If you have a small garden or a small quantity of flowers you want to protect, try cutting half-gallon or quart size cardboard milk or OJ cartons to make collars. You cut the top and bottoms off as close to the seam as you can, then cut the remaining container in half. This creates about a 4-5 inch collar the can be places around the base of the plant stem. When pushed lightly into the loose soil, the cutworms are deterred from climbing over it and attacking your plants. The collars can also help in watering the root system when the plants are young as they are “waxed” to prevent the milk from leaking and they will breakdown over the season for easy recycling. Any carton of this design will work.
If you have a small garden or a small quantity of flowers you want to protect, try cutting half-gallon or quart size cardboard milk or OJ cartons to make collars. You cut the top and bottoms off as close to the seam as you can, then cut the remaining container in half. This creates about a 4-5 inch collar the can be places around the base of the plant stem. When pushed lightly into the loose soil, the cutworms are deterred from climbing over it and attacking your plants. The collars can also help in watering the root system when the plants are young as they are “waxed” to prevent the milk from leaking and they will breakdown over the season for easy recycling. Any carton of this design will work.