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GARDENING TIPS HOME
FRESH FLOWER & VEGETABLE SEEDS |
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How To Organically Control Cutworms In
Your Garden
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Remember one of the biggest reasons
we garden is to grow delicious healthy
chemical free produce. If you try hard
enough there is usually a more organic
approach to dealing with pests in your
garden. Spraying chemical's and poisons on
your garden can lead to chemicals and
poisons leaching into the environment
including your own well water. Always research
and try an organic solution to your pest
problem first. One place to start is
Gardens Alive! These folks have a catalog loaded
with many organic gardening products. They
have found ingenious organic solutions to
almost any garden pest you may encounter. I
really suggest starting there for answers to your
garden pest problems. |
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An ounce of
prevention goes a long way. One method of
cutworm prevention is rotor tilling your
garden once it has been harvested. In fact
it's a good idea to rotor till every row
once it has been harvested. Moths come into
your garden at night and lay eggs on
vegetation. This happens with a variety of
moths/pests throughout the growing season.
Rotor tilling your plants into the garden
soil makes moths look elsewhere for the
plant they need to lay eggs on. One pest
that gets us here in the sandy soil is cut
worms. Moths lay eggs on vegetation late in
the garden season. If not properly
controlled they can cause pure devastation
to a wide variety of fresh tender garden
plants. They don't seem to be very
discriminative. Taking out anything from
peppers, tomato's and onions just to name a
few
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Another way to
control cutworms is by putting some type of
barrier just under the ground around the
stalk of each plant. This is hard work but
necessary if you already have a cut worm
problem. Some people use toilet paper roll
centers cut to about 2-3 inches long. You
will need to make a cut in the ring to get
it around the plant stem. Others use wax paper etc. The idea
is to create a barrier around the base of
the plant where cutworms strike. Cutworms
like to saw plants completely off just below
the soil surface. Blocking them from this
area of your tender plants keeps them from
killing your plants. |
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Cutworms also hate moisture. If you have an
existing problem you can give your garden a
good dowse of water or wait for a good rain.
It is best to do this on a cloudy day, early
in the morning or in the evening as cutworms
don't appreciate sunlight very much. When cutworms surface and they will if
enough water is applied you can see their
holes. Wait a hour or 2 when the cutworms
try to return to the soil look for their
tell tale holes and simply dig them out with
your hand or a small hand shovel. Use a
sieve or other type of screen to filter out
the dirt. There will almost always be a
pesky cutworm left in the bottom of the
otherwise empty sieve. Simply remove and
squash those nasty garden pests.
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 Another organic
cutworm control method is using beneficial
nematodes. This is a biological method that
is very economical and practical for organic
and hobby gardeners.
Gardens Alive! offers
their own branded live nematodes called
Grub-AwayrNematodes North.
Beneficial nematodes are microscopic
segmented wormlike insects that attack
pest insects and all stages of their
offspring. They need a moist environment
and can be applied simply by adding them
to water and spraying them into your
soil with a common pump pressurized
sprayer. Most gardeners already have a
sprayer or two around. Just make sure
you don't use one that has some kind of
chemical or poisons in it. |
Beneficial nematodes won't harm
earthworms, birds, plants or harm the
environment. They occur naturally, but often not
in high enough concentrations to do enough help
when we as gardeners sometimes need. Spraying
your garden with beneficial nematodes is a
little more expensive then the above methods but
is highly effective if done properly. It is very
practical and allot less work than trying to
save plants that are under attack. Replacing
plants is more too. You can effectively cover
300 square feet for less than $20.00.
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About The Author:
Written By Steve Snyder
Visit my garden seed website. We offer high
quality fresh flower, vegetable and herb seed
for the home gardener.
Millington Seed Co
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