Flood out Cutworms

Flood out Cutworms

Nov, 2011 ..... This fall the cutworms have been especially bad. They ate up all my sprouting turnip green plants, most of my rutabaga, and a lot of my lettuce. Some of my garden plantings are in raised containers as old coolers, washing machine tubs, etc. For those I have found that flooding the containers can cause the cutworm larvae to move or surface so I can find them, and destroy them. Other plants like collards, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, etc. are planted inside plastic collars cut from 2-liter soda bottles. These plantings can easily be flooded to find and remove cutworm larvae from inside the plastic collar.

In addition to enabling one to find cutworm larvae, the collars also allow one to quickly water individual plants by pouring water inside the collar, and to conserve water by just adding water to the collars, instead of the whole container area.

The cutworm larvae appear to be around later this year ...... because of warming trend??

Adrian R. Lawler,   (C) 2011 --