Re: Re: cutworm damage on leaves

Marty,
Thanks for the reply and the info on the cutworms -  guess I'm not the only
madman out there at night with a flashlight in the garden. It's a wonder the
neighbors haven't called the police - I guess they know me better than that.
It will be interesting to hear if the nematodes work on the iris borers.
Jim in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.
Jpwflowers@aol.com wrote:

> Jim, in our garden cutworms enjoy snacking on siberian foliage until around
> bloom time, then they find other hosts.  They can wipe out newly planted
> seedlings, no problem.  This is an intolerable situation for us, so we have
> fought them several ways. First we went out in the morning to look for
> damaged leaves and scrape away the soil nearby.  Seventy-five percent of the
> time this yielded a small to medium sized caterpillar, but it was time
> consuming.  I got pretty good at reading the ground where the critter retired
> for the day to hide and digest.  I felt a little silly as the "tracker and
> destroyer of caterpillars".  Eventually I got the idea to go out with a
> flashlight before bed and pick them off the leaves.  This yielded hundreds of
> pests the first few nights along with several slugs.  I pickled them all in a
> jar of beer (those who have employed "slug saloons" and have caught every
> neighborhood insect but no slugs will appreciate the irony of this).
>
> Finally we read an advertisement for nematodes that prey on cutworms and
> decided to try it.  They worked.  No more cut worms for the year in the
> field.  They have to be reapplied every year since they are not hardy here.
> This year we're going to try them on irises for borer.  We'll let you know
> how it goes.
>
> Is anyone going to Iowa besides us?  Marty
>
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