Few things are as heartbreaking as finding your young seedlings or transplants "beheaded" and laying on the ground in the garden, their stems gnawed off just above ground level.
You've got cutworms and if you don't take action fast, you're likely to loose many other young plants.
Cut worms are caterpillars that live over winter in the soil and reappear in spring to feast on your tender young plants before burrowing back into the soil and emerging as rather benign night-flying moths.
They can completely destroy a crop in a single night if the infestation is bad enough.
Fortunately, there are measures you can take to get them out of your garden without using harsh or toxic chemicals.
Although they and the damage they cause are most visible in spring, begin your eradication program in mid summer.
There are already larvae in the soil then and you may be able to prevent them from living long enough to damage your plants the following spring.
Here are 7 ways to deal with cut worms that don't require the use of chemicals: Plow fallow areas and garden paths in mid to late summer.
This will prevent them from laying eggs in the undisturbed soil.
Plow all unplanted areas in fall and plow all areas as you remove the faded plants at season's end.
This exposes any larvae to air and sun, which is fatal.
It also buries the pupae deep enough to "trap" them in the depths of the soil and prevent them from reaching the surface the following spring.
Cultivate in spring after weeds have reached a height of a few inches.
Plow under spring-grown weeds and do not seed or transplant the area for a week to 10 days.
This effectively starves the pupae by removing their food source.
Place a toothpick or large nail right next to the stem, so the two are actually touching.
Cut worms encircle the plant before settling down to eat it.
They will move on if a foreign object like a toothpick or nail interferes with them cozying up to the plant's stem.
Remove the foreign object after the plant grows a little and the stem becomes tougher.
Wrap a paper, cardboard or aluminum foil collar around stems.
This is the same principle as the toothpick or nail.
Wrap the collar around the stem for about 4 inches above the soil line and bury about 2 inches below the surface of the soil.
You can also use an empty paper cup with the bottom cut out by threading the transplant through the paper cup before planting it in the ground.
This prevents the cut worms from reaching the plant stem.
Once the plants grow a little larger and aren't so tender and succulent, you can safely remove the collars.
Plant a trap crop of sunflowers; cut worms love them.
Plant them in a ring around your garden.
The cut worms will gobble up the sunflowers and most likely leave your garden plants alone.
Dig in the soil around beheaded plants and manually destroy the little pests.
This is a very effective way of getting rid of cut worms.
Check in about a one foot radius around any plants that are victims of cut worm activity.
Do this early in the morning.
Turn over any rocks or clods of soil and you'll most likely find the offender.
Remove and manually destroy using the method of your choice.
Copyright Sharon Sweeny, 2009.
All rights reserved.