I am on a mission to catch(or at least identify) a very annoying pest in my garden. All started with my young cabbages started from seeds under tulle cover in the garden. When plants got first true leaves I first noticed big holes on the side of them. Then several plants were eaten from the bottom up - like somebody chewed whole steam and let the leaves just fall. I inspected for slugs, cutworms at night and didn't find any. I covered my survived cabbages with plastic bottles with top and bottom cut and damage stopped. So I though I won. Then I started to see the same thing - eaten stem and leaves left alone on the turnips(under tulle cover ), young lettuce was eaten one by one... I lost 2 baby alpine strawberry plants started from seeds as well. An again, not any indication on the pest presence. All beds are free of any weeds. From what I red about it it could be cutworms or grubs(I see some when I dig in spring and kill every single one I find)(Though I really don't understand how they come out of the soil to it the stem without any holes made around the plant eaten, because the root is actually still in the ground!). And I couldn't find any bugs on the soil at all. Anybody knows for sure what these pests are? And how to fight them?

I use collars made of plastic cups for many of my plants, but haven't figured out a strategy for rows of onions and peas. I may try bT since they are caterpillars.

I don't know how they winter over - they are the caterpillars of moths, and they may winter over as larvae in the soil(?)

I was just planning to dust the stems and leaves with Bt since they must eat it to die. With most caterpillars, Bt works best on smaller ones.

I have occasionally had earwigs with larger plants, but haven't found them a problem in my garden with small plants.

Could be some other type of caterpillar though. So, BT would be in order. Diatomaceous earth can be used for cutworms but it's ineffective when wet(and is indiscriminate towards beneficials); and the toothpick trick is 100% since I started doing it. And yes, cutworms are from previous seasons.

I agree with above though. Sounds like it might be a critter and some nighttime investigation is on the agenda.

Kevin

I also found this about how to use BT on cutworms:

Spraying seedlings is not a good way to control cutworms since the cutworms can easily kill your plants before they have a chance to eat enough BTK to kill them. However, you can make a bait with BTK by mixing it with bran or rolled oats and molasses. Sprinkle the bait on the planting area several days before planting. Since the area will have no plants yet, the cutworms will feed on the bait and hopefully die before your plants go in.

And no, it is not rabbits) Never met the rabbit that is only interested in stem 1/8 inches long.

I am almost sure that it is cutworms... Just didn't see any yet. It is now 9:15 PM and I just came home with a flash light from the garden. One more reason for my neighbors to discuss the bugs... in my head)

dave

dave