Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Pam for corn earworms

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: <art AT complum.com>, "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Pam for corn earworms
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 08:29:08 -0500

It's important to understand that when corn start's to silk, it is
immediately susceptible to corn earworm egg-laying. The female moth looks
for fresh silks to lay eggs on. If the moth is present, it will lay eggs on
the silks whether pollination has taken place or not. If the PAM or Bt is
not on the silk when the moth finds the silks, the eggs will be laid. The
larvae will hatch out, probably within 24-36 hours and immediately travel
down the ear-tip into the ear, and begin feeding. No preventative measure
will work then. The bottom line is that preventative measures must be in
place as the silks emerge. The silks will continue to grow and so the
preventative measures will probably need to be applied more than once.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center

>I read that the window for spraying is fairly small. After the corn is
>pollinated and before the worms arrive. The silk starts to dry after
>pollination, so some brown would be the signal to start spraying, as the
>pollen will not make it through the silk to the kernel to pollinate.





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page