i though cut worms .. at least in MI... are an early spring phenom.. molting into whatever they are.. rather fast ... the edge damage.. reminds me of cutter bees ... see link ..... i dont know about the center munching.. one thing for sue.. you wont have any of Moc's cute little frogs.. if you pull out the chems ... why dont you just pull off the FEW bad leaves.. and OBSERVE... if damage continues... one thing to always remember .... in regard to a bugs life... is that its fast forward all the way ... why use chems.. if the bug is already gone.. and how do you know if it still there.. UNLESS YOU SEE IT.. or ID FURTHER DAMAGE ... none of your hosta are going to be hurt by removing a leaf or two .. ken Here is a link that might be useful: lookey here....

If cutworms are what is actually doing the damage rather than something else then yes the stick along the stem works. Cutworms are a chronic problem for me but the only time I have lost a plant to one is when I have neglected to get the straw or stick in for some reason. As I said above this is new info but has been common knowledge among farmers and gardeners for over a century if not longer. :) And it is always possible that the small worm you see isn't the one that did the damage. I know some seem to really push the cardboard tube collars but that assumes the worm can't come up inside the collar or crawl over it. Dave

Grandma advised years ago to put a rusty nail next to the stem, which I always have. I haven't lost a pepper, tomato, or other plant to a cut worm in 35plus years. I'm sure it doesn't need to be rusty, probably was just wise for grandma to use grandpa's old nails than his new ones:) Sandy

The first one is probably a marsh fern moth/Fagitana littera - The bottom, green one is a pink shaded fern moth/Callopistria mollissima. This type caterpillar is usually green, but the name apparently comes from the rarer, pink/red type, which has the same body markings - The other, darker cats are probably pink shaded fern moths about to make their cocoon. Many moth cats change color a little (or a lot?) when they do this, but this is just a guess on my part. If you really want to get into IDing caterpillars, you can get Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, and the book where I found these cats, Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, Dale F. Schweitzer, J. Bolling Sullivan and Richard C. Reardon. David Wagner is pretty much the caterpillar guru of eastern North America. Sherry