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Re: corn

Scot wrote:
> 
> I am growing corn for the first time.
> It is starting to form 'silks'.
> Should I treat these silks with something to avoid pests?
> ~smile~ Scott...

In warm areas of the US, like our low desert, the corn earworm is a
serious pest.  Years ago I used to treat the silks with sevin dust and
it was pretty effective.  But since I no longer use chemical pesticides,
I've tried using a few drops of mineral oil on the silks at two week
intervals with limited success.  It seems most things will adversely
affect pollination unless you can tell when pollination is complete (I
never could), then apply the mineral oil.  The earworm is the larval
stage of a nuctuid moth that is present in most of our gardens and the
same as, or similar to, the cotton boll worm and tomato fruit worm and
will also feed on either but seems to prefer corn.  I'm currently
experimenting with planting a short season corn in the spring and a long
season corn in the fall to try to evade the active period of the moth -
results for the past two years are pretty promising.  Another
alternative is to do nothing and simply cut away the damaged part of the
ear along with the worm which is always near the tip - havin someone
elso prepare it helps not to think about while you're eatin it.

Olin Miller <millero@worldnet.att.net>
USDA Zone 9b, Sunset Zone 13
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