Cutworms

[Hector]

We are cultivating ground that has been an uncultivated field , with occasional grazing on it.....clearing it has been backbreaking with Couch matted above and below ground...with buttercup and Spikey weeds.

We have dug it over and got out as much weed roots as we can by hand.....the fields around us (not ours, still have a border of Couch/weeds beside our fence.

I posted on here that my Strawberry plants were being munched. we have gone over a third of a 15 by 10 foot bed by have and taken out 60 cutworms.

Is it achievable to eradicate/control these with mature weeds in the vicinity?
hope so!

[Hector]

[woodypecks]

I have the same problem...our neighbours field has nettles, docks and thistles which will be five or six feet tall by end of summer and when the wind blows my heart sinks to see all the seeds floating across into my vegetable garden and field which has to be kept free of these weeds ,since it has to be cut for hay.. . hmph....I,m thinking of putting windbreak mesh along the fence ....expensive though .
My vegetable garden was just a paddock when we first moved here ...and I found that by regularly cutting the grass ,the big weeds were not so bad after all. I marked out the beds .Some of the vegbeds I weeded out and dug over myself and some I just covered over with old newspapers and cardboard ,grass clippings etc and left until all had broken down ready to plant . 

[Hector]

thanks Woodypecks. I'm confident we can sort the weeds as we are religiously working our clogs off and picking them off as they reappear....the initial removing has been hardest slog.


It's the eradication of cutworms that's really worrying me.

[ancellsfarmer]

It seems that you are not allowed to use the substance once deployed for their control. Bromophos

Some control is possible by twilight patrol with a torch, as they are mainly nocturnal.


Through Auntie GOOGLE>

• Sprinkle cornmeal # around your garden. Cutworms love it but can't digest it. Some will die from overeating the treat.
• Make a mixture of molasses (another vice), water, wheat bran, and hardwood sawdust. Circle plants with this glop. It dries on the cutworms' bodies and immobilizes them.
#Maize flour
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/natural-pest-control-zmaz87mazgoe.aspx#ixzz33EdSPEci

[Hector]

Thank you, I also found this
http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/cutworms-151771.pdf

Here's hoping that the grassland around us gets some TLC now it's solid, to help break the cycle.
I can't believe how many we found!
Jackie

[Hector]

we caught another 65 today in a similar sized, adjacent area....scary! Mr Robin is very grateful :)

[Gordonmull]

My #1 pest this spring. They don't just hide in the soil. Underneath plant pot rims and in between module cells are fair game too. Another favorite place is in the first 1/2" of soil around the inside of pots.

I've just learned to live with them since I realised their annoying existence. I accept I'll lose a few plants to them, so I sow extra, and try to avoid direct sowing where i can. I plant out when the damage won't kill the plant and the cutworm can then be found and disposed of.

If you've got the stomach, a systemic insecticide might be a good recourse, just until you bring the population under control, and then switch back to less extreme methods next year.

[Hector]

Any of you used this?
http://www.greengardener.co.uk/product.asp?id_pc=22&cat=73

[Gordonmull]

Nope but I'm very dubious of novel cure-alls. Also, assuming you're only growing even 6 months of the year it's only going to cost £162 to use their magic cure. It's different for everyone, but I grow to save money, so I'd not be going there.

[Hector]

That is dear! I would be very interested to hear if it works though, as the range of pests it's meant to cover seems huge!

We are continuing with the dig method, and the Robin is loving it.