Texas Gardening: cutworm / fall army worm?, 1 by Gypsi

Gypsi wrote:
given the size of my broccolis and the sheer number - I've got over 30 out there, I settled for sprinkled crumbled eggshells topped by sprinkled partly composted oak leaves, with a tooth pick or twig next to each.

And after dark I put out the bait I made for the cutworms. Just molasses,wheat bran and oak sawdust, supposed to stick to their bodies and keep them from burrowing in the morning so the birds get them.

Mockingbird was out there yesterday morning, all my efforts MIGHT have been unnecessary. But I did not lose more plants last night, they look good this morning. Don't see any worms in the bait, still see the bait. time will tell. I lost almost everything I planted in this area this year, strawberries lived, large roma tomatoes lived, but the rest died and died and the roly polies got the blame. this time it was clearly fresh cutworm I think, since armyworms would have eaten more of the plants they cut. Photo shows my romas, with strawberries in the back, taken in August. But many cucumbers and beans in the middle all were eaten as soon as they came up.
I see one cucumber vine in the pic, it never produced much. Broccoli is where the romas are, and all the way up to the roses on the fence.

This message was edited Oct 29, 2013 9:36 AM