![]() Damage includes leaf and shoot feeding and may include cutting plants off at the soil line. The larvae are black with brown and white markings and measure 0.5 to 0.75 inch in length. The variegated cutworm is one of the most commonly found caterpillars invading gardens and home landscapes in the PNW. The larvae are greenish-gray and often curl up into a C-shape.Pest description and damage The moth family Noctuidae contains over 2,000 species of caterpillars including cutworm, fruitworm and armyworm. However, it is not unusual to find army cutworm above ground when populations are high (Figure 1). When scouting, it is critical to dig in the soil around individual canola plants to find the larvae. Army cutworms behave nocturnally and typically spend the daylight hours below ground. The economic threshold for chemical control is 1-2 cutworms per foot of row. Where infestations are high, army cutworms will remove all leaf tissue, leaving only the base of the stem (Figure 3). When minor feeding is observed, you may find leaves severed from the plant and laying on the soil surface. The larvae feed on the leaf tissue, leaving the plants with a fed-on appearance (Figure 2). ![]() ![]() Significant army cutworm pressure has been observed in fields northwest of Caldwell in Sumner County.Īrmy cutworms feed aggressively and significant damage can occur in a short period of time. With the onset of warmer temperatures, winter canola is breaking dormancy and army cutworms are now present in fields across Kansas.
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