About Corn Ear Worms

Nothing is more disheartening than to learn that your entire crop of corn has been inundated with earworms. By carefully monitoring their crops, corn farmers and the average backyard gardener can learn to identify corn earworms before they attack.

Significance

Corn earworms feed on the tips of the corn, leaving no exterior evidence of their invasion, and will move down the ear until they reach the opposite end. Earworms attack cornstalks which have exposed silk.

Identification

Corn invaded by earworms can be spotted due to the fecal matter that they leave behind on the exposed silk.
The larvae, which is responsible for the damage, can be identified as a one-inch worm with stripes on the body.

Size

An adult earworm is a tan moth, measuring no larger than an inch and a half. The adult earworm moth lays its eggs on the corn silk. Earworm eggs are the same color as the silk and are spherical in design. A moth commonly lays more than 100 eggs at a time. As stated previously, the larvae does the damage to the ear of corn. It only measures an inch to an inch and a half in length.

Prevention/Solution

To prevent moths from laying eggs on the corn silk, dab the silk with mineral oil. The oil prevents the eggs from adhering to the ear of corn.

Considerations

If corn earworms pose a problem in your crop, consider cutting off the damaged tips and salvaging the remaining ear.