Earworms
- Earworms are also known as Tomato Fruit Worms or Cotton Bollworms. They are attracted to corn, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, peppers, and squash.
- In their larva stage, they resemble rusty red capsules. They pupate into 1.5-inch-long (3.8 cm) caterpillars, usually green or white, but sometimes light yellow, brown, or reddish, all with dark stripes down each side.
- They mature into greenish-gray and brown moths with black dots, which will then lay off-white, ribbed eggs.
- Earworm pupae survive over the winter in the soil.
- To suffocate earworms, apply mineral oil to the corn silks once they have withered and begun to turn brown.
- Use about ½ of an eyedropper (0.5 ml) of the oil on each small ear and ¾ (1.8 ml) on the larger ones.
- You can add a little powdered red pepper to the mineral oil, but wear rubber gloves because red pepper can sting if you get it on your skin.
- Make two follow-up applications spaced a week apart to the affected plants.
- Wash your corn well when you harvest it and boil it thoroughly before you eat it.
Fascinating Facts!
- Earworms are not worms, but actually caterpillars of the Helicoverpa zea moth.
- They have a distinctive pattern of stripes and spots, and can grow up to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in length.
- Earworms are nocturnal and feed on the reproductive parts of plants, such as corn kernels and tomato fruits.
- They can be controlled with natural predators, such as birds, and by using insecticides and genetically modified crops.
- Earworms have been a pest for centuries, with records of damage to crops dating back to the 1800s.
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