The garden is doing so-so this year.. My biggest frustration is my lettuce plants. I had planted 16 lettuce plants early this spring and due to the cold wet spring they didn't sprout for quite a while.. anyway once I noticed they were all coming up I was very pleased. Then I noticed a few of them were gone, and thought "I could have swore there were lettuce seedlings there yesterday!" Well, 6 of the plants survived whatever happened, but they are still pretty small.. only around 6 inches tall.
Today I noticed one of them had shriveled up and died (OVERNIGHT!) I picked up the pile of dead leaves and it was like they were chewed off right at the stem. (The garden has been dry for several days now, so I don't think it was from over watering). I dug around in the dirt where the plant had been, and came up with a disgusting little brown grub like creature. It was about an inch long and maybe 1/4 of an inch wide, with some barely distinguishable stripes running it's length. I squished it mercilessly with a rock.
So my question 1) Are these grubs doing this to my lettuce? 2) Is there away to kill them with out killing my plants and earthworms (I have lots of earthworms!)?
I also have chives (THRIVING), tomatoes (doing ok), peppers (leaves nearly all eaten from something), onions (THRIVING), and some alyssum flowers. Are the other plants in danger?
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Binkalette
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- Location: Minnesota - zone 4a
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applestar
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I'm pretty sure what you found was a cutworm. They curl around the base of seedlings and eat all around it, toppling it, but doesn't eat anything more, so that in the morning, you'll fild cut off, wilted plant.
There are several preventives including "cutworm collar" made of TP core or paper (useful for single sturdy stemmed plants like tomato and pepper) but for lettuce, I think a toothpick right next to the plant to prevent the cutworm from curling completely around the stem would be better. To be honest, I haven't tried this method but people say it wrks. I believe one is supposed to be sufficient, but two toothpicks one on each side might be more secure?
In my garden, birds like robins and black birds eat them. I once saw a flicker dig one out of leaf litter and gobble it up. Another time, I found a fallen seedling in the morning, and right next to and under it, a mole tunnel... And I couldn't find the cutworm. So I think the Mole must have heard it munching away and the cutworm met an unlucky end. No other seedlings in that bed was attacked after that, anyway.
There are several preventives including "cutworm collar" made of TP core or paper (useful for single sturdy stemmed plants like tomato and pepper) but for lettuce, I think a toothpick right next to the plant to prevent the cutworm from curling completely around the stem would be better. To be honest, I haven't tried this method but people say it wrks. I believe one is supposed to be sufficient, but two toothpicks one on each side might be more secure?
In my garden, birds like robins and black birds eat them. I once saw a flicker dig one out of leaf litter and gobble it up. Another time, I found a fallen seedling in the morning, and right next to and under it, a mole tunnel... And I couldn't find the cutworm. So I think the Mole must have heard it munching away and the cutworm met an unlucky end. No other seedlings in that bed was attacked after that, anyway.
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Binkalette
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:53 pm
- Location: Minnesota - zone 4a
Thanks for the help!!-
applestar
- Mod
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- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Good luck. Some people cutworm collar every tender young plant.
Also, I was concentrating on the one that was caught at the scene of the crime, but the other damages -- I swear there were seedlings there -- and eaten up pepper leaves DO sound like slugs, so you may want to go on slug patrol in the night or pre-dawn morning.
Also, I was concentrating on the one that was caught at the scene of the crime, but the other damages -- I swear there were seedlings there -- and eaten up pepper leaves DO sound like slugs, so you may want to go on slug patrol in the night or pre-dawn morning.