cutworm control
old_dirt 6a
10 months ago
Looks like it's the year for cutworms here (always something). It's my understanding there are a few different kinds of cutworms, those that encircle a plant or stem and cut it off at ground level and climbing ones that feed on the leaves. I have both.
What is your go-to for cutworm control? I use Ortho bug-geta for slugs but doesn't seem to have an affect on cutworms. Sluggo Plus is supposed to kill both, anyone use it and have success?
Majesty
Dream Queen
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Comments (18)
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Plants that cutworms attack
Comments (21)B.t. isrealensis shows little to no activity on anything but Diptera pests i.e. mosquitos and biting flies. there may have been a repellent effect, but it should not have effected any worms. B.t. kurstakii or aizawa are the strains that work on lepidoptera pests ( worms) B.t. tenebrionis is the strain that works on beetles Beet Army Worm are a very hard pest to kill. High rates of Spinosad SHOULD take care of them, but it isnt working as well as it once did in commercial applications. The nice thing about spinosad is it is a very safe chemical and in certain formulations ( Entrust) it is OMRI organic certified. It is made from the fermentation of a bacterial byproduct. The biggest problem in commercial production is that Spinosad is pretty expensive, 6 dollars an ounce x 6 oz to the acre plus application cost of ~$8.00 or more per acre. Cutworms can usually be easily controlled by a directed spray of a pyrethroid around and on the base of the plant. Keith...See MoreOh, no! Cutworms?
Comments (34)Cutworms can attack everything in sight if they choose to do so. Sometimes the climbing cutworms become discouraged after they climb a few inches and give up before they reach the top of the bamboo skewers. However, some of them will climb above the skewers. Some people use paper plates or aluminum pie pans wrapped in a cylinder around the tomato plant's stem or wrap the stems in foil. I've never had to resort to that, but I've never been hit that hard (well, once, but it was only bean seedlings and it is quick and easy to start over with beans) by cutworms. Climbing cutworms can climb anything and some are known to climb up into fruit trees to cut off fruit, leaves, or flowers. I've never seen that happen in my fruit trees. They operate after dark, so you can go out with a flashlight and see if you can catch them in the act. After they eat, they often burrow into the soil (and not terribly deeply) so if you find a newly damaged plant, you may find the culprit in the soil there near the plant. All of you who are suggesting cardboard or paper collars are correct in thinking they work for subterranean cutworms, but unless you make those collars go above ground up for 4 or 6 or 8 inches or more, they are not effective against the climbing cutworms. I gardened for over 20 years before I ever had problems with a climbing cutworm and they are very hard to combat because they can outclimb anything you use to try to thwart them. I wonder if they are worse now than they were a couple of decades ago, because I always helped my dad, neighbors and relatives with their veggie gardens when I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, but I never saw damage from a climbing cutworm and never even saw a climbing cutworm until after we moved to Oklahoma in 1999. One organic remedy is to plant garlic around plants to protect them from cutworms but I haven't tried it myself. I wonder if one of the garlic barrier sprays might repel them? Cutworms are often a problem in spring, but also can continue to be a problem throughout the gardening season because they produce multiple generations in the southern parts of the country. Bt is usually not terribly effective in the short-termm because it takes a day or so for it to affect them enough that they stop eating, but it will save future plants, if not the one they're currently chewing on. Having lots of flowers that attract tiny beneficial wasps (or buying and releasing beneficial wasps) help with all kinds of caterpillar problems because the wasps parasitize caterpillars. The problem is they'll attack caterpillars of desirable butterflies too. I've linked a page from Planet Natural below because it lists several things you can use to control cutworms including sprinkling DE on the ground around your plants or releasing wasps. Most of the products listed by Planet Natural (which, of course, they happen to sell) may be found locally if you have a nursery or farm store that carries a full line of organic products. I've never seen Eco-Bran anywhere except at Planet Natural though. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Ideas for Cutworm Control From Planet Natural...See MoreCutworms and White Grubs
Comments (9)For the cutworms, it is easier to prevent the damage via the use of cutworm collars or sticks than to stop damage once it starts. When I say sticks, I generally mean toothpicks, although you can even use twigs. When I transplant seedlings into the ground, I put toothpicks on two sides of the stems, with half the toothpick below ground and half above ground. This largely interferes with the cutworm wrapping itself around the whole stem and cutting it in half. When climbing cutworms are an issue, I use bamboo skewers since they are so much taller and the climbing cutworms can climb above the toothpicks. However, the sticks will not keep cutworms from eating the plants even if they cannot cut them in half. I've linked a page from Planet Natural that explains cutworms and how you can treat your garden for them. There is a lot of good info there. Because climbing cutworms are a huge issue this year here, along with other caterpillar damage, you could spray your plants with Bt 'Kurstaki' if you can find it in stores. It is largely sold out where I live, but I found some in a farm store a couple of days ago. If you use it, try to keep it off your flowers or it can harm the butterflies that visit the flowers. The Bt will not prevent cutworms from killing tiny seedlings. However, if they are climbing cutworms and are climbing and feeding on plants, it should put a stop to that. If the loss of the California Bell plant is recent, dig into the soil just below the surface where the California Bell plant was growing to see if you can find and destroy the specific worm that got it. Earlier this week, I ordered trichogramma wasps to release. They should arrive around Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. On Thursday I saw the first 'native' trichogramma wasp in my garden that I've seen this spring. I'm not sorry I ordered more of them though because the one I saw cannot possibly deal with all the caterpillars we have here this year. In the meantime, I am going to spray my plants with Bt this evening. I've never seen caterpillar/cutworm damage like I'm seeing this year. In fact, if you took all the damage I've seen in 13 prior years and added it together, this year's damage would be greater than all the prior damage from those 13 years. White grubs generally are not an issue as long as they are not damaging your grass. They are beetle larvae and most ground beetles are beneficial insects who are garden helpers. I tend to ignore the white grubs. If they bother you, you can treat the ground with Milky Spore powder, which is a natural agent that kills them. Applying beneficial nematodes to areas with soil-borne pests is a slower-working solution if the nematodes are applied to moist soil before the heat arrives, but they are not a short-term solution. Bugs and insects are a natural part of the garden ecosystem. There are many good bugs and insects that help control the bad ones and do other important garden tasks as well, so maybe you could develop a liking for those! Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Cutworm Control Page from Planet Natural...See MoreFighting powdery mildew
Comments (3)Lynn, I am not really sure that any one 'control' is better than another and you're correct that control is all you can hope for once your plants have powdery mildew because a cure just doesn't happen. If you're organic, Potassium bicarbonate seems to work better than plain old baking soda, which is Sodium bicarbonate. I don't know where you can buy potassium bicarbonate in Oklahoma. I buy it at nurseries in the D-FW area that carry a full line of organic products and it is not as hard to find as it used to be. Greencure ia a potassium bicarbonate developed by a Cornell plant pathologist (Dr. Horst) and although I've never used it, it has received generally great reviews since it was introduced. If I was fighting PM and couldn't find plain old potassium bicarbonate locally, I'd order Greencure online. (I've never seen Greencure in stores here....you might find it there.) Some people have had good control with Serenade (Bacillus subtilis) but I have found its performance to be sporadic. If you use chemicals, cholorothalonil (found in products like Daconil) is probably as effective as anything. It works best if applied regularly as a preventive before powdery mildew appears. I'd try treating the current plants first to see what response, if any, there is to your chosen treatment. You can always start another round of plants in a week or two if the PM doesn't respond to treatment or worsens. With any PM treatment, it is often most helpful to alternate between 2 or 3 different products so the PM does not develop a resistance to one single product. Good luck, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Greencure...See More
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