Cutworms killing my pepper seedlings, 50 plants killed so far, HELP!

[Chasdev]

It's Monday April 14 as I type this.
I bought an infested poblano pepper at the garden center three weeks ago and when I bought it I noticed some leaves that looked like they had been cut with sissors.
Should have walked away, I bought live cutworms from the garden center, thanks for that guys.
I had 70 jalapeno starters I grew from seeds and am down to 20 this morning, and have been losing 10 a night.
If I use organic cutworm killer they will finish off my crop before they die from injesting the poison.
How can I kill them NOW?
I read that I should sit up at night with a flashlight and nab them one at a time but I seek vengence on the tribe not individual kills.
My plan was to eat organic peppers this year (my new "thing" is no pesticides on my food) so I'm in a quandry as to which way to jump AND if I can stop the elimination of all my carefully nurtured seedlings tonight without dashing my no chemical pesticide pipe dream.
I

 

[ddufore]

Cut rings of cardboard from paper towel or toilet paper cores about 2” in length. Make a slit in these rings so that you can open them and put these around the plants by pushing them into the soil about an inch. Plants should be protected from cutworms that usually do their damage at ground level. Hope this helps.

 

[okie sawbones]

It is called Bifenthrin XTS. No more pests. Organic, meh.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I lost 13 of my 24 tomato plants last year from cutworms. And they did not attack seedlings, they chewed on plants that were mature, 2 and 3 foot tall.

So this year .............. the red Solo cup will work, but the cottage cheese container is better.

I have no personal experience that this works, but many people on gardening forums I visit say it does.

 

[Smokin Okie]

And I am trying these 6" pots but they're very thin ( and cheap ) . And my tomato plant here, is suffering from frost burn.

 

[chef k-dude]

I feel ya...cutworms suck. I never had them this early in the season (Virginia). Looks like they dont overcome barriers at the base like the other commenters say.

Sawbones' comment was funny, but so true. To each their own as they say.

My solution was to raze my garden and quit. Not just for cutworms, they were only one small part of the attacks on my garden.. When the squirrels decided they love tomatoes...after a year of slaughtering squirrels by the dozens and only seeing more coming...I was out.

I suggest you completely eliminate/destroy everything. All of the plants, soil, all of it and start over. You dont tell us where you are but the season is young here. Plenty of time to restart. "organic" can be a tough road, but there are a lot of "organic" pesticides out there. I remember one called Captain Jacks Dead Bug and of course there is Neem, etc.. there ARE some non-organic chemicals that have proven to not be bad for you, but some people latch on to the "organic" thing...and hey, if that's your thing, roll with it.

As far as mature cutworms, you can learn to look for their poop. They really leave large poop, like the size of mice. It's a dead giveaway. It's easier to see their poop than the worms because they blend in so well with the plants (by "organic" design"). I used to walk my garden twice a day during "cutworm season" looking for signs, carrying small garden scissors and find them and just cut them in half, laughing like a madman as their green ooze poured from them. Yes, gardening made me crazy...thats why I stopped!

 

[Smokin Okie]

Naaww, since last season, I've done extensive internet searching on cutworms.

They are seasonal. They're the larvae of a moth that's active in the winter months at night. The moth lays eggs on grass, usually, or " deciduous " matter. When the weather warms in the spring , the eggs hatch. Its generally over a short period , maybe 2 to 4 weeks when they're active.

They live in the ground or buried in mulch in the daytime, but come out at night. They crawl along the ground until they find something to chew on. Its rare if they crawl up the plant.

I've not considered a chemical treatment, because it would have to contact the worm. I've got doubts just spraying the ground around the plants, would get to the cutworms.

I'm very comfortable with what I've done above. My Dad wrapped the stalks of his plants with foil. Last year I used plastic straws on my peppers and did not suffer any losses. I've done the same with my peppers this year.

 

[Straw_Sticks_Bricks]

For a pesticide free option I'd try diatomaceous earth. It is the ground up shells of microscopic sea creatures. To a human it feels like chalk, to insects it acts like broken glass and cuts up their exoskeletons. We use it in our chicken coop to keep mites and other crawlies out. It seems to work really well. Just sprinkle the dust all around and on the plants. We wear dust masks when applying it in the coop, but outdoors I don't know if you'd need/want to.

 

[Chasdev]

Update/more info..
All my jalapenos and sweet corn starters are in single pots on large metal trays.
The offender/s hit one large pot three feet away from the main grouping up on a platform I constructed to get it near a grow lamp.
Then it/they hit 10 of the jalapenos in small pots which were on a table a few feet away from the the large pot and three feet above the floor, so it had to crawl across two feet of 2x12 deck boards spaced 1/4 inch apart, (which fact makes me think this in not your normal dirt living cutter worm),
AND then again three feet up on a shelf where some corn starters are under a grow lamp.
All of this is on my screen porch not outside in the garden.
No sign of scat, of any kind, that I can tell from tiny piece of dirt/soil.
I watched a youtube on detecting them in containers, which was to submerge the pots in water to force the critter to exit the dirt to keep from drowning.
That video was very convincing, his cutters came right out and were easy to pick off.
I just finished dunking 50 starter pots and holding them under water for two minutes each..No worms appeared.
My take is that they (or it) travels around and climbs up the sides of the pots to get at the starters. and while they may live in the soil and pop out at night, which is indeed when they attacked me, this version is "oscar mike" and can climb VERY well with an acute sense of where dinner is located on my porch.
Sooo, WTF, over.

Update II, I can apply stuff that will kill it after they eat it and my plants, but tomorrow the jalapenos won't be alive to benefit from the slow acting treatments like diatoms or bacteria both of which kill but not fast enough to save them tonight.

Updated again..

This is a good re-creation of the layout last night, except the empty shelves were full of corn starters and the jalapenos were on the rolling table.
That dude did some traveling.
The single pot raised up to the right of the now empty shelves was where a large jalapeno got the axe.

 

[Fueling Around]

I have no idea what is killing your seedlings. Are thy indeed cut off or are they just dropping over and dying? I'm thinking you're getting clamping off?

Bt or Bacillus thuringiesis is a very effective organic caterpillar pesticide and extremely safe.
You put out bait stations around protected plants.

It is called Bifenthrin XTS. No more pests. Organic, meh.

Bifenthrin is a very effective pyrethroid pesticide. However, the XTS formulary is not rated for food crops. The carrier is toxic, not the Bifenthrin itself.

 

[Chasdev]

Cut clean off with the stem with branches and leaf still intact, but lying in the dirt next to where the stem came out of same.
BTW, I'm in Austin so the grow season is limited to when it gets Africa hot and noting but nothing will bear fruit.

 

[Smokin Okie]

That does not sound like the cutworms I've learned about or experienced in the past.

IDK.

 

[Winterrider]

Any form of security camera or similar that could set by the plant and see what the culprit actually is? Just a thought

 

[Chasdev]

Ahh, worm cam!
I wish but no joy with the worm survelance deal.
I'm fixing to apply thuricide, but Neem oil and Spinosad must taste like BBQ sauce to them, as I've hosed the pots, soil and every inch of the plants themselves over an over.
Last bit of data is that this started outside on my potting bench so I started moving all of them onto the screen porch to try to dodge them, but they followed onto the porch.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I gotta think whatever is doing this, is in your potting soil.

Last year, I wondered if the eggs were in the mulch I used, which was cottonseed hulls.

Here's what they were doing to my mature tomato plants last year. Its said, that they wrap around seedlings and cut them down. Well, these stalks were too large for that, so they just chewed on them.

I've pulled back the mulch in this pic. The plants just starting wilting and slowly died. I was befuddled. Cutworms were the last thing I thought of cuz they were only suppose to attack seedlings. Until I pulled back the mulch on one plant and found a cutworm, curled into a " C " position.

 

[Chasdev]

I gotta think whatever is doing this, is in your potting soil.

Last year, I wondered if the eggs were in the mulch I used, which was cottonseed hulls.

Here's what they were doing to my mature tomato plants last year. Its said, that they wrap around seedlings and cut them down. Well, these stalks were too large for that, so they just chewed on them.

I've pulled back the mulch in this pic. The plants just starting wilting and slowly died. I was befuddled. Cutworms were the last thing I thought of cuz they were only suppose to attack seedlings. Until I pulled back the mulch on one plant and found a cutworm, curled into a " C " position.


View attachment 716645

Me too BUT I did an exam of the dirt in last night’s murdered pots and nothing nada zip.
After examining the dirt under a lamp I tossed it in a 5 gal bucket of water,stirred and ran through a colander.
Still nothing.
A mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.

 

[chef k-dude]

Correction. My apologies. I was thinking cutworm but it's actually the horn worm that was attacking my plants.

They will cut a stem clean off like it was scissors. They drop sizeable poop like I said before so they let you know where they are or have been. They do climb and can be found anywhere in the foliage.

 

[Chasdev]

Evening update and plan of defense or at least a way to find out if the maruader comes from the soil in the pots or from outside.

 

[DougE]

If you want to keep organic, the cup rings work fine. Other than that, water the plants in with an insecticide called Macho (Admire is the non-generic version, I believe) at planting time. You can also water in planted seeds with it for the same effect.

It's a systemic insecticide that will be absorbed by the plant and also protect it from pests later on in the season.

 

[Fueling Around]

I'm still at a loss for the cause.
I've never seen cutworms mobile enough to jump from cup to cup. They are a big grub that simply wallows in the soil.
I've been fighting squash vine borer for a few years, but they are a later season pest and stay with squash family not the tomato and pepper family

I'm fixing to apply thuricide, ...

Thuricide is simply a trademarked label for Bt.
Purchase it as any product that lists the active ingredient of "Bt".
Store as recommended on the label and remember to agitate it now and then. The carrier is mostly molasses to keep the bacteria fed
It also does not keep from year to year unfortunately. Make sure you purchase fresh product.

Correction. My apologies. I was thinking cutworm but it's actually the horn worm that was attacking my plants.
..

Easily stopped with Bt