Have you ever sown your seeds early in the spring indoor and then waited patiently for the little seedlings to grow big enough to go out to the garden only to have some dag nabbed cutworms cut them all down in one night? It is such a horrible sight to walk out to your garden and see nothing but half inch nubs left in the neat little rows where only yesterday you had pretty green seedlings. I had that happen to me with bean plants once, I was so upset.
Then a viewer told me to slit a drinking straw, cut into the length needed and put it around the seedlings that were left. It was a very tedious operation but it did work. I lost no more seedlings that spring. You see cutworms wrap all the way around the seedling while feeding and cut the plant right off. So if you can prevent them wrapping around the seedling you also prevent them cutting it off. Montana Homesteader shares a few ways of dealing with them.
If you have chickens you can deal with the cutworms before transplanting your seedlings but if you don’t or you have already transplanted there are some helpful tips on how to prevent them cutting down your seedlings as well.
