Pests & diseases › European Corn Borer
European Corn Borer
Pinkish caterpillars that bore into corn stalks, ears and tassels. Also attacks peppers, beans, potatoes.
Symptoms
- Small holes with sawdust-like frass in corn stalks
- Tassels broken off
- Borers also tunnel into pepper fruit at the cap
- Stalks snapping in wind
Lifecycle
Two generations per year in most regions.
What to do
- Bt or spinosad sprayed into leaf whorls
- Cut and bin (don't compost) all corn stalks in autumn
- Encourage Trichogramma wasps
If it's bad
- Permethrin
Stop it coming back
- Clean cultivation — chop and bury or burn stalks in late autumn
- Plant tall maincrop varieties only after first moth flight (mid-June in most regions)
Crops it goes for
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.