Protect Your Vegetable Garden From Cutworms

When you discover damage to your vegetable seedlings, observe the damage first. If the damage was caused by a cutworm, the stem will be partially or completely cut off close to the ground. The leaves may be wilted. Cutworms tend to wrap their bodies around the stems of plants while close to the ground. If there is leaf damage from chewing, look for another culprit.

Dig with your fingers around the base of the cut-off plant. The cutworm should be close by the plant, hidden under loose clumps of garden soil or under leaves. Crush any cutworms underfoot or place them in a can with hot water and dish soap to kill them.

There are several ways to protect the undamaged seedlings in the garden. Place cleaned tin cans around the remaining plants, making sure the plant is in the center of the can. Press the can down into the soil to a depth of about two inches with two or more inches of the can above ground.

Plastic yogurt cups or drink cups will also work to keep cutworms from damaging your vegetables. Cut the bottoms off the containers with the box cutter. Then place them around the plants in the same manner as the tin can protectors.

Another ready resource you can use to guard your garden plants from cutworms is cardboard paper towel and toilet paper tubes. Cut the cardboard tubes into four inch sections with scissors before inserting them into the ground around each of your plants. Plastic soda straws can be slit lengthwise, cut to the size needed, and slipped around the stem of seedlings before they are transplanted into the garden.

Other methods of preventing cutworms from destroying plants include wrapping the stems of vegetable seedlings about to be transplanted with strips of newspaper or aluminum foil.

Scattering a substance like dried crushed eggshells or unscented kitty litter around the base of the plants will keep cutworms away from your vegetables by creating a sharp surface which will slice into the underbelly of the worm. 

Sticks may be inserted into the ground beside the plant stem with two inches of their length below ground and two or more inches above ground.

Attract parasitic wasps and tachnid flies to your vegetable garden by planting flowers which attract them. Birds and these insects are natural enemies of cutworms and the parent moths which lay the eggs that produce the cutworms.

There are several other methods to cut cutworms off from their nocturnal munching in your garden. Try several until you find one that works for you.