Just planted corn, have questions now

I have just planted , well, dh and I planted about 25 rows of corn, and we want to make sure to keep most of the worms out of it,

How doyou go about keeping the worms out of your corn ears? I'd like to freeze some of this right on the cob, but don't want worms in there or in the freezer LOL

any ideas? It's an aweful lot of corn here, and I want to know the best way to keep the worms off.

kathy

Kathy, I spray when the silks are out and just beginning to turn. I am not organic tho, so You might want to hear from those folks. Mineral oil works, but I am not energetic enough to use it on large plantings.

I'm not concerned about going organic on alot of things either farmer, I plant too much in the veggie garden most times to work my butt off spraying every day or picking off bugs. So tell me what you use? I've heard of mineral oil, how would one use that though?


Looking for best solutions to this problem, whether it's organic or not.
I'll even use 7 dust if it works best.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r113300911.html http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r113300911.html

Liquid sprays work much more efficiently than dust. Plus you can target the silks with out putting insecticide where you don't want it. I use Carbaryl, but there may be other choices for your area. I have not gotten acceptable results with Bt ( Thuricide) but it is one of the recommended insecticides for earworms.
Esfenvalerate and Permethrin are effective but have a one day waiting period before harvest. Should not be a problem as the spraying should take place more than a week before harvest. These are the active ingredients in formulations of Ortho Bug-B-Gone. Carbaryl has zero wait period.

As farmer says, spraying is better than dust and just a swit will do ya. If you are concerned about any lingering residual after many days when you harvest the corn, take a pair of scissors and snip the ends off with the silks. Further, if you give any away after any spraying, shuck off the outer shuck.

I don't seem to have earworm trouble .........only on the very late plantings of corn and never on early and mid-season plantings. Your experience may be different.

So you don't recommend liquid seven? I was kind of hoping to stay away from stuff i'd have to buy off the internet. getting what I needed locally.

Kathy, First of all I was wondering how badly the likelyhood of earworms would be for an early planting like you made. Around here I wouldn't worry about earworms. Around here in corn country it's corn root worm beetles that eat the new silks up. It used to be that they wouldn't show up until the 3rd planting or so.

As far as using Sevin goes, I personally am not afraid to use some carefully as a spray 2 weeks or so before harvest...but that is your call.

Earworms show up here and wait for the silks to emerge. I personnaly don't mind cutting the ends off ears, but often a second one will bore into the base of ear. When I control the earworms, I have no bird problems. When I have earworms, the grackles especially rip the ears open to get to them and expose the ear to lots of other problems including black bugs (sap beetle). The larvae of these things looks like a maggot and renders the ear useless. I can control earworms with one application of Carbaryl when the silks are full and being pollinated. Sevin is one brand name for Carbaryl. The beetles only attack open ears or cultivars with short shucks. Ear pokes out the end of the shuck. Carbaryl has zero wait time, technically you could harvest the same day you sprayed but that certainly would not be practical. It has no persistance, so you have to hit the eggs just after they are laid. That is what make using contact insecticides with short life difficult. They will get the target today, but tommorow they will not be there if another flight comes in.