I have lost 2 sweet basil plants and a tomato plant to a mysterious creature. They are cut off just above ground level, and the entire plant is left. They haven't eaten one of the plants. My understanding is cutworms will eat the plant they cut off, but I put toothpicks against the stems just in case. I see no animal tracks. Anyone else have and ideas?

Jason

The cutworms I have had to deal with just cut the plant off and move on. :_|

You need to put the toothpicks around the stems of any remaining plants before those plants are munched on too. :O

Mostly cutworms do that kind of damage, but if the stems were somehow thicker, it could have been birds (or rodents?) as well.
I put paper collars around my tomato seedlings, PLUS a conic wire cage which I keep over the plant until its tip touches the inside top of the cage. I haven't lost a plant to critters since I adopted this method.

I've seen birds snap off the tops of young tomato plants (for whatever reason), but once the plants are 2 feet or more they seem to leave them alone.

I tried to put collars on them, but I was having a hard time with it. I was afraid I was going to do more damage putting them on. I will have to go toothpick the rest of my plants.

Jason

If you want to know for sure, dig around in the top 1/2 inch of soil around the sawed-off stem. You will likely find the culprit. They don't travel far from the scene of the crime.

I had some toothpicked eggplant seedlings (actually they were shish-ka-bob skewers, not toothpicks) that still got sawed down this year. Multiple toothpicks is better. I had collars around all but two eggplants. Those two had toothpicks only. Those two plants were the only ones I lost so far.

I always find one or two cutworms at the scene of each crime. I've been putting them in a dish near the bluebird house. The bluebirds have 3 nestlings right now and those worms usually get snatched right up. I had to put them in a dish because I found out that on a flat surface, those cutworms can move pretty fast!

Hi Walleye,

That is a GREAT idea!! Feeding the birds fresh worms, instead of 'bird seeds'.

How large/small is the dish (& color) you use for the worms and where do you put it so that the birds can see the worms?
Do you keep the dish on the ground or in a tree?

I put the dish right on top of their house! They can't miss it. Its just a cheap old plastic kids cereal bowl with real steep sides to keep the cutworms from climbing out.

The bluebirds don't eat seeds as far as I know. They hunt constantly around the yard and garden. Every time I see them they are carrying some critter into the nest box. They don't really need my help, but I feel better getting my revenge on the cutworms this way!