• Cut worms are larvae of moths. The larvae are called surface caterpillars.
• Larvae feed on plant at night by chewing.
• Cut off young seedlings at or slightly above or below the soil line.
• They cause significant seedling damage.
• During the day, they are found hiding in holes under debris or under thatch.

Eggs

• lay on humus or stones or weeds
• about 2000 eggs are laid by a female moth.

Larvae

• larvae called cut worms (caterpillars) hatched out within 2-6 days.
• 1 - 1.5 inches long
• comes out in rain sawer and hide in soil (2-3 inches) at day.
• They remain as larvae for 20-35 day.

Pupa

• The life of pupa is 30 days.

Adult

• Adult moth comes out in April-May.

Control of cut worms

Several cultural practices may offer some degree of control:

• Plow and fallow fields in mid- to late summer to prevent the laying of eggs.
• Plow in the fall to expose the larvae or deeply bury the pupae.
• Cultivate fields in the spring after vegetation has appeared and grown a few inches, then delay seeding to starve the cutworms.
• Plan rotations to avoid row or hill crops following a grassy sod. Plow sod fields in late summer or early fall the year before planting.
• Cultivate frequently to injure and expose hiding cutworms to predators.
• The construction of ditches and dusty furrows may interrupt armyworms.
• Place foil or paper wraps or cardboard collars around transplants; extend a few inches into the soil and several inches up the stem.
• Dig in the soil around damaged or adjacent plants in the row; find and destroy the cutworm.
• Plant a thick "trap crop" of sunflower, a favored host, around the perimeter of the Nursery; find and destroy attacking cutworms daily.

Other suggested home remedies

• It include catching and placing toads in the garden, wrapping onion stems around the stems of transplants, placing a ring of moist wood ashes around the plants, and placing a toothpick or 16d nail alongside each transplant stem.
• Chemical treatments are available as either homemade or commercial poison baits or as insecticide treatments directed to the soil surface or on and around the plants.
• Granular insecticide treatments, applied to protect the seed and developing seedlings from soil insects, are of little, if any, value in controlling cutworms.