Text adapted from Turfgrass Pest Management: A Guide to Major Turfgrass Pests in Oklahoma. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

INSECT AND DESCRIPTION: Cutworms, Nephelodes minians Guenee, Feltia subterranea (Fab.), Peridroma saucia (Hubner), Agrotis ipsilon (Hufn.). Thickbodied caterpillars from one to two inches long when full grown. Usually dull-colored, greenish, gray, brown or blackish; often with spots or longitudinal stripes. Adults are night-flying moths, dull or somber colored and with a wing span of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches.

LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS: Moths fly at night and lay eggs on leaves of grasses or nearby plants. Larvae feed at night and hide in holes, under debris, or in mat of organic matter at the surface of the ground during the day. Breeding continues throughout the warm months of the year and there may be several generations per season with overlapping broods.

SUSCEPTIBLE PLANTS: All grasses.

DAMAGE CAUSED: Cutworms feed on the leaves and crown and may cut off plants near the soil line. Only the larvae are injurious.

METHOD OF DETECTION: Pyrethrum test. Treat when 5 or more cutworms are found per square yard.

Figure 2. -- "Black Cutworm", North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service