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You might have noticed holes in butter lettuce and other plants this year. Looks like there are a lot of black cutworms.
These cutworms are different than the white ones with the black head that live underground and cut plants off at soil level. These cutworms act more like cabbage caterpillars but are not fussy as to vegetable. Most are on my butter lettuce but not other lettuces. Bt (Bacillus Thuringienis) is best for caterpilars. I have Dipel Dust but there are many brands. Another problem bug is Four Lined bugs. I read about these in the Strib and was like 'that is what is making holes in my basil and other seedlings' right in my greenhouse! I never knew of either of these bugs before this year. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by soilent_green 4b MN (My Page) on Fri, Jun 15, 12 at 23:51
| I have never had problems like I have had this year. I had infestations of several kinds of caterpillars in my starter plants - I have never had this issue occur in the past. Dusting took care of the problems but I did sustain losses, and it has been a struggle and has required constant vigilance. I suspect the ridiculously mild winter we had is to blame for a lot of the bug problems occurring. I have seen lots of cutworms in the soil this year, but the damage they do has been nothing compared to the vermin deer. I had planted extra of many vegetables for the local food shelf but the deer destroyed so much I am down to what I will need for my personal harvest. I hope the DNR really likes that deer hunting revenue, because it is coming at the expense of hungry people and people in need. What a joke. |
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- Posted by northernmn 3/4 (My Page) on Mon, Jun 18, 12 at 8:01
| soilent quote: "I hope the DNR really likes that deer hunting revenue, because it is coming at the expense of hungry people and people in need. What a joke." Not sure what you mean here? Do you think the deer hunting revenue should not be spent on protecting our states natural resources? |
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- Posted by soilent_green 4b MN (My Page) on Mon, Jun 18, 12 at 17:57
| northernmn, that is not quite what I meant. Out of respect to little_minnie I will not go off-topic and hijack this thread. If you wish to know what I meant, please fire off an email to me so I can explain in further detail (you do not appear to have any contact info on GW). BTW I neglected to mention that I too have seen those new cutworms, but the common ones still seem to be much more prevalent here. That is all we need - new bad bugs. ;) |
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- Posted by little_minnie 4 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 20, 12 at 13:35
| No he wants to kill more deer because they are eating his veggies, of course. Don't we just kill anything that bothers us? If we get rid of all predators, like we have almost done, there will be too many deer, especially not prize nice sized bucks. Then we need to kill all the herbivores that have gotten excessive. So when we build a garden where they are they won't eat our veggies! OMG there are deer everywhere but it has nothing to do with open season on coyotes, wolves and bears. |
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| My father in Aitken has what look to be Army Worms or something, they are completely destroying his trees, they are said to be very strong every few years, this year they are eating ALL the leaves off his Basswood tree. They fall on you when your walking around his property and are just climbing all over everything, its INSANE! |
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- Posted by northernmn 3/4 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 21, 12 at 20:54
| The tent catapillar worms (not army worms) are pretty bad here too about 25 miles north of Brainerd. Not the kind of defoliation you are talking about @ Aitkin though. If you stand around some of the basswood trees when it really quiet... It sounds like a real soft rain on the leaves. But the sky is clear and then you realize it's a mist of catapillar poop falling through the leaves. I also just found one of the new cut worms that little minnie pictured. I think it was the same anyway. It was about 18 inches off of the ground on a tomato plant. Ugh. And yes, I too have to spend way too much time and money keeping the deer out of my fruit and veggies. Then last week a black bear wandered thru within 20 yards of me while I was in the garden. I think he was just wandering thru looking for fawns to eat. But now he knows where the fruit is. This means that I will have to make the deer fence around the fruit planting electrified pretty soon to keep the bears out. I guess the battles never end. |
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