The collar is only necessary early when your seedlings is first set out. Once the stem in about the thickness of a pencil you can discard the collar.

George

I've heard that you can make a collar from cut pieces of an aluminum pie plate. Makes sense, as nothing can cut through the metal and you could just unwrap it when the plant is big enough.

Plastic straws work too. Anything that prevents the cut worm from encircling the stem. A narrow band of cornmeal around the base of the plant is another. They eat it but can't digest it so die.

Dave

If you go to a home & bath type store you can find colored plastic tubes, generally 5' long and 1" diameter, designed to be placed over shower curtain rods to change the color. These tubes are split lengthwise so they can slip onto an installed curtain rod. Just cut these tubes into 2" lengths, hold them open at the split, and slip them around the stem. Then push the tubes 1" into the ground, leaving 1" above ground. They can be removed once the stems are thick enough and reused for years. Easiest cutworm collar I have found.

TomNJ

I don't have this problem, but the people I respect that do use paper cups, so they can rot down and not be an issue.

Dan

Cleo, not one but three toothpicks placed around and close to each stem is the easy method. A cutworm has to curl its body around the base of a plant at soil level to munch. The toothpicks prevent this from happening. I have used this method for many years and never lost a newly transplanted seedling.

When I transplant my tomatoes I have to protect them from brids, bugs and critters. I recycle used water bottles and use them to protect the seedlings. Toss away the cap, cut off the bottom and screw it into the soil around the seedling.

Here is a link that might be useful: Transplanting Tomatoes

I have tried the straw method but found that the stem looked like they started roting due to too much moisture/condensation. So I just wrap the stem with a strip of newspaper and it's much easier to remove than straw around the stem.

I use the straw method. Works fine and as the tomato stem gets larger it just expands...

Just cut 3" pieces of pvc any size that fits around the plant an no cutworm probs...

I used wooden shish kabob sticks I had laying around. About 12 inches long each snapped in half, one half stuck in the soil on each side of the plant.

Only my second year trying it, but it worked ok last year.

Biodegradable is the key for me. Anything plastic ends up getting lost in the soil and popping up later looking like litter.

Cool. We used aluminum foil strips - right from the roll - cut them to size. But would like to try the 3 toothpick option mentioned re: biodegradable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Family Favourite Recipes

My tomato collars are thin cardboard from a cereal or pizza box cut into strips 3" x 10" and attached with staples to form a ring that slips over the plant and is pressed into the ground. After years of this extra care do cutworms still exist?

Cutworms are larvae of night-flying moths. Therefore, if these moths fly into your yard, you can end up with cutworms. So the answer is "yes".

Boy, old thread. Of course, that's what toilet paper tubes are made for. End of story. Unlike plastic straws, they don't litter the bed with unbiodegradable trash.

Toilet paper tubes are always available, easy to use and can be tossed in the compost when they have served their purpose. They only need to last for the short time the seedling is vulnerable. I've had seedlings disapper overnight, but never one that was in a cardboard tube - cut in half so I get 2 collars per toilet paper tube.

I just leave the toilet paper tubes on, and they just disappear naturally. Just place and forget.

If they are too small to easily get them around a plant and anchored in the soil, just take one tube, cut in half, make two collars, and staple them together to make a larger one.

I used toothpicks once and it wrecked the stem and introduced disease to my plants. I think it was the result of the wind pushing the plant towards the harder surface of the toothpick which caused a wound.