Insect Pests

Climbing cutworms strip foliage from many vegetables. - Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, www.insectimages.org

The black cutworm, also called the greasy cutworm, is gray to brown to nearly black with a broken yellow line on the back and a pale line on each side. It loves corn and tomatoes, cutting them off at the base during the night. - University of Georgia Archives, the University of Georgia, www.insectimages.org

The bronzed cutworm is a pest of corn in the North. - Clemson University USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, www.insectimages.org

Cutworms are fat, soft, smooth caterpillars that do their damage at night when you are not looking. One of the worst is the black cutworm that chews through the base of your newly set transplants like a saw chops a tree. Others are climbing cutworms that climb up the plant to feed on stems, leaves, and fruit. Army cutworms arrive in masses and can chew through a row of vegetables quickly; they are most common in the West.

To control climbing and army cutworms, dust plants with Sevin according to label directions. Black cutworms are harder to control because they don’t climb on the leaves. The best way to protect plants against them is to create a barrier around the plant. You can cut out the bottom of a 6- or 8-ounce plastic cup and trim the top down so that all you have left is a ring about 3 inches tall. Slip it over the plant and push it an inch or so into the ground so that it is firmly fixed. The result is a little fence that protects the transplant from the worm.