Worms in the corn . . .

This morning we harvested the first corn, a super sweet variety from Johnny's Selected Seeds. Worms in two. Last year we had none. Maybe all the rain has encouraged this problem or the soil needs a better composition.

We are trying the first of the following formulae.

“When the silks were turning brown, I treated. I used a quart oil can treating the plots with (refined) soybean vegetable oil and Btk. (3 teaspoons per quart of oil)... I placed a small squirt from the can on the tip of each ear as quickly as I could.” Research elsewhere has used as much as one part Btk to five parts oil, applying about 0.5 ml (1/10 teaspoon) to the silk where it enters the silk channel (Hazzard et al., 2003).

From: www.pfi.iastate.edu/SA14_Protecting_Sweet_Corn_from_Corn_Earworm_w_Oil_and Btk.pdf