It hatches in the fall then overwinters as a partially grown larva. Glassy cutworms feed on seedling plants and injury is similar to that caused by other cutworm species. Stand loss is more common in corn planted in grass pasture. Larvae spend most of their life below the soil surface. The head and neck region is reddish brown.
Bronzed cutworms cut seedling plants but feed primarily on grasses.
They are most common in corn planted into a pasture or sod field and are not likely to be found in continuous corn or soybean-rotated fields. The larvae have seven stripes, four brown and three yellow, running the length of the body. The general body color is dark brown with a bronze sheen. Stalk borers tunnel into the aboveground portion of the corn plant. Newly emerging leaves from the whorl often have numerous large holes.