I think it was Dawn who mentioned it, but they have to be right next to the stem so the worm encounters the toothpicks when he tries to wrap around the plant stem. You don't have to remove them, they will rot. I don't normally have a problem with cutworms and hope I don't jinx myself by saying so.

This week, I lost my first tomato plant .... ever ... from cutworms, at least I think that's what it was. How long does this threat last ? My Dad told me he wrapped aluminum foil around the stalk of his plants to protect from cutworms, and for all these years, I thought he was pullin my leg ;)

I've thought about wrapping foil around my pumpkins.

I lost another tomato plant last night, the toothpicks did not help. I put popsicle sticks in today. If that does not work, then I'm goin aluminum foil.

Plastic beverage containers, remove the cap; cut the bottom off, press into soil around plant.

if you want to use toothpicks, they must have been used in martinis, and olives, no onions or fruit!

I just toothpicks for small plants and I use bamboo skewers for larger plants like tomato and pepper transplants. With the skewers, I break one in half and put half of it on one side of the stem and half on the opposite side. I know some folks who use 4 'sticks' per stem, whether they are using toothpicks, skewers or twigs. I've never used foil, but have wrapped winter squash and pumpkin stems in nylon hose to deter SVB grubs from making entry. It works for a while, but not indefinitely.

The cutworms usually 'rest' in the soil just beneath the soil where they're feeding, so often you can dig around in the soil near the damaged plant and find and kill the cutworm.

I have only had one really bad cutworm year here, but it was bad enough that I never want a repeat of it, hence the use of cutworm protection.

You also can use Slug-Go Plus, which is an organic product that contains a combination of iron phosphate (for the slugs and snails) and spinosad (for the earwigs, cutworms, pill bugs and sow bugs). I sprinkle it on the ground around young plants once a month for maybe their first two months of life. Slug-Go (iron phosphate only) is effective for slugs and snails and somewhat effective on the other pests listed above, but Slug-Go Plus is more effective. I can find Slug-Go in some local stores, but never can find the Slug-Go Plus in stores, so I order it from A. M. Leonard. They have a great price and ship quickly.

If you cannot find cutworms in your soil, they may not be the problem. One GW member had a lot of trouble years ago with tomato seedlings being clipped off right at the soil level, but couldn't find cutworms in his soil. Eventually he sort of sat and watched his garden from a distance and figured out mockingbirds were clipping off the seedlings early in the day, though no one could figure out why they were doing it. It was not a really dry year, so it didn't seem like they were doing it for moisture and it didn't seem like they were eating them....just cutting them off and leaving them there.