I am likely not going to make a lot of friends by saying this but I work too hard to grow my plants so if it is Chemicals or bugs I am choosing the chemicals ..I reccomend Spectracide One and Done it will hammer the cutworms and grubs that soon turn into voracious beetles
cut worm take over
LOL, I couldn't have said better, Lizzie. They are filthy thick this year!
I used a bit of DE to get the green beans to get them going, and will probably use some more on the tomatoes after this next round of storms. But, yes they are attacking everything, even the onions!
Like Josephine, I usually just give it some time and the spiders and wasps start to catch up with eating the worms. But this year is strange, I have no wasps. Our place always has thousands of giant red wasps and dirt daubers...I've barely seen a dozen this spring. Where did they go?
This message was edited Apr 14, 2012 7:15 PM
Cocoa, they're all hanging out at my house!
saw a website says 'kaolin clay' and De has limited successes, and Florida has a new armyworm control named Dimilin- looks like a growth regulator and doesn't harm the other bugs- ND had a site that had a list of stuff to use to combat them and www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/pests/e830 was the link if it will work, but it had some hardcore info on them
After supper this evening (about 9pm) I went out and picked the varmits (whatever they are) (they look like cutworms but they are really army worms like 1lisac said because they do eat the entire plant) for a couple of hours - mostly off the potato plants, blackberries and the mustard that I am letting go to seed. They have chewed some of the new stems of the blackberries completely in two. My daughter came out and helped me pick them off for about an hour. (IOW, there were enough worms on our garden to take three hours of picking.)
It has been very windy here today too (we are just west of Wichita Falls in north central TX) so I didn't spray anything yet. (And they said it might rain.) But also I am reluctant to spray because I see lots of ladybugs and their larva on my plants taking care of the aphids for me. And there are plenty of spiders (I like spiders) that are hunting pests for me so don't want to kill them.
I know what you mean, Grits! We all work too hard in our gardens to have them eaten up by these varmits. Think I'll keep hand picking and look into the Dimilin that Kittriana mentioned. I am not giving in to them.
Cocoa_lulu, does the DE work? (does it kill army worms?)
found it again washingtonifas.ufl.edu/agriculture_army_worm.shtml or http://rcrec-ona.ifas.ufl.edu/in-focus/IF7-1-08.shtml hope this helps
well, one of em worked anyway, chuckl
I don't know what this is but it has been munching and pooping all over my swisschard. I just cut it down and hope the rain will clean it off
bananna - looks like the army worms. They make a mess.
They are hitting super heavy this year- and NOT just in Texas- that is an army worm bananna- and they eat anything green check out the other plants -if you have them on one, they run in masses so you'll have em everywhere theres green stuff,
daggum cut worm took out my tomato plant. Grrrr. Tin foil barrier is working on my test plant so far (it was previously covered in army worms) so I think that may work for me.
I didn't put collars on the maters this year. I thought I was past them taking down my tomatoes, but apparently not. Instead of cutting them off at the base, they are climbing to the top and beheading them. punks.
Ladypearl, you asked if the DE kills them. It's supposed to dehydrate/kill them by causing microscopic cuts all over them. It still fairly labor intensive since rain makes it ineffective, then you have to reapply. I don't want to use 7 dust, so I'm willing to apply it.
Careyanna ~ I lost on healthy mater plant to being cut off just under the soil surface. I am irritated as I am a small scale gardener. I am trying to plant the stem deeper and see if it will reroot.... sometimes.
I'm with you podster. Small scale myself with only 2 4'x4' raised beds. I have a total of 5 tomato plants - and the one that got cut was my only cherry tomato! Grrr. I did the same with mine. I'm really bummed because it just started flowering on Wednesday.
If you put two little sticks close on either side of the plant stem the cut worm can't wrap itself around the stem and will not be able to cut your plant.
These are the worms my daughter and I got last night.
If you dont get an ID you might try the Bug ID forum. Not sure exactly what the forum is called.
THAT IS GROSS! IS THAT ALL OF THEM?
That is a lot, I can see why you are upset, but I admire you for trying.
That is only what we found Saturday evening. I have been killing them for about a week now and have gotten many times that amount (but fed them to the chickens without getting a picture.)
It's not supposed to rain tonight so I am going to try the Dipel and another brand of bt spray again. Maybe there were so many before that even if the Dipel did help by killing some of them, I couldn't tell it. That site that Stephanie mentioned said those moths can lay 1200 to 1500 eggs.
Actually it depends on what kind of moth it is, some lay only 700 eggs. Any which way, they lay a lot of eggs.
That's gross!! You're a stronger person than I am! I wouldn't have the heart to touch them.
those are army worms
I know there are many different kinds, the ones I had were black. So glad I can use the past tense. What are they the larva for? I have a bunch of pest paperwork , but I can't find it and this is the first time Ive really needed it. Lol
If it is truly cutworms and you are small scale then just wrap a pice of foil around each stem at or just below ground level seems to me they prefer the cucurbits..never had a tomato large enough to bloom get cut..If you can't find the culprit dig around the area a little bit he will be close by..
THanks Grits... we got 1 3/4 inches of hard rain last nite. Haven't peeked at them this morning ~ I'm almost scared to...
Nice mess of cats Ladypearl. I could snatch them off my plants but I still have trouble grabbing hornworms without gloves on.
Lisa ~ there is a black cutworm.
Y'all have made me turn to my bug bible ~ Texas Critters.
There is a subterranean cutworm eating roots & stems which is the one Careyana & I have encountered. Tunnel dweller which is a black cutworm. Surface feeders which hide under mulch or soil during daylight. Climbing cutworms which hide under boards, rocks, mulch during daytime. I'm thinking that is the one Ladypearl is harvesting.
There is an old time (organic) remedy to sprinkle self rising flour around like you would a chemical treatment. Apparently they like the flour and will gorge and die. But it must be a self rising flour. If anyone tries that, please let me know if it works.
So I'm learning more than I ever wanted to know. And now, I'm working up my courage to go look at the garden this a.m.. Kristi
p.s. for the true armyworm he recommends Sevin dust or Diazanon. Armyworms are serious business.
This message was edited Apr 16, 2012 8:14 AM
For the first time, I've got red/black striped beetles eating my Salvia uliginosa (Bog Sage), Saliva Garanitica, Indigio Spire, Mealy Blue Sage, and a pair of Coreopsis plants. I would like to let them run their course, but one of the Mealy Blues looks near death and the Bog Sage is just downright pitiful. Is there any type of organic pest control I can spray on them for the time being? Or will the plants truly come back in time?
I'm with others on this topic -- why so many worms and beetles this year?
Carla
Carla, after the beetles are done you can cut the bad parts back and the plants will rebound, that is what I do for mine.
Josephine.
Thank you Grits. That's what I'll be doing this afternoon to all my veggies. Can't believe they're going after my peppers and basil too. :/
Ladypearl - you definitely are braver than me. I get grossed out seeing one. Not sure I could put a few into one bucket, let alone hundreds. Yuck!
Podster - I'll go looking for the flour tonight. They've been making such a mess of my greenery I want to see something bloom this summer, and doggonit I worked hard to improve my little veggie beds so I want something out of them!
Could it be the yeast in the self-rising flour? Expands inside of the worm and smothers it like with the snails in the beer?
Careyana,
Post a pic of your beds, please! I'm small-scale like you. You've got one more RB than I do!
That overhead frame is my trellis system for the tomatoes. I borrowed it from Cricketsgarden. She has 1,000 tomatoes growing side x side in 4 gallon pots in her greenhouse, suspended from an overhead guide line. Her tomatoes grow as close as 8" apart, and she has a bumper (commercial gardener) crop!
The frame is super EZ, and when I change up, I'll use it as a bean trellis!
Linda
Linda,
Here are my two beds. The first one is the one that lost the tomato (in back). There is also 2 peppers, 2 tomatilloes, and 4 herbs (cilantro, oregano, rosemary, parsley). The pepper plant on the right side is so beat up from the caterpillars. The bottle is protecting my cucumbers. The second bad has four tomatoes and a beat up basil. The front tomato got the aluminum foil treatment earlier in the week.
Podster, that is a good idea about self rising flour. I am going to see if I have any and use it tonight! I have been out picking them tonight (morning actually). Just came in for a cup of hot chocolate (taking a break.) They seem sluggish tonight so maybe the Dipel and bt mix I sprayed last night is making them feel bad. But there are still so many of them and our yard is so big that there's a lot of area that didn't get sprayed. Sure hope the flour trick works....
They are eating the mullein plants even though the leaves are very fuzzy
1lisac, did you have the army worms for only one year? I am concerned that now that they have invaded this area they may come back next year.
Loonie1, is this the first year you have had a problem with that kind of beetle? What kind of a beetle is it?
Carey, I don't know if it is bravery or just wanting to get back at these rascals that are chewing my beautiful plants down to the bare stems (and then they chew the stems in two.) The hand picking is working though. Even though there are more every night, there are fewer of them than before. I have learned the best way to get them: for plants with a lot of stems, like potatoes and petunias, I shake the plants and brush against the stems and they fall right off and curl into a circle like cutworms do when they hit the ground. They are easy to see lying there under the plants so I just grab'em and throw them in the bucket of water. (I'm wearing a head light so I can see even though it's dark outside. )
For single stem plants I put my hand under the worm and use my thumb to pull it off the plant and into my hand and have the water bucket right there to drop them in.
Okay, I better get back out there...
No serious cut worm problem so far for me but I am quite a bit north of Y'all so can just see them nasty things here a little later ..yesterday I found one of the little orange like moths that lay the eggs for the squash vine borers,it was actually laying it's eggs in the soil ..Very strange sight it seemed to be doing a strange kind of wigglely motion so I picked it up and there was a little cluster of eggs under it ,,I smashed the moth and scooped up the eggs and spread both on a hard dry surface in the sun.. My friend in California was digging in his raised beds and found a horde of cutworms which he fed to the Bluebirds he doesn't have anything started yet so figures to have it under control before planting..Ladypearl you keep on picking as soon as the fog lifts I am heading for the Spectracide ...
Kristi, who is the author of Texas Critters? Sounds like a handy book to have :0)
Ladypearl, are your chickens free ranged? So sorry, I thought they were bad here. You have an infestation and are a true plant warrior!
Carla, can you get a picture of the beetles? Some black and red beetles are good guys, but I have a hard time telling the difference. I've never had anything eat salvias and really curios to see what you have.
I was curious on Carlas' beetle too.
The author is Bill Zak http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Texas-Critters-Household/dp/0878336125
It is written with humor and covers the common pests we might run into...
Ladypearl ~ working days and hunting nights? You must be exhausted with a long garden season ahead. Hang in there!
I have lots of luck with organic products from this site: http//:www.arbico-organics.com You can search for a product by the problem you're having. I'm already seeing lots of baby grasshoppers this year, along with all of the other "bad" bugs. Even the mosquitoes are already bad.
I had black army worms just that one year, but they didnt look like that. They were black and fuzzy.
Pod-I know there are 3-4 types of cutworms and one is black. I just never heard of cutworms in such numbers.
Maybe Im confusing them.
In any case, with that many worms to pick, I'd need a SPOTLIGHT, GOGGLES, HEAVY DUTY GLOVES, and a SHOTGUN, just in case...to go outside at night to tackle those things.
One or two I could stomach. I think I'd throw up after about 20 of them in my bucket.
I don't like maggots, either....
I'll try to get a photo of the red/black striped beetles this weekend. They are all over the Bog Sage and Salvia Garanitica, so I thought that's what was causing the damage. I sure hope they're not a "good" bug! I haven't seen anything except these beetles on the affected plants, so have no idea what else could be causing the damage.
Carla
Here are the beetles. The single beetle is on a Sunflower and the 2 Beetles are on the Bog Sage (you can really see the damage they are doing to the Bog Sage). The 3rd photo is a Sunflower, just to show the damage. I haven't seen any other insects or worms on these plants, so it has to be these Beetles doing this damage, right? Nothing I have sprayed has stopped them at all. They are really reeking havoc with the Bog Sage, but are also damaging Salvia Garanitica, Mealy Blue, Salvia Greggii, Coreopsis, and you can see some damage on the Cigar Plant which is under the Sunflower frond. I hope someone can ID them. If they are soon to run their course, I will ignore them. But it is hard to ignore such damage. :-(
Carla
