Traps are sometimes used by crop consultants, State Board of Agriculture Survey Entomologists, and university researchers to monitor moth activity. Up to 1,300 eggs per female are laid singly or in clusters. More eggs seem to be found where low, densely-growing plants such as chickweed, curly dock, and mustard occur, especially if these weeds occur in fields with significant amounts of surface residue. Many more eggs were found in a research study where crop residue or creek bank residue was present than where bare soil was sampled. Sometimes, however, Kansas uplands are just as heavily infested as are bottomland areas.
Background color is grayish to blackish, speckled with dark raised bumps.
It has three pairs of regular legs near the head and four additional pairs of fleshy legs on the underside of its rear body segments. Cutworm larvae curl up tightly in a spiral shape when disturbed. Often, disturbed cutworms will regurgitate material from their mouth, apparently a further attempt to discourage attack. This early season pest is usually of greatest concern during early development of field crops, typically within 10 to 14 days of crop emergence. When larger, they frequently feed at or just below the ground surface, and are more commonly found below ground, when the soil surface is dry and crusted, cutting plants off near ground level.