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Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 4:34
| I planted some Melon seedlings about 5 inches tall, and something chews right through the stem. It's not like giant bites out of it. Whatever it is leaves some of the vertical lengthwise strands of the stem without breaking them, it just turns split and stringy like when you untwist part of a polyester rope but it is definitely missing some strands of plant matter from the stem. I already planted around a dozen one after the other and almost all have had this happen. They end up not completely dead, and just yellowing for a week, then it dies and dries up. I don't have any plants now so no photos sorry. Stems around half diameter of pencil. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by lazygardens PhxAZ%3A Sunset 13 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 4:58
| "cutworms" ... soil-dwelling insect larvae that emerge at night to look for food. Place a guard around the plant - embedded in the soil on one end and a couple of inches high. A ring of folded newspaper will work, so does a plastic cup with the bottom cut off, or a ring cut from a milk carton. When the stems are thickened, remove the guard |
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| Aluminum foil is what I use. easier to use and get the size you want. overlap it and the stem will pull it open with growth |
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| You can still plant seeds. I find plants grown directly from seed tend to be less susceptible to cutworms, although I have no absolute evidence of this. Melons don't much like transplanting anyway. |
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