Pests & diseases › Cutworms
Cutworms
Fat gray-brown caterpillars that hide in soil by day and chew through stems at ground level by night.
Symptoms
- Transplants felled at soil level overnight, like they've been mowed
- Caterpillar curled C-shape in soil at base of cut plant when you dig
- Holes chewed in lower leaves
Lifecycle
One to four generations per year depending on species and region.
What to do
- Dig at base of felled plants — usually find the cutworm, squash it
- Bt spray on foliage where they climb to feed
- Beneficial nematodes drench
If it's bad
- Spinosad bait
Stop it coming back
- Collar each transplant: toilet roll tube or aluminum foil, 1 inch above and below soil
- Don't plant transplants into freshly-cleared sod (worst cutworm habitat)
- Cultivate beds in late fall to expose overwintering larvae
Crops it goes for
Beefsteak Tomato
Cherry Tomato
Early Season Tomato
Heat Tolerant Tomato
Heirloom Tomato
Hot Chilli
Lettuce
Main Season Tomato
Medium Chilli
Mild Chilli
Paste Tomato
Patio Tomato
Specialty Chilli
Super Hot Chilli
Sweet Bell Pepper
Sweet Corn
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.