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| Photo Credit: Megan Bame |
| The cutworm’s dark color helps it blend in with the soil. |
There are lots of wonderful things about fall – changing leaves, cooler weather – and a break from many of summer’s pest problems. Nevertheless, if you’ve got a fall kitchen garden, you’re probably aware that you’ve still got some hungry bugs itching to get at your autumn veggies. While there are some pests you’ll want to get rid of for sure – like cutworms, snails, cabbageworms and cabbage loopers – there are others you may want to keep, like the swallowtail butterfly caterpillar.
When it comes to controlling the “bad guys,” I like to use organic control practices. Not only are they pretty simple, I find they make it easy to purge the pests and pamper the keepers. Here’s a list of some common pests your may find buggin’ your garden, as well as some organic ways to control them: Cutworms: If your plants look like they’ve been chopped down at the base by a miniature lumberjack, you may be dealing with cutworms. Cutworms sleep in the soil, then come out at night and chew their way through the base of a plant. One approach to cutworm control is to dig carefully around the base of the plant that’s been attacked and remove the sleeping cutworms. You can also slow down cutworms by creating a physical barrier around young plants. Simply cut a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll into 3-inch cylinders and press each tube around the base of each new plant, leaving about an inch of the roll above the soil. You can also sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the plant to create a sharp gauntlet for the cutworms to climb over. (Be sure to wear a mask while applying, so you don’t inhale the stuff into your lungs.) While these controls take a little elbow grease, they work.
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