Cut Worms

So I'm assuming that I have cut worms due to two rows of sunflowers that were all coming up who now look like little stumps ( there were holes that I dug up , but nothing ! )! Does anyone have a home made remedy that would work ? I didn't really want the sunflowers , but they came as a bonus gift after ordering from Veseys and I am a bit concerned with my other plants which are all peeking through ...Zucchini . Banana Squash ,beans etc. I don't want to kill the night crawlers though even though they are pushing my seeds up to the top ! ..............Thanks

I walk through my garden every day. If I find a plant that has been cut off, I carefully dig around it and almost always find the culprit. They do not go down far so just push the soil away gently and you will find him. I find great satisfaction from squishing them. One cutworm can go down the row. You probably have just a few. Find the most recently cut off plant and you will find him.

I haven't done it myself but a garden friend puts an empty toilet paper roll around the young plants. According to him cut worms go on top of the soil and eat the plants, if you put this kind of barricade around it and stick it in the soil it will prevent the plant from being eaten. Half a roll is enough for one plant. Do you use Diatomaceous Earth?

We have cutworns here,they can cause a lot of damage,the best and easiest solution we found is to put a toothpick on either side of the stem,they can't curl around the plant,hence they can't cut it,we've used this for years and it has worked great.

Last year I put rings of 5 inch black pipe around plants , but I have seen some real big cutworms in the area ( 2 inch ) so I guess the fertile soil and such makes them grow big ? I tried looking for them along the whole row on both sides .........nothing .I thought I had heard that ash from burned wood deters them ? What I was hoping for was a home made remedy that i could just sprinkle onto the plants etc and kill the little suckers !