Final Report for FNE04-534
Project Information
Note to readers, attached is the complete final report for FNE04-534.
In 2004 Garden of Eve and organic vegetable and flower farm on Long Island, tested the use of a silk application of vegetable oil with Bacillus thuringiensis to control corn earworm to produce a marketable quality and quantity of organic sweetcorn for commercial sale. We planed corn approximately every 3 weeks between late May and July, used pheromone moth traps to monitor earworm populations and used a backpack sprayer to spray the oil/Bt solution on all plantings but the first one at the tassel stage. Results showed that earworm damage was lowest early in the season, even in untreated corn and increased as the summer progressed. Treatments did help reduce earworm damage, but by the end of the summer high damage rates (approximately 75%) were still observed. However, growing sweet corn was considered an economic success for the farm due to high demand for and satisfaction with even damaged ears by CSA members. In 2005 the farm plants to expand acreage dedicated to organic sweet corn and spray more frequently towards the end of the season to see whether it is possible to reduce pest damage rates.