Well, i confess i dont even know what that is. Just as in another thread i didnt know what a cutworm was.

I sure found out today. I came home to a plant sliced clean in two at the bottom of the stem. I actually saw the wormy worm that did it and smashed him. I stuck the top of the plant in the fround and will see if it will root. Just praying that the bed is not full of the worms and that i dont lose my other plants.

If i do, i will buy some containers and plants from a box store and try and get some tomatos that way until i can eradicate the worms from my raised bed.

This year, so far, stinks!

Erod, there are some pretty good ways to protect your plants from cut worms. I have used foil, paper, sticks and nails. Years ago I would use the foil off a gum wrapper. I dont chew gum any more, but I dont remember gum being wrapped like that now. I have a lot of moles now and they may help keep the cutworn population down. This year I used no protection and so far no damage, but they were much larger plants than I like to plant.

I have to agree, this year and the last two years could have been better. Sometimes I wonder how our forefathers even made a living.

Sometimes a plant will put out from the stump, and if the top is not too badly damaged you may be able to root it again. I think at this stage of the game it would be easier to just buy another plant and replace the cut one.

Larry

Erod, Larry just mentioned a number of good strategies for dealing with cutworms. The foil could be wrapped around the base of the little plant, effectively protecting it. Also, for reasons I don't fully understand, a cutworm cannot cut down a plant unless it can fully wrap itself around it. By placing a toothpick, twig or nail right next to a seedling (parallel to it) one can often thwart a cutworm attack.

This year, I purchased a sack of Dipel, which is a form of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) that kills caterpillars and grubs. I dusted my plants with it, and so far, have had very minimal cutworm damage. I know they're out there because I have uncovered an unusually high number of them while planting. The Dipel was inexpensive and has been easy to apply.

Larry, I keep hoping that our wet spring is an indication of a wetter summer to come.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Larry;

While I'm sorry you found it dry it added a realistic perspective underneath my excitement for all the rain. The drought was severe and it will take a lot, I guess.

I think we're getting more moisture than you have, though. Storms again this week.

Larry,

I can relate. We are extremely dry here too, having had less than 9" of rain so far in 2013, and virtually no measurable rainfall for the last three weeks. We remain in Severe Drought. We have had rain in our forecast every week but it keeps missing us. Maybe this week will be our lucky week, but then I thought the same thing last week. We are starting to have grass fires almost daily in our county, which normally doesn't happen in May, which usually is one of our wettest months.

Emma, Cutworms were at epic levels last year in some parts of OK and I heard that Army worms were bad in some adjacent states. I always stick two toothpicks in the ground on 2 sides of each tiny seedling. One toothpick likely would work but I use two, placed on opposite sides of the stems, as extra insurance. Last year, unfortunately, we had climbing cutworms, which are somewhat common in some southern states, and they would climb above the toothpicks and cut off the plants. Finally I sprayed my whole garden with an organic caterpillar killer containing Bt "kurstaki". It was the first time I've ever had to spray for cutworms. You often find the cutworms curled up just beneath the soil surface near young plants. When I find one while planting or weeding, I kill it and then dig gently in adjacent soil looking for others.

They will overwinter in the soil, so this winter we rototilled our garden soil 3 or 4 times, with a couple if weeks between each tilling. Doing this exposes the cutworms and other overwintering pests to cold weather which can kill them. I also noticed the songbirds would swoop in and pick thru the freshly rototilled soil looking for food. So far this year I have found only 2 army worms and 3 or 4 cutworms and instantly killed them, of course, so I haven't had to use any Bt yet.

I am happy for those of you who are getting good rainfall. I am worried our dry spring here may be a sign we are in for a rough summer. This is the first spring in some time that we have been in severe drought during our usual rainy months. It is a really bad sign when it is so dry that green grass burns.

Grasshoppers are already present in annoyingly high numbers too, which is common in dry spells. I have been hoping for a better rainfall year in 2013 than we had in 2011 and 2012, but so far it isn't happening.

Dawn

Dawn, I really cant complain about my rainfall, I expect that for the past 10 months I have received more rain than many on this forum. I think my biggest problem is that my shallow soil cant store much water, which gives me a very narrow margin between too wet and too dry.

Larry

Larry, sorry i kinda took over your thread. I dont know if all your roots are good or nad, bit i wish you much luck!

Dawn and Larry, im glad you wrote what you did, because when i went and looked at the plant, i could see the worm just barely under the soil, and the plant had been cut in half just under the soil. In my mind, knowing nothing about them, i thought it would be halfway up the stem or something, so i originaly thought an animal must have stepped on it intil i got down there and looked closely. I plan on putting 3 toothpicks around each plant. Glad to know i was correct. Ive been gone since saturday afternoon, lets hope i have plants when i get home today.

Where can i buy these productts that Dawn and George mentioned? At lowes or home depot or somewhere like that? Do i just sprinkle the plant or all of the soil? If i sprinkle the soil, do i need to rake it in a little bit?

Again, Larry sorry to take over your thread.........

Emma
Larry,

Since Emma already hijacked this thread I'm going to jump on the bandwagon! :)

Do cutworms attack things other than tomato plants? I found one cantaloupe seedling decapitated yesterday morning and chalked it up to a fluke, but this morning in a different location one of the squash seedlings was decapitated, too. I was thinking a cat or possum had cavorted through the bed, it's been known to happen, but now I'm wondering if I need to get the toothpicks out!

Mia, my cut worms are not picky at all, they like small corn plants, bean and pea plants, and almost anything else.

Don't any of you think anything about hi-jack my threads, I must have A.D.D. because I like for the subject matter to jump around. You get more Bang for the Buck that way.

Enjoying it all, Larry

Well, i came home to the rest of my tomatos still standing. I put FOUR toothpicks around each plant !!! I sure hope it works! On another note, my cherry is coming along nicely, have a lot of babies on thst one.

Also, for the bird lovers, my painted buntings, indigo buntings, goldfinch and hummers have arrived. What a sight to see them all at the feeders with the cardinals. Beautiful.

Larry, what are all those roots and what the heck is a rape plant?

Erod, Rape is just another cool season "Green". They are used for cattle feed, deer food plots, cover crop, people food, and the seed are used to make oil. I think they are used more in other countries more than they are here. I like them just as well as collards and much better than turnip greens. They are easier to get rid of than turnips. When the turnips are tilled in it seems as though every piece of root wants to re-grow.

Larry

Larry, It is amazing how fast you go from wet to dry soil, but it happens with our clay soil too, so I understand it.

Emma, Look for products labeled worm killer or caterpillar killer at any big box store, nursery or farm store. Then, check the label and it should list Bacillus thuringensis 'kurstaki' (often abbreviated as Bt or as Bt 'kurstaki') as the active ingredient. Be careful which plants you spray it on. I try to avoid spraying it on any of the flowering plants that I have planted for the butterflies because I don't want to kill them. I'll link a photo of one such product, but there are many brands available.

Mia, As far as I know, cutworms will eat anything, but prefer young, tender vegetation like young vegetable, herb or flower seedlings. I have seen them attack some surprisingly large plants at times. If you have army worms, which often seem active at about the same time, they'll eat any part of the plant. I found an army worm at the top of a 3' tall potato plant eating the top-most leaves.

Emma, We have oodles of birds here too. Our hummers have been eating us out of house and home, but I am not complaining. At first I put up two feeders and then kept adding more as more and more birds showed up. We're up to six hummingbird feeders now and my days often start with me making a batch of nectar first thing in the morning to refill the feeders. This is a really good hummingbird year so far. Actually, it is a great bird year. In addition to the ones you mentioned, we have lots of blue jays, mockingbirds, scissortails and phoebes.

The purple martins have babies in the houses and I love listening to them chirping right outside my garden shed.

We have put in a new vegetable garden out back so I have more room for more stuff. I am planting a specific section of it for the hummers and butterflies, and already have planted a 'Bubba' desert willow, 'Balboa Sunrise' trumpet creeper to climb the fence, and several lantanas back there for the butterflies and hummingbirds, along with many other flowers, veggies and herbs, It is amazing how fast the hummingbirds found the hummingbird feeder in the new garden....probably within an hour of me hanging it there. It is roughly 100' from the next closest feeder. The butterflies found the new lantana plants about 2 minutes after I took the plants out of the car. I had to shoo the butterflies away long enough to get the plants put into the ground.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Example: Caterpillar Killer with Bt 'kurstaki'