THIS is what thinking outside the box looks like (outside the raised bed?).

I've done similar using drinking straws on both tomato and pepper plants to stop cutworms and on squash and zukes to try and prevent vine borers from digging in to the stems.

I don't bother anymore though, to be honest. I only lose one or two plants per season to cutworms, and I ALWAYS find the offending critter buried shallowly around whats left of the stem that's still sticking out of the ground, so I just kill it. After I get those first couple I rarely have any trouble.

That truly is a great idea. Sad to say, we don't have stinging nettle here.

I like the idea!

I use a strip of newspaper about 2x6 inches and just wrap it around the tomato stem when planting.

How about tp tubes or paper towel tubes? I 've heard of using these also.