In the last week we have found LOTS of cut worms in every part of the yard and garden. They are eating the blooms on the blue flag and petunias! They are eating everything from the castor bean plants to the tomato plants. I am using Dipel, dusting sulfur and chickens to fight them (and also squishing quite a few.) I have paper cup collars at the bottom of most of the transplants so those are okay, but everything else is being attacked.
Is anybody else having this problem, and if so, what are you doing about it?
cut worm take over
Is the spray getting them? My guess is the crops near you are being treated and they are coming after you- I remember army worms munching down heavy one season while I lived in WF, had to call county extension office to find help for anyone who knew what to spray with and a rig that would reach the tops of my 40' pecans, luck
Beneficial nematodes will take care of them, but you can't use chemicals or you'll kill the nematodes.
Are you sure it's cutworms and not pill bugs? The pill bugs have been going crazy on all my plants. I put down Sluggo Plus and have seen an improvement.
I'm having serious issues with cutworms as well. I've found several in my roses, and they're after most of the plants in my front bed, as well as a couple I've found in the veggie garden. I've heard spinosad will take care of them, but pretty sure that would decimate beneficial nematodes as well.
I've found huge clumps of pill bugs on my plants. I've knocked them off and then stepped on them.
Actually we are having a problem with pill bugs as well but the cutworms (or some kind of brown and/or gray caterpillar) is doing the most damage. I have been going out at night the last few nights and found the culprits in the act. There were five fat cutworms on a single baby castor bean plant! ( It's not going to make it needless to say. )
In the daytime, as I'm weeding or planting, the caterpillars get collected and fed to the chickens since they are easy to find curled up under mulch or soil. And the pill bugs are also getting squished if I can get to them before they sneak away.
I'll keep the beneficial nematodes in mind for next year. Have been using dusting sulfur this year to keep the plants from getting eaten up before I can clean the worms from around them.
Does the spinosad come in a liquid (sprayble) form?
I have had something eating my plants, nearly all of them and many flowers as well. I don't even know what a cut worm looks like. I did see tiny darkish cats on some of the seedlings I lost. I also see a lot of pill bugs.
C
Cutworm, tomato hornworm, tobacco cutworm, not remembering what fluttery they are, would have to google it n can't find my eyeglasses yet
The Spinosad I have comes in the type of bottle you can attach to your hose. It's great for organics and ordering online is about 50% cheaper than in any of the stores around here.
https://www.google.com/search?q=spinosad&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=jfi&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=mziIT7j7GMje2AWRzIy4CQ&ved=0CHwQrQQ&biw=1024&bih=470
I wonder if Neem oil works on them? Took advantage of a Lowe's markdown a couple of years ago and have about 20 bottles of the stuff. I'll have to get another sprayer since DH broke his and stole mine!
Mine were tiny and appeared to eat the leaves. I have lots of damage all over the garden and that appears to be coming from a red/black beetle of some sort. It is eating leaves (black eyed susan and many others) and flowers(ate my hardy amaryllis up). I don't usually spray but might have to take some action if this continues.
C
Cut worms usually come out at night and cut stuff off at the stem, ground level. What you are probably seeing is Army Worms. I would assume they are easier to treat because they dont bury themselves in the ground like Cutworms do. Im not sure if Neem would work on Worms.
Cutworms and pillbugs gdo basically the same thing. They cut your seedlings off at ground level, usually at night.
Shudder- you can HEAR army worms munching- think they used a dursban solution- THIS is the warning of the heavy bugs after a mild winter you always hear abt, g' luck guys,
The black and the striped flea beetles are doing a number on all my plants as usual, they suck the juices from the leaves and the plants look like they have been burned. I usually let them run their course, soon their cycle will be over and the plants will recover, but it is very upsetting when it is happening. Patience is the key here.
I just posted this one the veggie forum, but does anybody know what eats tiny wholes in pepper and tomato leaves?
Im thinking Army worms because there are so many of them and they come in different colors (types). Usually you dont see cut worms. Just the damage they have done.
Flea beetles and pill bugs will do that. Use the cure all spray and see if that works. Just be sure to add water!!
This is the damage that I'm seeing. I think it's pill bugs because I'm seeing them everywhere!
My biggest head ache the moment is momma bunny trying to dig a nest in my raised vege bed and yes I to have a gazillion pill bugs everywhere.
Are the inch worms bad too?
I think everything with six legs is thick this year!
No pill bugs on my deck but maybe flea beetles. Could be little worms (moth or butterfly larva) but I havent seen anything and the damage is minimal.
This is an Organic Order so I cant spray with much and I dont see any new damage. Pill bugs always seem to cause problems.
The posts above made me think of Army Worms not cut worms. Mainly because of the shear #.
Lisa - I've had both in my plants. Definitely the army worms, but the cutworms have been after several as well. Phooey.
Not surprising, I just wanted to clearify my post. I know what I meant and it didnt sound clear to me. lol
From the pictures and articles that site had (Thank you Stephanie) it looks like we have black cutworms. I have never seen so many cutworms in all my life. Last night, from around midnight till 7 am this (Friday) morning, I picked the monsters off my flowers, vegetables, blackberry brambles and castor bean plants. At first I was collecting them in a jar with a lid to feed to the chickens but there were so many I got a bucket of water and was throwing them in that to drown them (so don't have to worry about them crawling out.) The chickens will still eat them even if they are drowned, btw. I went out this evening and collected another fifty or so of them. The only plants in my yard that they aren't bothering very much are the larkspur and four o'clocks, everything else they are chowing down. The Dipel does not seem to have an effect on them from what I can tell. So hand picking it will be.......
I have damage and a couple cone flowers look like they might not recover. Mine look like the pics Stephanie showed so maybe mine is from pill bugs. I still say its the red/black beetle I keep seeing.
C
There are so many out in the lawn there is no way I can hand pick them all. So these are what is known as army worms, eh? Thankfully this is my first experience with them (and hopefully my last!)
Since there are other kinds of caterpillars (yes, we also have inch worms) I may try the sprayable
spinosad or the neem - think I may have some Neem concentrate on hand already.
If only chickens would hunt at night! I would turn on flood lamps so they could take care of this problem without resorting to spraying.
Be glad you are only having a problem with the pill bugs and beetles. You don't want to deal with these caterpillars, newtonsthirdlaw.
Yep, it was probably the mild winter and nice wet spring that allowed all these pests to be so prolific.
Cutworms cut your plants off at ground level. Google Army or wire worms. They cover the whole plant and come in armys there are so many of them. I cant find my info ATM but Bt is suposed to work well on them. Its Organic which is a plus but its really supossed to work. I had them on my Sunflowers about 3 yrs ago and they made the plants actually black, there was so many of them.
I was wondering how this year would be due to the mild wet winter and the beautful temps now.
Where is Iowa Park?
this is a new one for me found it hanging on a tomato plant that is under lights on my back porch
OK -- so I'm not the only one seeing these black, little worms. They are EVERYWHERE... climbing on the side of the house... even getting INTO the house -- ugh!! Not sure HOW they got inside but I've put out those glue traps inside the house. They've eaten the tops off all my onions that I had planted in my herb garden next to the house. I was hoping to have some green onions available closer to the house.
I've ordered some Spinosad pellets -- don't know if I'm too late though.
Has there been an explanation to WHY so many this year..??.. Is it the result of all the rain we've had..??..
I pulled up some radishes yesterday and found 2 or 3 of the black cutworms. Gross!
jannz2-That sounds terrible, really. Is anybody else in your area having the same problem? You may want to contact your extension agent. Ive never heard of that. The rain probably has something to do with it...but it doesnt sound right... Where is Pilot Point?
I would spray anything possible but its too wind now. Is it windy there?
Stephanie-YUCK
Where is Josephine? We really need her.
Army worms, army cutworms, equal various types of miller moths, wasn't Dursban, took malathion to control them, and miller moths aren't good guys, geese weed plants without plant damage better than chickens. At least with webworms they crawl back to the webs at nite, army worms don't see if I can find my link
Iowa Park is north of Wichita Falls, not the rain, the winds are blowing them toward the north, I should remember whet Pilot Point is, but it escapes at the moment- they are having roundups this weekend, there are parasites that increase when the armyworms increase, but these guys can take out everything in their way,
Oh yes...RUs I forgot. Guess I could google it. One time I googled Bear Creek in Texas unbelievable amount of hits. lol It is really windy here and the air feels funny, im a walking barometer. Right now I ache all over and it makes me tired, may be time for a nap.
Armyworms are incredible in their ability to take out anything in their way. Jannz2 discription sounds really unusual tho.
Here I am Lisa, but I am afraid i won't be much help with insecticides, because I would rather have ugly plants for a while than kill the butterfly and bee population.
If they are coming into the house you might be able to spray the outside of the walls and the doorways.
I am not having the army worm problem yet at least, but I know one year they devoured all the leaves on one of my trees twice, but the tree amazingly recovered.
I actually meant the buttterfly/moth posted above. Im not concerned about the plants but on the house and in the house is completely different. That seems like it could pose a health issue besides being very strange. It sounds like a horror movie, Ive never heard of them being that bad.
We have worms that crawl up the sides of our house, too. As long as they don't come into the house, I'm okay. They're not all over the house, but just the occasional one or 2. I haven't seen any army worms this season, but it may be because we released some trichogramma wasps a couple of weeks ago.
I used to have probs with those hits- my day taught me to LOOK at the .com address on the bottom to get to the REAL site, one of these days I'll figure out how she gets the phone book online to work right. Trichigrama wasps are only thing doesn't kill the flutterbys too, everything else kills everything, they shouldn't be aroun too much longer, I know they are hitting Colorado and Kentucky areas and following the rains north.
army worms, cut ants, ugly, ugly looking worms that look SKEERY,lol....pill bugs...spiders....gnats...mosquitos...you name it...it has crawled out of the bowels of hell here,lol......they are all horrible.