Corn dang it, full disclosure.

Collector

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i am going straight to the issues here.
The last time I ate sweet corn from our garden is 2010. You might wonder why I quit growing it, the answer is I grow it every year lol. It grows fine and tassels then the silk shows up and before it gets pollinated something eats the silks off. It happened at our old house, and is going on here the last 2 years. It is not deer they can no longer get in the garden, I am not seeing any caterpillars either. The only thing I see on the plants are earwigs. Last Sunday there was a small ear on a plant that must have not been the same as rest , just a random seed in the pack I think. Any way last night I went to see how it was doing , and guess what.
C0D28127-DFE9-4385-93DE-870CCFAF0502.jpeg

Thats right silk gone. I went out and picked up some Diatomaceous earth I have some neem oil somewhere, and a full Arsenal of chemical insecticides. What I need is a plan, or ideas what to try, the golden bantom imp is starting to tassel.also I looked around the plant and saw an earwig on it. What does everybody do in the corn patch to ensure a sweet corn harvest. I have to stop getting it from the produce stand, it down right depressing.
 

secuono

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Google says
corn earworm, whose larvae eat the silk and then top kernels of corn.


Any kernels eaten?
 

Ridgerunner

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I've had trouble with grasshoppers eating the silk, especially in dry years in Arkansas. I was the only person around that watered so all the grasshoppers in the whole valley came to my garden to get something green to eat. I tried various things but killing a few hundred thousand didn't seem to make a dent in their numbers. (Thanks, I've been waiting for a good chance to use that phrase)

I've tried using a medicine dropper and putting mineral oil on the silks to kill the corn ear worm as it hatches and before it can crawl down in the ear where it is protected. Some years it helps more than others. You need to get the timing right.

I plant my corn really close together. I plant tow rows 12" apart, skip about 32" to 34 ", then another 12" pair. Don't forget to feed them well. This helps assure good pollination. When they are early in silk I also collect the pollen capsules from some tassels and dust the on the silks. Each of those capsules contain a lot of pollen. Even in bad grasshopper years I usually got good pollination but I worked at it.

Do you give the corn that has had the silks disappear some time to mature and look inside? What do the kernels look like? Are they tiny and never developed or do they develop an something eat them?

Google corn ear worms and look at some photos. The egg is laid in the silk. When the worm hatches it crawls down in the ear under the husks to eat the kernels.

@seedcorn is the corn expert, maybe he has some ideas.
 

seedcorn

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Need pix of ear before silks come out, pix of silks that come out.
Are silks cut like a scissors would? Part of husks gone? Need more info.
 

Collector

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I found another corn plant with the silk just starting to appear
32F13C1A-0A15-40A4-BC8C-75103F041B3F.jpeg

Those are pollen capsules already in there.
Do you think I should open up the ear with the missing silk @seedcorn ? What would I be looking for? We are going to have to find out what the problem soon , or I will be in line at Rusty’s produce stand again.

@Ridgerunner
image.jpg

That exactly how we plant it here.
 

digitS'

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Earwigs seem to be real omnivores.

Still, they like tender. They eat leaves until flowers appear. Then they eat petals.

I have blamed grasshoppers for eating corn silk. Years ago, I gave the top of the corn a little shot of rotenone. That was evidently too risky for the environment but it did do the job. Spinosad should kill earwigs but it doesn't seem to be very effective. Probably true with grasshoppers, too. Lots of those things out there and persistence is not characteristic of organic insecticides.

Eight years with no homegrown sweet corn!?? I hope that you can get this turned around!

Steve
 

seedcorn

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Your ear is missing already. You are seeing what is left.... where did you get your seed?

See how what is left of your husks are level as cut off by a pair of scissors? Are you sure deer aren’t getting to your corn? Something is eating the ear before it even shoots silks.
 
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