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Growing Tomatoes

Best prevention for cutworms?

15 years ago

I have heard many ways to protect against cutworms when you are planting out. Some of them are:

- Push a toothpick into the soil next to the stem

- Push a nail into the soil next to the stem

- Put a can with no top or bottom around the stem

- Put a toilet paper roll around the stem

- Wrap a newspaper collar around the stem

What are your opinions on this? Will a little toothpick really do it? Will the toilet paper roll disintigrate? What happens to the newspaper collar gets too small for the growing stem? Is this protection only necessary when the plant is young and the stem is therefore soft?

Thanks.

Featured Answer

simmran1

15 years ago

cleo, I'm afraid I can't comment on the above methods as I plant, scatter some diotamaceous earth around the plant and place a Wall-O-Water around it. I haven't had a cutworm problem in over 10 years using this method. Getting the toilet paper roll on could be tricky, but could be torn away later. But how would you get the can off after 3+ weeks of growth? I can see the possibility of cut stems and leaves trying to remove a can with both ends removed.

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Comments (19)

geeboss
15 years ago
The collar is only necessary early when your seedlings is first set out. Once the stem in about the thickness of a pencil you can discard the collar.

George
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catman529
15 years ago
I've heard that you can make a collar from cut pieces of an aluminum pie plate. Makes sense, as nothing can cut through the metal and you could just unwrap it when the plant is big enough.
digdirt2
15 years ago
Plastic straws work too. Anything that prevents the cut worm from encircling the stem. A narrow band of cornmeal around the base of the plant is another. They eat it but can't digest it so die.

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wcthomas
15 years ago
If you go to a home & bath type store you can find colored plastic tubes, generally 5' long and 1" diameter, designed to be placed over shower curtain rods to change the color. These tubes are split lengthwise so they can slip onto an installed curtain rod. Just cut these tubes into 2" lengths, hold them open at the split, and slip them around the stem. Then push the tubes 1" into the ground, leaving 1" above ground. They can be removed once the stems are thick enough and reused for years. Easiest cutworm collar I have found.

TomNJ
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
15 years ago
I don't have this problem, but the people I respect that do use paper cups, so they can rot down and not be an issue.

Dan
nandina
15 years ago
Cleo, not one but three toothpicks placed around and close to each stem is the easy method. A cutworm has to curl its body around the base of a plant at soil level to munch. The toothpicks prevent this from happening. I have used this method for many years and never lost a newly transplanted seedling.
trudi_d
15 years ago
When I transplant my tomatoes I have to protect them from brids, bugs and critters. I recycle used water bottles and use them to protect the seedlings. Toss away the cap, cut off the bottom and screw it into the soil around the seedling.

Here is a link that might be useful: Transplanting Tomatoes
johnny_tomato_seed
15 years ago
I have tried the straw method but found that the stem looked like they started roting due to too much moisture/condensation. So I just wrap the stem with a strip of newspaper and it's much easier to remove than straw around the stem.
tom8olvr
15 years ago
I use the straw method. Works fine and as the tomato stem gets larger it just expands...

Just wrap this around the stem a little above and below the soil line.
yardenman
15 years ago
Just cut 3" pieces of pvc any size that fits around the plant an no cutworm probs...
vance8b
15 years ago
I used wooden shish kabob sticks I had laying around. About 12 inches long each snapped in half, one half stuck in the soil on each side of the plant.

Only my second year trying it, but it worked ok last year.

Biodegradable is the key for me. Anything plastic ends up getting lost in the soil and popping up later looking like litter.
sylviaskitchensynccom
12 years ago
Cool. We used aluminum foil strips - right from the roll - cut them to size. But would like to try the 3 toothpick option mentioned re: biodegradable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Family Favourite Recipes
mariannedlazarus
6 years ago
My tomato collars are thin cardboard from a cereal or pizza box cut into strips 3" x 10" and attached with staples to form a ring that slips over the plant and is pressed into the ground. After years of this extra care do cutworms still exist?
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
6 years ago
Cutworms are larvae of night-flying moths. Therefore, if these moths fly into your yard, you can end up with cutworms. So the answer is "yes".
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
6 years ago
Boy, old thread. Of course, that's what toilet paper tubes are made for. End of story. Unlike plastic straws, they don't litter the bed with unbiodegradable trash.
lgteacher
6 years ago
Toilet paper tubes are always available, easy to use and can be tossed in the compost when they have served their purpose. They only need to last for the short time the seedling is vulnerable. I've had seedlings disapper overnight, but never one that was in a cardboard tube - cut in half so I get 2 collars per toilet paper tube.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I just leave the toilet paper tubes on, and they just disappear naturally. Just place and forget.

If they are too small to easily get them around a plant and anchored in the soil, just take one tube, cut in half, make two collars, and staple them together to make a larger one.
donna_in_sask
6 years ago
I used toothpicks once and it wrecked the stem and introduced disease to my plants. I think it was the result of the wind pushing the plant towards the harder surface of the toothpick which caused a wound.

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