Cutworms: Protecting Seedlings and Transplants

GardenDraft Team · July 7, 2026 · 5 min read

Part of: Plant Problems & Pest Guides

It's a peculiar, demoralizing kind of damage: you set out healthy transplants in the evening, and by morning a few of them are lying on the soil, cut clean through at the base as if by tiny scissors. The plant isn't eaten — it's felled. That's a cutworm, and the good news is that one simple barrier stops it cold.

What a cutworm is and does

Cutworms are the caterpillar stage of certain night-flying moths. They're plump, smooth, grayish-brown larvae an inch or two long that curl into a tight C-shape when disturbed, and they spend the day just below the soil surface, coming out at night to feed. Their signature move is to chew through a young stem right at ground level, toppling the plant — they're most destructive in spring on fresh transplants and young seedlings of tomatoes, cabbage, beans, and the like. A single cutworm can take out several seedlings in a few nights, and the plants are too big to regrow from the stub.

The collar is the answer

The defense that actually works is almost embarrassingly low-tech: give each transplant a collar. Wrap a barrier around the stem at planting, pushed an inch or so into the soil and standing an inch or two above it, so the cutworm can't reach around to chew through. A toilet-paper or paper-towel tube cut into rings works perfectly, as do strips of cardboard, a cut-open cardboard tube, or even a tin can with both ends removed. This physical barrier is the single most reliable cutworm control there is — far more dependable than any spray.

More ways to protect seedlings from cutworms

• Dig for them. When you find a toppled seedling, the culprit is usually hiding in the soil within a few inches — scratch around and you'll often find the curled-up cutworm to dispatch, protecting the seedlings nearby.
• Clear weeds and debris before planting. The moths lay eggs in weedy ground and plant residue, so a clean, well-prepared bed gives them fewer places to start. Turning the soil a couple of weeks before planting exposes overwintering larvae to birds and weather.
• Transplant a little later, or use stout plants. Bigger, woodier transplants are harder to cut through than tender young seedlings.

Cutworms are mostly an early-season problem, so once your plants get past the vulnerable young stage and develop tougher stems, the threat fades for the year. Collar your transplants at planting and you'll rarely lose one. They're one of the spokes in the common garden pests guide.