What insecticide works well to control cutworms?

Cutworms, also known as greasy cutworms, belong to the order Lepidoptera, family Noctuidae. They have extremely varied feeding habits and mainly damage spring-sown (transplanted) vegetable seedlings, causing serious damage to solanaceous fruits, cucurbits, legumes and cruciferous vegetables after planting out.

Control methods

1. Agricultural control: In early spring, clear weeds from the vegetable plot and its surroundings; spring plowing and harrowing, autumn plowing to sun the soil and winter irrigation can all kill eggs, larvae and some overwintering pupae.

2. Trapping and luring to kill (1) In spring, use a sugar-vinegar liquid to lure and kill overwintering-generation adults; the ratio of sugar, vinegar, wine and water is 3:4:1:2, with a small amount of trichlorfon added. Put the lure liquid in a basin and place it in the field 1 m above the ground in the evening to lure and kill adults. The next morning, retrieve the basin or cover it to prevent the lure liquid from evaporating. (2) Collect fresh Paulownia leaves, soak them in water, and place them in the damaged vegetable field in the evening during the first-generation larval stage, using 50 to 70 leaves per mu; the next morning, catch the larvae under the leaves. Fresh tender vegetable leaves or weeds can also be used to lure them.

3. Handpicking: In the early morning, open the surface soil around broken seedlings to catch the lurking older larvae; continuous handpicking for several days gives good results.

4. Chemical control (1) For larvae before the 3rd instar, dust 1.5 to 2 kg of 2.5% trichlorfon powder per mu, or mix it with 10 kg of fine soil to make poisoned soil and scatter it around the plants, or spray with 80% trichlorfon soluble powder at 1000 times dilution, 50% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate at 800 times dilution, or 20% fenvalerate emulsifiable concentrate at 2000 times dilution. (2) When the larvae are older, use 50% diazinon emulsifiable concentrate or 80% dichlorvos emulsifiable concentrate at 1000 to 1500 times dilution to drench the roots and kill the larvae in the soil. (3) Per mu, use 60 to 120 g of 80% trichlorfon soluble powder, first dissolve it in a small amount of water, then mix it evenly with 4 to 5 kg of roasted fragrant rapeseed cake, or mix it with 20 to 30 kg of chopped fresh grass to make a poisoned bait, and scatter it near the seedling roots in the evening to lure and kill them.