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tn_jed

mineral oil???sweet corn???

tn_jed
14 years ago

hello, i was talking to a Amish man the other day who told me if i put mineral oil into a spray bottle and spray it on the silks of sweet corn it will keep the Japanese Beatles and ear worms out. what type of mineral oil is he talking about, is this organic. the only mineral oil that comes to mind is 90wt. gear oil and that cant be organic, he also said vegtable oil or any type of organic oil, has anyone heard of this b4?????

Comments (21)

  • pathfinder81601
    14 years ago

    Hi, tn_jed, I use light veggie oil on my corn and have found only one worm in my corn patch in my backyard garden. I mixed half light veggie oil and half rainwater and used a mist sprayer. It needs to sprayed as soon as the silks begin to appear...otherwise, it will be too late. Hope this helps. Happy Gardening. Billie

  • tn_jed
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    thanks for the reply if you get a chance i was wondering if this is sumthing you have been doing for a long time with good results this year its too late for me to do this and i have a 200x100 patch of corn so it would be a pretty big job. other thing is you say as soon as the silk comes out, does this hinder pollination in any way and is it sumthing you have to reapply a few times throughout the season

  • organicguy
    14 years ago

    Using mineral oil to keep out ear worms is an ole and very effective practice, and you can use the mineral oil you buy at the pharmacy.

    DO NOT apply it when the tassels first appear or it will interfere with polination. Apply it when the tasells first start to turn brown. By then, polination is done and the worms have not yet become a problem. They like the ears when the sugar in the kernals starts to build up.

    Ron
    The Garden Guy
    ** See Below
    Informative articles, ongoing garden journal,
    and interactive message boards

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog

  • organicguy
    14 years ago

    Petroleum is the residue of decayed plants, so unrefined it still classifies as organic. It is nothing more than petroleum that has been subjected to carefully controlled processes of Filtration, Dehydration, Absorption and Adsorption of undesirable gases and other impurities.

    I find it amazing that people would have no problem putting Vaseline on their kids skin, but use a petroleum product in the garden and "it's not organic"!!

    It IS organic, it's harmless, it doesn't come in contact with the food you eat and it doesn't even come in contact with the soil. This is just another example of what I consider organic fanatics, instead of common sense organic gardening.

    Ron
    The Garden Guy
    ** See Below
    Informative articles, ongoing garden journal,
    and interactive message boards

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog

  • Kimmsr
    14 years ago

    We did not put Vaseline on our kids back then and would not do that today. If you squirt some mineral oil into the corn ear it will touch the food you eat, the oil cannot help but touch the food part of the ear. Whether it touches the soil or not makes little to no difference about whether mineral oil is organic or not, but since vegetable oils are just as effective why spend the extra money on this mineral oil?

  • anney
    14 years ago

    You can also use a spray can of olive or vegetable oil, per kimmsr. I've seen it in pump sprays. If there are insects inside the ears, it suffocates them, just as mineral oil does. Otherwise, it's a repellent.

    And yes, as organic guy says, don't spray until the silks begin to turn brown on the tips.

  • Michael
    14 years ago

    How does it suffocate worms down in an ear?

  • Kimmsr
    14 years ago

    The oil flows down and coats the larva, and touches the kernals all the way down.

  • anney
    14 years ago

    michael

    What kimmsr said. Every kernel on the cob is attached to a silk, and during the pollination process, the pollen fertilizes the kernels via the silks. So later the silks serve as a pathway into the ear and to the worms for the oil.

    The eggs are laid by the moths on the silks right where they enter the ear, and the small larva make their way down into the ear where they munch away and grow to be up to 2 1/2 inches long.

    While the oil smothers the larva, an even more effective method of getting rid of the worms is to mix Btk with the oil.

    You just shouldn't apply the oil until the pollination process is complete, or it is said the oil will block the fertilization of the kernels. The silks will begin browning on the ends once pollination is finished.

  • Michael
    14 years ago

    Thanks Anney for the explanation though I was already aware of how pollenation works in corn. I now assume the oil runs down the silk exteriors. My strategy has always been to spray bt on the silks once as soon as they emerge then once or twice more with the last at the point when silks are browning. The idea is to get them eating the bt on the way in and kill'em before they can do much damage. Does applying oil at brown silks kill off the worms already inside before they cause much damage? Seems to me the little buggers are eating all the way down. The bt has worked very well for years with less than 1-2% of the ears having a worm at harvest.

    Oh yes, how much oil per ear?

    Michael

  • anney
    14 years ago

    michael

    A couple of drops is all it takes (or a small quick squirt with a spray device), applied to the silks where they enter the ear, not on the end where the silks are turning brown.

    Yes, the oil does kill the worms inside before they grow to full size and move down toward the bottom of the ear. They spend about two weeks inside the ear if not controlled, ruining the corn! If you mix vegetable oil and BT, the ratio is 3 teaspoons per quart of oil.

    If you've already used BT and it's been successful, are you just looking to change your program?

  • Michael
    14 years ago

    Anney: mostly just curiosity but also, one year I went to spray Bt and realized I was out. Living an hour's drive from the nearest source, it was just a bit of a pain in the a** to quickly go get some. An alternative close at hand would have been nice. Also, my sprayer is a bit unwieldy and a small bottle with a dropper might be even handier.

    I wonder if Stylet Oil would work as well, it isn't labeled for sweetcorn, just field corn for Fall armyworm. Too bad.

    Thanks Anney, I think I'll do a half and half (oil on one half/Bt on the other) and see what happens.

    Michael

  • benntblundell_netzero_net
    12 years ago

    what is btk

  • midlin
    12 years ago

    Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (Btk) is a naturally occurring bacteria that is very effective at killing worms/caterpillars for fruits & vegetables.

    Watch that you buy kurstaki, the strain you need for caterpillars/worms.

    A different strain, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), is a very common control for mosquitos but not for worms/caterpillars.

  • jolj
    12 years ago

    I first heard of this trick from a nurseryman, 35 years ago.
    We did not use it because we planted over 1000 corn stalks for freezing for a family of eight.
    But it worked well for him.
    The earlier you plant corn, the less problems you have the worms.
    The corn ear worm is the same worm as the Tomato fruit worm, not to be confused with the tomato horn worm.

  • cbailey89_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    I am a bit confused. Do you apply the oil when the silk first appears? Or some time after?

  • silkiemama
    12 years ago

    There are 2 kinds of mineral oil. One is called FOOD GRADE.
    This is what you put on corn. It is no different than corn oil, etc. It is not toxic and won't hurt you. I use it to oil my wooden cutting boards and my oak table. On my way out now to "OIL" my corn!

  • TooManyAnts
    12 years ago

    I am getting ants crawling all over the spots where I dropped the vegetable oil at the tips of the corn silks. Do ants like vegetable oil? Will it encourage them to go into the corn and destroy it? They seem to be regular black ants. I haven't opened up any of the corn ears to see if they are being eaten. Just wondering why no one hear mentioned ants gathering at the oil.

  • TooManyAnts
    12 years ago

    *here

  • JCSawyer0905
    10 years ago

    How much vegetable oil or mineral oil do you use and I read above that one was mixed with rain water. So if mixed with water what ratio do you use, 50/50?