Consider treatment as shown in Table 1. Guidelines for treatment for army cutworm. Pale western cutworm. Adult moths emerge from the soil in late summer and fall. They deposit eggs in loose soil.
Eggs usually hatch in late winter.
Under some conditions, eggs hatch in the fall and the insect overwinters as a partially grown caterpillar. Hatch may be delayed for up to several months if moisture and temperature conditions are unfavorable. Larvae prefer loose, sandy or dusty soil and are found most easily in the driest parts of the field, such as hilltops. Pale western cutworm is a subterranean cutworm, feeding on stems at the crown. Feeding results in severed stems, and entire fields may be lost in a matter of days.