North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Kevin,

 

I'm no expert on sweet corn but around here, if you wait till the silk turns brown, it's too late.  My understanding is the moths like to specially lay eggs on fresh silk.  Last summer we planted corn in stages to have fresh corn all summer.  Won't do that again, it's too much spraying, as new silks are forming all summer long.  If you like the semi-natural approach, I've heard Pam non-stick spray also offers good control.

 

Mark

KS

----- Original Message -----

From: Kevin Moore

To: North American Fruit Explorers

Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:28 PM

Subject: Re: [NAFEX] GF 120 for cherry fruit fly and neonicotinoidclassofpesticides

A few drops of a good non-toxic mineral oil on the silks when they turn brown (after trimming them back,) works for me. But that might be a little too labor intensive for anyone with a large block of corn. Earworms don't seem to bother them. Mineral oil is probably not truly organic, but it works well and doesn't contaminate the environment as far as I can tell.

---

From: Mark Angermayer <>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 1:42:21 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] GF 120 for cherry fruit fly and neonicotinoid classofpesticides

Yes, corn is wind pollinated.  Instead of saying bees pollinate our sweet corn, I should have said bees visit our sweet corn.  The bees cover up the tassels during pollen shed.  I never see any on silks, so I'm not afraid to carefully spray the silks with pesticide to eliminate corn earworm.

 

Mark

KS