Ways To Deal With Cutworms And 2 DIY Ways To Make Cutworm Collars
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ค. 2020
- Cutworms can be some of the most frustrating garden pests to deal with. They can turn a healthy plant into a dead plant in a very short time. I lost a few plants to Cutworms last year, so I wanted to be ready for them this year. I decided to put cutworm collars around most of our tomato and peppers plants. I will show you how to make cutworm collars two different ways, and also show you a couple of other tips on how to deal with cutworms.
Before you go, please be sure to let us know what your favorite way to deal with cutworms is in the comments below.
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That toilet paper roll idea is pure GOLD.
I'm going to use that to do some guerilla gardening!
Thanks! Nice. I hope it works well for you!
As a kid in Kansas helping my dad in our big garden, my job at transplant time was to wrap every plant in a 2-3-inch strip of newspaper, with about 5 or 6 wraps. I don't recall ever losing a plant to cutworms ever. Those cutworms do make good bait for fishing, though, so they are good for something! Happy gardening!
Thanks for the tip! I never thought of using them for fishing, but it makes sense. My aunt used to run a bait shop on Grand Lake in Ok. They sold catalpa worms there. Happy gardening to you too!
Yup, I do the same thing!
Thank you!
You're welcome!
These are all really great tips. Thanks for the information. Have a good weekend Jim and stay safe.
Thanks a bunch! You have a great weekend and stay safe too!
Florida gardener here. I have used a piece of news paper wrapped around the stem of the plant to make a collar. And used cups like you do too. I might tried the paper towel roll too. Thanks.
Thanks a bunch for sharing how you do it, Stephen. It's always good to compare notes.
Some great ideas Jim. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Scott!
I enjoyed that! Many years ago I used cutworms collars, I think I was using newspaper, by the time the paper broke down the plants were big enough to look after themselves. Then I went through my crazy chemical years, I would sprinkle Diazinon crystals around the base of the transplants. It’s been quite a few years since I put any yucky chemicals on my plants, these days I till the garden really well before planting. The tiller seems to take care of any lurking cutworms, mixes the compost I laid down into the soil and creates a nice tilth that my tomatoes just love! The roots soon get colonized by good fungi!
Klaus
Thanks for sharing that, Klaus! Using something like paper that is biodegradable always makes things a little easier. One less thing to think about. And yes, tilling the ground does take care of a lot of them. I used to till every year until I started using wood chips as mulch. I hope you have a great growing season.....with no cutworms :)
I’m so happy I found your channel, I watched your video on Amazon, thank you for sharing
Thank you very much, Grace. Glad you checked it out on amazon....thanks!
Great information on how to deal with cut worms! Never had a problem with them since I change over to strawbale gardening. That is a cool applicator ya got with that DE. Thanks for letting us know how you deal with these worms over there. Stay safe and have a great weekend!
Thanks CB! I guess those worms can't jump that high, lol. I hope that cold didn't get you too bad. It's still going to be a little chilly in spots tonight too. You guys stay safe and have a great weekend too!
Good morning! Thank you for this very useful information.
Good morning Rose! I haven't lost any plants to them this year.....so far.
Good morning Jim. Great ideas. Watching you use the screw driver reminded me that I have a screw driver I call my: Good for everything screw driver. I do use it all the time for everything it seems. I like the philosophy. Stay home and use what you have. Stay safe. Best wishes Bob.
Good morning Bob. It's always good to have one of those good for everything screw drivers. I have a good for everything hammer too :) I bought it almost 50 years ago. We are trying our best to stay home, but it's getting harder every week. You guys stay safe too!
I know the feeling. We did a big stock up in March but realized we needed to do it again so we went early yesterday and restocked big time. Every time I leave I am concerned about getting infected but we just stay completely isolated.
Well, I hope we can hang in there until they can get a vaccine. Spring is flying by already.
Me too. I hope the vaccine comes soon. 🤞
Summer is very close now.
Good tips! Thank you for those! I've just recently discovered DE and I'm hoping it saves some of my seedlings out in the garden! And one of my tomato plants has flea beetle damage so here's hoping 🤞
Thanks! Yep, those flea beetles can be a real pain in the butt. DE can be pretty handy to have around.....just in case you need it. Those flea beetles seem to love eggplants even more than they love tomatoes.
Wrap 1.5 " newspaper strips around the stem as you plant
Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for the information.
You're welcome Ginney!
Thank you! Just lost first two beans in new garden. Have never had cutworms before and can’t wait to use your collars and DE. Please tell how long the plant needs the collar. Thanks!
You're welcome! I usually leave the collars on our tomatoes and peppers for a month or so, then I cut the collars in half and pull them off.
Very helpful. Thank you
You're welcome Cheryl! Thanks for watching!
This doesn't have to do with cutworms, but had to let you know, since you were the reason I tried dwarf tomatoes for the first time this year - it's 39 degrees here (not normal!) and I have spotted my first tomato. It's a Mr. Snow! Appropriate, I think, given the weather. And it's at least the size of my thumb. Don't know how I missed it. I certainly wasn't looking this early. So, it beat Early Girl! Had to let you know. I am just as pleased as punch! (P.S. This is southeast Virginia - it has not been particularly warm this spring, nor particularly sunny.)
That's awesome, Cathy! That's pretty early to have a tomato on already. My Mr. Snow is outgrowing the other dwarfs in my garden. I can't wait to see my first tomato! I will be a pleased as punch too :)
@@MidwestGardener I was shocked tbh. Very good surprise!
Yep, we need more surprises that that.
That's a great idea! I didn't do that this year and I lost a few green bean plants. That's also good to deter sow bugs, pill bugs or rollie pollies. What ever they are called in your area. I lost a 16x4' row of green beans one year. I was not aware that those bugs also ate the tender shoots of newly sprouted plants. Have a great weekend! ☺🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Thanks Shirley! Yes, I should have even mentioned rollie pollies. I did a video on them too. For them, sometimes I just cover them at night with a jar or something, since they seem to do most of their damage at night.....except when it's raining a lot. But the collars would help with those too. You have a great weekend too!
Hi thanks for the info. I wish I could have found your site when I started growing my plants. What can I do my fully grown green pepper plants that have small holes in them .
Thanks for this helpful vblog!
You're very welcome!
Useful tips thanks
You're welcome.
Great information on cutworm prevention. How is your garden doing since the frost? I will be checking on mine in a little bit. Have a great day Jim. Stay safe. 👍🏻
Thanks David! I haven't been outside yet, but I will go out in a little bit and check. I hope your plants are ok. You have a great day and stay safe too, David!
Lots of good info. Another even worse influx of grubs over here already for us this year. Angel was telling me she heard somebody using cornmeal somehow to repel inchworms and possibly other types of crawly. My(UT) favorite is the toilet tubes. Am guessing there is a huge amount of them floating around lately. LOL Having a kid around that loves bug hunting and a tiny yard makes our best method hand picking. Got the lights, gear and tools to storm the yard if there is a problem. LOL May have to use the cup idea on some weaker tomatoes for the yard this year. Stay safe and motivated. Thanks for the share!
I'm getting a visual of you guys storming the yard in full gear :) I'll be glad when we get through some of the early spring problems so we can get right into those summer problems 😀 You guys stay safe too!
Good evening Jim, thanks for the advice. I dont have this problem because I plant in raised garden beds. When I expand my garden I will use these tips. Thanks!
I'm glad you don't have this problem. They can be a real pain.
I've seen the damage they can do.
I hope they dont destroy your garden.
Everything is find so far.
Great!
The cutworms found their way into my raised bed. Terrible! Tops of my radishes disappeared overnight. One of these warm evenings I'm going on a cutworm hunt at dusk. Supposedly they're easy to find and you just drown them in a jar of soapy water.
Oh no - didn't know the rounds had to be buried that far. I just nestled and moved some soil on the bottom edge
I love these ideas, especially the toilet paper planters!! I'm going to have to try this!! Thanks!! -Lea
Thanks Lea! I hope you guys are off to a good start to the gardening season!
@@MidwestGardener Going pretty well so far! Thanks!! -Lea
@@backyardhomestead2230 I'm glad to hear it.
Great idea! Thank you for sharing Jim! (now those who bought too much toilet paper can use it for their gardening) 😂
Lol, I know. Some folks will have enough tubes to plant several acres :)
Midwest Gardener 👍🏼😂
Hi friend! I use the cups and the toothpicks at times. I totally forgot to do this for my tomatillo plants and the pill bug ate them the same night I planted them. But the cup works better for me. Stay safe friend 😊
That's good to know which one works better for you. Those pill bug can really be a pain!
Pill bugs!! Maybe that’s what got my physalis ground cherry plant! The stem wasn’t completely chewed through at the base. Assuming I can’t get cutworms in containers.
I had other physalis plants flop over at the middle part of the stem and have no clue what ate at it. 😔 I was so mad I lost 3 plants to whatever chewed them in the middle. It sucked the juices to the point where it grew limp and flopped and dried up.
Yes, that could be what got it.
Thanks for your tips, a basil plant got cut wormed, found the worm and let’s just say it’s no more. Thankfully it wasn’t a tomatoe so I’ll be going out to the garden with large wood screws and put them around the plants!
Sorry to hear about your Basil, Della! I hope they don't get any of your tomatoes. I know how frustrating that can be.
Jim, these are all great ideas! My dad straightened out used nails (most were rusty), to push into the ground beside the tomato seedlings. I guess it must have worked. I was quite young at the time, so I don't remember for sure. When I was older, mom cut both ends out of tin cans and used those for collars around some plants. That's what I do, it works, and they are reusable. ~Margie
Yep, I see tin cans in a few places around where I live. Those can be used for a long time. As long as we keep those destructive little worms from doing their dirty work.
Aluminum foil trick works for me and cheap fix.Unless your cups are used
Thanks for the tip, John!
I love using toilet paper rolls! Thank you for sharing your knowledge on how to get rid of these nasty critters.
You're welcome! As for those toilet paper rolls, it's hard to beat recycled and free.
Hello Jim, have you or any of your subscribers ever used applications of beneficial nematodes to deal with pests (including cutworms)? I understand a spring and fall application of the triple combo: Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, Steinernema carpocapsae, Steinernema feltiae every few years provides a very broad spectrum of protection from hundreds of pests. I am anxiously awaiting my shipment to try.
Hello. That is something that I have never tried, but I would like to hear from others who have tried. I know it might be a long ways off before you can evaluate the results, but I would enjoy hearing how they work out for you. Good luck with them!
@@MidwestGardener Hi Jim, I applied my beneficial nematodes (from burlogical.com) 3 weeks ago in the rain. It also rained off and on & was overcast for most of the week afterwards, so I didn't have to do anything to keep the soil moist whilst they got to work. I think too early to tell if the vegetable garden will be protected from cut worm etc, but have already noticed all the ants nests are gone (they were everywhere in the lawns). And surprisingly, I think the grubs in the lawn have gone too, because the moles aren't making any fresh holes (anywhere) in past 2 weeks. (Maybe their food supply has diminished as a result of the nematodes or maybe beetles have emerged?). Have not yet seen any beetles anywhere though. I have not found a single flea or tick on dogs (or us) yet either - but dogs are on Nextgard. Happily, am still seeing ladybirds, lacewings, dragon flies and lately fireflies. Not seeing much in the way of aphids on roses or veggies, probably due to the lacewings etc. But have caught a couple of grasshoppers in my veggies. Manually removing them early morning, but may need grasshopper bait- Nosema Iocustae, if I keep finding them. Of course better to have done that in spring, but I was late with everything. Overall, I am convinced the nematodes are working. I will let you know if my opinion changes as I assess the results of harvests, but so far the tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, celery and squash & herbs look fine.
Thanks for the update.
😊
Have you tried straws or tube depending on the thickness of the stem cut end to end length ways and wrap it around ?
No, I have not, but I've heard of it, and it sounds like it should work.
Liked your chilli review 👍we use this in the UK great channel .
@@d34dly0101 Thanks a bunch! I have a lot of subscribers from the UK.
I’ve always used #10 tin cans. I can’t use drip lines so the tin cans are
multifunctional. Keep away cut worms and funnel water to roots and mulch inside can.
Nice tip Trish! I've seen others use tin cans too. There is a home a few miles from here that has some out.
Midwest Gardener it has helped me through the years. Good way to spot where plants are too!
True.
I transplant from cups to out side. So if I pull plant from cup to cut bottom off, then could I just cut the bottom off ? Then plant both at once? Or will the holes in cup be bad ?
Hi Theo. I've never tried that, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it on a few and see what happens. I like to remove the collars once the plant gains some size. That's one of those things that you can experiment with on a few and then you will have a better idea which way you want to go next year.
My sunflower seeds just started popping up! I check them this morning to water them and half of them were cut at the bottom stem and some the leaves gone! Some of the leaves were just laying on the ground with tiny chew marks, it’s so sad to see. Is this cut worm? Should I just restart my sunflowers in the house until they grow a bit bigger and then transplant? I need help!
It could be cutworms, or it could be a few other pests too. Yes, starting them indoors can help by letting them get a little more size. I even had birds peck at my small seedlings before. For the birds, putting a jar over them till they gain some size has helped me before. For insects, you could use diatomaceous earth if you don't want to make collars.
We're growing our first dwarf tomato, a Berkely Purple. It's only a few inches tall, and the plants we planted at the same time are 7 or 8 inches tall. Is this normal?
I've never grow Berkely Purple, but many of the dwarfs start out sturdy looking and less tall than most indeterminate tomatoes.
Hi Jim! What an interesting and informative video. 👍👍 No wonder you've so many subs. Wow!! 👏👏 Since I live in a whole different world I don't even know what's a cutworm ?? Will have to goggle it out to understand. But I do understand they create lots of problems otherwise you won't be inventing all those ways to prevent them getting onto the plants. In a nutshell I enjoyed your video enormously, Jim. Thank you for reminding me to visit your garden. Wishing you much success. Full watch with a like and prayers 🙏 to you and yours. 🌷💐🌸🌺🌻
Thanks a bunch for dropping by, Molly! Cutworms eat through the stems of small plants right at the ground level. You can lose plants suddenly after spending weeks to get them growing.
@@MidwestGardener o wow.... I don't believe we have this problem which is so fortunate. Best regards, Jim. Much success to your channel 🙌
Do the collars also help keep slugs off the small plants?
I don't know if it would work without the diatomaceous earth, but it should work great along with the diatomaceous earth. I use food grade DE by the way.
2:00 Loosen soil around plant with screwdriver, put the collar over the plant.
There you go.
@@MidwestGardener I've got nails, ashes, cornmeal and one collar on and around my plants. (I forgot to finish the collars). Hope it helps. Thanks for the video.
@@watermelonlalala I hope it works for you too, Brendan. I know how frustrating they can be.
@@MidwestGardener I went out to add some more collars and my plants looked dead. Must have been the ashes. :(
Well, that sure sucks. I hope you have time to replant.
Are you sure those cups are deep enough to stop the cutworms? I would've thought you should have them go a couple inches under the surface since cutworms go underground during the day. Also how deep is too deep and risking blocking the plant's root development?
Hi Nicolas. I'm not sure if you watched the whole video or not, but in the video, I talked about the possibility that you could even put the cup over a mealworm that was in the soil. That is why I use DE for added insurance. I've never noticed that it hurts any of the plants at all.....as you can see from my other videos later in the same year. I have collars on them this year too.
those are in vasive species in my country never seen or heard about em till few month , i thought some one was runing a sick prank on me but a friend from the USA told me about these little bastards and yeah, i found few of them, my cabages cilantro and pretty much 90% of my crops were destroyed by those little bastards, my melons were already flowering and now i gotta start over *sigh*
I hate to hear that. Sounds like you have quite an infestation. We mainly only have a problem with them early in the spring when the plants are just starting to grow. After that, they don't seem to do much damage.
Nothing worse than illegitimate cutworms.