As I had mentioned in an earlier post, for the past couple of weeks something has been decimating my Asian greens. My tatsoi are finished and I have about 5 sad looking pak chois left. The culprit has since developed a taste for my beet greens. Last week I left out a mouse trap under one of my affected plants - nothing. The other day I set out 4 shallow bowls of stale beer to catch possible slugs - again nothing. I was thoroughly frustrated to say the least. And all I knew was that the crime was being done at night.
Then the other morning- a break in the case. I went out into my garden shortly after sunrise and saw the familiar sight of half eaten leaves lying on the ground. But this time, I also noticed an odd beet leaf standing straight up from the ground. After I lifted the leaf, I could see a hole in the soil measuring about a quarter of an inch in diameter. And as I looked around, I noticed several other holes of the same size. I had a feeling that these were related to a catepillar-like creature I spotted a couple of times while turning over the soil in my plot. As I dug around, bingo - there he was:
I looked through one of my gardening books and discovered that this was a cutworm (or at least I think so). Not only did he look like what was pictured in the book, but the damage being done was exactly as described. So what now? I'll have to place collars around the base of my beets to inhibit further damage. I'm also considering buying some beneficial nematodes or an organic pesticide containing BTK. Rodale's Complete Guide to Organic Gardening suggests scattering oat bran mixed with BTK and molasses around the infected area. My other option is to do nothing until the spring, as I've read that the season for cutworms should be over by early September. Any suggestions?
