How to prevent cutworms in garden feeding on the young, new transplanted plants can be done with some tools. It doesn’t have to be hard-to-find household items that you can use to protect the plants. So that you aren’t disappointed by cutworms damaging your plants later, here are some preventive measures you have to know.
How to Prevent Cutworms in Garden
Use Yogurt Cups
If you like yogurt, don't throw away the packaging after enjoying them because all of them can be repurposed. You must have heard that plant collars are one of the best solutions to get rid of cutworms. Do you know that you can even repurpose your yogurt cups into man-made plant collars?
Prepare some yogurt cups and remove the bottom parts first so that the plants can be slipped over. Bury the base of these cups around one inch in the ground to prevent cutworms getting close to the plants. If you still have unused yogurt cups left, cut them into pieces because they’re useful as plant labels.Make Cardboard Tubes
Have you thrown away the cardboard tubes from toilet papers? If you still have them, you can creatively make them as your new seedlings’ protectors from the annoying cutworms. Cut the cardboard tubes into 3-inch sections before you use them to circle the plants to keep them safe.
Cutworms usually appear at night to start feeding on the new seedlings in the garden. That’s why before night, you need to surround each new plant with a 3-inch-tall piece of cardboard tube. Its bottom part should be buried in the ground by an inch to not let the cutworms access your plants.Utilize Metal Cans
How to prevent cutworms in the garden naturally is quite easy as long as you have metal cans at home. As you know, cutworms can attack your plants by feeding them at night, especially the leaves, buds, and fruit part. To prevent any damage caused by cutworms, prepare metal cans and remove the bottom part to slip each plant over.
Just like how you use the previous materials, nestle the base of metal cans into the ground by an inch. Coating the cans with spray glue added with a layer of coarse sand will also help you to prevent slugs. Using metal cans can guard your seedlings from cutworms from climbing and eating them up.Insert Toothpicks
If you only have toothpicks, you definitely can use them to inhibit cutworms’ access in your garden. Use around five or more toothpicks to insert vertically around each of the young plants. Make sure they all stick to the stem but with the equal space one with another.Spread Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is another option that you can use to prevent cutworms near the plants. Spread it around the base of each plant so the cutworms won’t be able to get close. Diatomaceous earth is an organic pest control and slug repellent working effectively only by drawing a line in the soil.
How to prevent cutworms in the garden can be done naturally, either with simple household items or organic solutions. By utilizing easy tools around you or even using diatomaceous earth, you don’t need to worry about the harm. Use materials that are known to be not poisonous so that humans can stay safe as well.