In 1674, a Colonial gardener wrote: "There is also a dark, dunnish Worm that in the Spring lye at the Root of Corn and Garden plants all day, and in the night creep out and devour them."

Veteran gardeners of today know the culprit: Cutworms! The leaf-chewing, plant-destroying belly-draggers are a fiend for the ages!

Every spring, the sad stories pile up: Young vegetable and flower transplants are set out, or freshly sown seeds just begin to pop their stalks above ground, giving a gardener a real kick out of his or her little green world. Then one morning, the pride-and-joy plants appear to have fallen over and died. Closer examination reveals that the plants were actually cut down by cutworms.

But get this: The cutworm is not even a worm. Although it is infamous for its destructive cutting, the little bugger is actually one of more than 200 species of moths in the caterpillar stage. Dull brown to gray, the pests normally are 1 to 1 1/2 inches long and fat (probably from eating so many plants).

Cutworms spend the winter underground as larvae or pupae and emerge in the spring when temperatures climb to 65 degrees, which is about the same time many spring and summer gardens are being planted. These wicked, wiggly plant-munchers aren't picky when it comes to dining -- just about any tender, newly planted annual will suit them just fine.

How to spot them

If you are heading out to the garden to see if you can find the little nasties, wait until the sun goes down because these caterpillars are nocturnal feeders. They hide just below the surface of the soil during the day and emerge at night to do their dastardly deeds.

Juvenile cutworms frequently travel up the stalks of young plants and feed on the tender branches, but more mature larvae prefer to cut down entire plants first, then feast. Older cutworms seem to favor wilted leaves over fresh foliage, and their little logging operations yield plenty of their preferred food.

Many gardeners seem to think that the cutworm menace is a springtime problem because once the pests eat enough, they use the stored energy to mature into moths and fly away. Unfortunately, in North Carolina, the three main troublemakers -- the black, granulate and variegated cutworms -- can reproduce up to four generations in a year.

Getting rid of them

There are two ways to deal with these pests. It depends on the size of your garden and your attitude toward insect control. If you have a large garden and don't mind chemicals, a dusting of Sevin at the bases of new plants will stop them. Just remember that after a good rain, you must reapply the dust.

However, if you don't want to rely on chemicals, alternate methods are effective. First, if you have ash left over from the fireplace this winter, sprinkle a light application around each plant. Cutworms have soft bodies, and dragging through ashes irritates their skin. Keep the use of ash to a minimum because it is an alkaline substance, and most annuals in this area prefer acidic soil conditions.

Also, cutworms aren't agile, and if presented with a barrier, they would rather go around the obstruction than over it. With this in mind, knock the bottoms out of small paper cups and, like a collar, place one around the main stem of each new plant in the garden. Push the cups about an inch into the soil, and you will block cutworms.

Of course, this paper barrier doesn't get rid of cutworms, and they may just go after young weeds springing up in the planting rows.

As bothersome as they can be, the caterpillars are still a part of the ecosystem. Plump and nutritious, these larvae are real treats for birds, spiders, frogs, lizards, lacewings, parasitic wasps and predatory beetles such as fireflies. You don't have to worry about an ever-growing army of cutworms coming to devour your garden. Given a chance, nature will readily neutralize the cutworm threat.

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