It can be very numerous and a nuisance in buildings. This is a generic term and the moths are often in the family Noctuidae which includes cutworms, armyworms, bollworm and many other species. The winter is spent in the larval stage. There may be three to five generations per year in central and south Texas, depending on weather conditions and temperature. Caterpillars have chewing mouthparts.
Adults have siphoning mouths.
The granulate cutworm is a surface-feeding cutworm. Like other species, it spends the winter months as a partially grown larva in the soil, feeding of weeds and grasses at night. In the spring when gardens and fields and plowed and planted, caterpillars that were feeding on weeds and other host plants move to young plants and transplants. Caterpillars cut off small plants at or near the soil surface and feed on them during the night. In field crops, damage usually appears as skips or sections of rows where all plants are missing.