bl***y caterpillas

[tracy]

just picked some sweet corn peeled back the husks and a crysalis fell out and half my corn has been eaten the other half hadnt polinated so i presume the thing got in ate all the good bits then decided to have a good sleep ah well bless but i had decided to grow the corn so i could eat it not the caterpilla .....is there any way i can prevent this happening again cheers tracy x

[daylily]

Maybe European corn borer. Probaly can find some photos of it.

[tracy]

can i control these pests organically or pick them off what do they look like are they a form of caterpilla x

[SMS6]

something, slugs or woodlice probably, have eaten the tassles off my sweet corn so I'm rather expecting that I won't get anything edible either.

[Demeter]

If it is corn borer this page has some tips about how to control it organically
European Corn Borer Control

Looks like it is more a case of prevention rather than cure, though, so for next year it will be important to make sure you remove all corn stalks / cobs as soon as the harvest is over, as this will deprive them of somewhere to overwinter. Also, grow the crop elsewhere if poss in case there are any that do make it alive till spring? Then, next year, try planting companion flowers etc that will attract lots of beneficial insects (ladybirds etc) who will control the pest for you.

Here are some pics
european corn borer - Google Image Search

PS found this while googling, thought it was an interesting thing on organic v chemical controls, that organic growing seems to provide better resistance to ECBs...

"Phelan et al. (1996. Environ. Entomol. 25(6):1329-1336.) compared egg-laying preference of ECB on sweet corn grown on soils from a pair of neighbouring organic vs. conventional farms. In greenhouse studies with controlled release of ECB adults, egg-laying was significantly lower on corn grown on organic soils. Pots were side-by-side in the same greenhouse at the same time, but egg-laying preference clearly favoured corn from conventional soil. They concluded that mineral balance affected susceptibility to ECB, and that organic soils provided a more balanced nutrition, yielding lesser attractiveness to ECB."

[tracy]

well thats it i have got corn borers went up to veg beds today and every plant is infected with them even in the stalks (and cobs) thanks to theses little buggers i have lost my whole crop of corn had to burn the lot now i am very annoyed !!!! is it woth me trying next year only maybe to loose the lot again oh well thanks for all your help
cheers tracy

[lottie dolly]

hi tracy,sorry about your sweet corn,at least you know whats had them,some scum on 2 legs has ripped the scafold netting on my pens,leaned in as far as they could over the chicken wire,{put up round the bottom to keep the badgers out}and's made of with aprox 2/3rds of me best cobs,had aprox 40 plant,what ever we loose our stuff to,it's still soul destroying,

[tracy]

what utter b*****ds do you have any idea who its is ? at least with me their was no human involved why dont you tell your local paper about it and see if they will do an article on it ....it wont get your corn back but it might put others off stealing from you again x

[lottie dolly]

not a good idea to invlove the press,apparently several years ago someone did and it just made things worse,all we can do is keep informing the police,WHAT A BBBBB GAME that is,still it has worked to a degree,it's not just my plots,but several others as well,the police asked me if i knew who it was,i replied that,{if i knew that,i would rip their blo**y heads off,one day just one day who ever they are WILL get cought,because by now they are so cocke sure of themselves,they sure to slip up,he who laughs last,has the longest laugh

[tracy]

is it worth you all chipping in and buying a fake cctv camera as a deterant.....
either that or grow a really cheap and easy crop of something and lace it with syanide or rat poison mind you you would also be commiting a crime but hey it would solve the problem ha ha x