You Bet Your Garden

Protect your plants from cutworms and slugs
By Mike McGrath

Our April (and December, January, February, March...) showers will indeed make life easier for May flowers -- and tamatas, peppers and all the other good garden stuff we'll be planting this month.

But only if we protect the young plants from cutworms and keep slugs under control all season. Cutworms are greasy-looking caterpillars (no, they're not worms, and I didn't name 'em, so don't yell at me) that lurk in the soil and come out at night to sever ("cut") the stems of your tasty young starts, because toppled plants are easier to eat. Till up the soil before you plant -- you'll kill some of the pests and expose others to predators.

Then surround each young plant with a protective "cutworm collar" at planting time: Soup cans with the tops and bottoms removed; magazine subscription cards curled into tubes; little cages of small fencing. Don't have a gift ready for Mother's Day (May 11 this year)? Make cutworm collars for Mom!

Slugs: Ring raised bed frames and tops of containers with copper strips or pennies hot-glued in a continuous line; slugs sizzle in a most excellent manner when they touch copper. Sink empty margarine tubs almost flush with the soil around vulnerable plants and fill with fresh (NOT stale!) beer every evening (so the beer doesn't cook). Slugs crawl in but they can't crawl out.

Lay some boards down in the garden so slugs can hide when the sun rises. Lift up the boards and do with them what you will. (We don't judge, especially when it comes to slugs.) Baits laced with iron phosphate are toxic to slugs (and snails) but nothing else; some brand names are "Escar-GO!" and "Sluggo."

You Bet Your Garden can be heard Saturdays at 11 a.m. on WHYY 91FM.

Information about the program and more of Mike's gardening tips can be found at You Bet Your Garden online.