I am curious, how many of you that are finding these hornworms, are tilling the soil. It will drastically cut down on the population if you do. LIFE CYCLE Moths emerge from overwintering sites in spring. After mating, females deposit oval, smooth, light green eggs singly on lower and upper leaf surfaces. Caterpillars hatch, begin to feed and are full grown in three to four weeks. The mature caterpillars drop off plants and burrow into the soil to pupate. Moths emerge in two weeks to begin a second generation, during mid summer. Second generation moths deposit eggs on host plants, such as tomato. The caterpillars feed until late summer or early fall and then pupate. The pupae remain in the soil through the winter. Till the soil after harvest to destroy burrowing caterpillars and pupae.

I've had two winters in Mid-Atlantic zone 7 with lettuce going through the winter. I put a clear plastic tote on top, and keep a jug of water in there for heat retention/temperature modulation. This last mild winter we got lots of lettuce all winter. The previous, colder winter, it survived and grew slowly. We got a handful of leaves each week to add to bought lettuce. In both years, the lettuce took off like crazy in the spring and we had huge salads every day. After the colder winter, we had enough in mid-May from just a dozen plants to serve our lettuce as a large side dish at a party for 40 people. I started using colored water in the jugs this last winter, to help it absorb heat from the sun during the day. Not sure how well it worked, as it was such a warm winter. I plan to try again this year. So, if you're interested in providing just a little protection (there are many more elegant methods than mine) you can certainly get lettuce through the winter. Spinach too, BTW. Hepatica

Sammy, Thanks. The number of hoppers has creeped me out this year. When I walk through the grass on the side of the barn, all I hear is "plink, plink, plunk" as grasshoppers rise from the grass in unison to avoid being stepped on and hit the side of the metal barn. Usually they peak in July and then their numbers start dropping, but this summer, since we were very dry all spring and didn't have good rainfall until June and July, we went into summer with a huge population, and then every time it rained, we got a new hatch of hoppers a few days later so it still seems like we have more every week than we had the week before. There's been a lot of cicadas at night---the whole loud "buzz" of all these living things at night is so loud that you can't even sleep with a window open on a cool night because they'll keep you awake. I saw a dead cicada lying in the driveway yesterday, so maybe their population is beginning to decline. There are some veggies in the garden that the hoppers ate all the way down to the ground, and I sprayed one time this summer with a chemical pesticide, or I think the hoppers would have devoured the entire garden. That's the first time I've ever sprayed my entire garden with a chemical pesticide. It killed the grasshoppers, but killed lots of beneficial insects too, so I doubt I'll ever do it again. I hated everything about it and think that in future years when the hoppers are extremely bad, I'll let them devour the garden and I'll just take up needlepoint or something for the rest of the growing season. We are at the point now where we desperately need for the blister beetles to show up in the next few weeks and devour tons of grasshopper eggs or we'll be in trouble in 2015. This is the first time I've begun actively rooting for the blister beetles to please show up here. Dawn

Different moths, different life cycles, different coloring, and different damage. Cutworms go for the stem at ground level, encircle it, and literally cut the main stem. So height isn't so much the concern as is direct contact with the stem so they can't wrap around it. Personally I use the disposable plastic soda straws stuck right up against the stem itself. I don't cut them in half cause I'm lazy at that so they are a good 10" or so with about 3" below ground. You could cut them in half and it would still be long enough I think. Some use the old 10 penny nails that are approx 6" long, some use stick or twigs. Some advocate toilet paper tubes cut in half but IME the worm can get inside them and still damage the plant. Dave