What are these worms on my lettuce?!

[Binkalette]

Any ideas what are these worms on my lettuce are and how I can get rid of them while still being able to eat the lettuce?

Last year I had planted a bunch of lettuce of different varieties in the garden and all of them were decimated by something that ate them off at the base, leaving the leaves to wilt and die.

This year, I thought I'd be smart and put them in pots up on the deck, but now there's some other bug eating them!

They are planted in fresh potting soil and mulched with aspen shavings to keep their leaves out of the dirt.

Photo of the culprit:

[img]https://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l208/Binkalette/P1040131.jpg[/img]

Photos of the culprits damage:

[img]https://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l208/Binkalette/P1040132.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l208/Binkalette/P1040133.jpg[/img]

Help please?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Maybe cabbage looper.

Eric

[cwayland]

My eyes are not good enough to clearly see your worms. If they are cabbage loopers or another type of caterpillar (which is often what we are referring to when we call a veg eating critter a worm) then spraying with Bt (the kurstaki strain) should help.

[Binkalette]

Where do I get BT??

On a side note.. all the lettuce is gone now. I'll have to replant it.

[cwayland]

I have never seen it at a big box store. I am lucky to have a locally owned hardware store nearby that carries organic gardening supplies. That is where I get mine. If you do not have a place like this nearby you can also order it from a lot of places online. Make sure you get the kurstaki strain.

Sorry they ate it all. Make sure it is not too hot where you are. If its not, start some more seed. Lettuce comes in pretty quickly.

[Francis Barnswallow]

Looks like army worms to me. There's about a hundred of them per egg pod. They start out tiny but grow to 1 inch. They can get out of control very easily. I'm constantly finding them on my tomatoes.