Corn ear worms!! Help

Question

this is my first year growing a garden and everything is looking beautiful. Today I went out and a couple of ears of corn are ready to be picked. So I went to check one and I opened it up and there was a corn ear worm eating my corn. I was pissed so I threw that son of a gun about a hundred yards.it only a the first 2 or 3 sets of kernels though. So my question is. If I cut off the eaten section and then cook the corn will it be ok to eat.

Answer 1

Don't throw your delicious corn!!!  These little pests are very common, and all you need to do is cut off the area where the worm has been and enjoy the rest!

Answer 2

Absolutely...

Simply cut away the bad part, and you can boil or roast as your heart desires...

Corn worms are a fact of life with small gardens..:O)..

Its not worth sprinkling the ears with Sevin® to get rid of them...

Answer 3

Yes.  We have done this since I was a child (a VERY long time :)

Answer 4

Just cut off the tip of the ear that the worms have damaged.  The rest of the ear will be fine.

Now next year, get yourself some garlic water and spray it onto each ear as the silk first appears.  The garlic will deter the earworms and you'll have perfect ears of corn.  Spray it right onto the silk and let it dribble down into the ear.  The garlic water will not affect the taste of the corn.

You can buy garlic water at garden centers, and you can also make it yourself.  Chop up one or two whole garlic bulbs and place them in a quart jar.  Then pour boiling water over them, to fill the jar.  Close the jar and let it sit overnight.  Strain out the garlic chunks add the garlic water to a sprayer, along with a couple drops of dish soap.  The soap will help the garlic water stick to the plants.  You can freeze this stuff in ice cube trays, then thaw out and use as much as you need.

Once I started using garlic water on my corn, I never lost another ear to earworms.  Raccoons are another matter, however!