grub vz cutworm?

[ChiliPeppa]

I planted out 10 seedlings on the 24th this Month. Most nights have been in the 40s and getting warmer. So many more to be planted out soon. But one morning one of my plants had been sheared by apparently a cutworm. When I dug up that plant rootball to replace with another seedling I found a grub. I don't have a lot of grubs in my garden but I have found them here and there. Do grubs shear off seedlings in the same way that cutworms do? Do cutworms live under the soil near the plant? I haven't seen any cutworms, just grubs. I put toothpicks around these seedlings to help prevent this happening again and i will do the same in the rest of my planting out. It's really a shock and pain in the rear to find one's precious seedling lying limp and useless on the ground.
A big fat toad found its way into our foyer a few nights ago. My son let it back out and it happily hopped away. if I see it again I'm going to re-home it to my garden.

[Worth1]

Grubworm=june bug or scarab beetle eats roots.
Cut worm=moth around lights cuts down plants.
I like to hoe around where I am planting.
I always dig up a few cutworms and kill them.
Worth

[AlittleSalt]

Worth is correct. Both need to be removed when possible.

For cutworms, I break a shish-k-bob skewer in half - push it in next to the tomato plant - and then wrap a 2-3" piece of aluminum foil around both. I find this is easier on my back to do this while the tomato plant is still in the solo cup right before planting it.

Grub worms are nasty. Being polite, disposing of them are in your best interest.

On the more devious side - They also make good fish bait, and they explode when thrown into a fire.

[henry]

Site with good information on cutworms.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/...-home-gardens/

[ChiliPeppa]

Haha. Yes good chicken food too, Salt. I will do the toothpicks in the solo cup stage. Just about threw out my back doing it in place. Worth, I tend to leave the soil undisturbed except where I'm making the planting hole. I may try your method.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ChiliPeppa

Haha. Yes good chicken food too, Salt. I will do the toothpicks in the solo cup stage. Just about threw out my back doing it in place. Worth, I tend to leave the soil undisturbed except where I'm making the planting hole. I may try your method.

The planting hole is the only place I do this.
The other area for the watermelons is a different story.
I use the eye hoe I bought and scrap away the weeds and knock the soil up about an inch down.
I will NOT have a weedy melon patch.

I know my weeds what I kill now wont come back the only thing that will come back is the horseherb ground cover and maybe some horehound.
Worth

[ChiliPeppa]

Henry that moth on that page looks very familiar.

Originally Posted by henry

Site with good information on cutworms.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/...-home-gardens/

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ChiliPeppa

Henry that moth on that page looks very familiar.

It should they fly around outside lights and the reason you dont want one on your garden.

[pmcgrady]

I use 1 gallon tin cans that I get for free from a local meals on wheels center when I'm planting out.
I push them about 2 inches into soil around tomatoes and peppers. Preventing cutworms and grubs from reaching plant? Not sure, but it does protect young plants from wind, heats up quicker as the sun warms the cans, and sometimes helps watering, I just fill the cans up with water and let it seep into the ground. Cans will last 3 or 4 years.

[b54red]

Since I started sticking a couple of toothpicks in the ground right beside my plants as soon as I plant them I have had no more trouble with cutworms. I may try putting them in the solo cups before planting to ease my back pain from stooping and putting toothpicks down by every plant.

Thanks for the idea. Seems so obvious. Why didn't I see it before?


Bill

[peebee]

I had a cut worm on steroids once, it pushed aside the toothpicks and bit off one of my precious seedlings so now I use nails as I have an unlimited supply. They're easier to pick out once the plant is larger too. For good measure, I also surround the stem with a clothespin or one of the plant clips sold in bag fulls at the 99 Cent Store.

[oakley]

This remind me i need to start crawling around the house to train for 'garden-back'.

I've never found a good consistent method for cutworms. T-p and p-towel rolls cut into 4" sections has worked. I ripped the bottoms off of styrofoam cups one year but i don't use those anymore. Looking at google image, keyword 'cutworm collar'...i see nothing really new. Foil might be the easiest since it wold take just a pinch and if a few layers thick by folding could be re-used.
hmmm...

I can't use t-p rolls this year since my new rescue pup thinks they are the best toy...comes running when he hears the roll being change so i blew that choice,

[TC_Manhattan]

For cutworms, I use plastic drinking straws, cut to length (maybe 4-5 inches or so),
then cut lengthwise one cut so you can put the split straw around tomato stem like a C.
Place half the length under the soil. As the stem grows, the straw just opens around it while still giving it protection from cutworm jaws.

Plastic drinking straws are $.88 for 100 at Walmart.

I did this last year and didn't lose a single plant out of 34.
Works!

(Sorry I have no photos, but the straw fits the stem like a sleeve, if you can picture it in your mind's eye.)

[ChiliPeppa]

TC_Manhattan that sounds like a great idea. I will try that one next year. (Got most everything planted out now.)

[b54red]

Originally Posted by ChiliPeppa

TC_Manhattan that sounds like a great idea. I will try that one next year. (Got most everything planted out now.)

Get a pack of round toothpicks and put two down next to each stem and you will stop them with very little effort. I use them on almost everything I set out and the results have been phenomenal for such little effort and cost.

Bill