworm. It fooled me for a minute, because it looks like braided brown rope (line to the sailors amongst us).

But definitely BT the sucker.

Kill it!

What is BT? Is that a chemical spray? There haven't been a lot of these caterpillars. I have picked off and squished three of them so far. I didn't see any more than that. I am going out each night with a flashlight to look for them, since night time seems to be feeding time for these guys.
Other than the holes and missing edges on some of the leaves, my hostas seem to still be doing fine. I'll keep looking for the worms though.

I'm probably mispelling it, but it's Bacillus thuringiensis. It's safe for an organic garden. It's caterpillar specific. The powder form I've bought is called dipel. It won't wash off blue hosta. So, if you use it you're stuck with it for the year. It's easy, though. You can also get it in a liquid that you use on a hose end sprayer. They did not have it at the big box stores. I had to go to a nursery.

bkay

I absolutely despise cutworms and caterpillars because of the huge damage they can do in such a short time. Usually it's easy to tell their work apart from slugs, and when I see it, I can usually catch the thing in the act. Got one today looking at some shredded leaves.