The Cotton Bollworm, or Corn Earworm, Heliocoverpa zea, is a major pest of cotton and corn, but also affects a number of other field crops including soybeans, grain sorghum, sunflowers, and peanuts. It damages cotton plants by cutting off terminals which causes multiple branching and delayed maturity. They also damage the cotton plant by eating into the squares, blooms, and bolls. In corn the larvae feed on the leaves, tassels, ears, and the whorl. In soybeans the larvae feed on leaves, stems, flowers, pods, and seeds within pods that may result in foliage, flower, and fruit loss.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/southeast-area/stoneville-ms/southern-insect-management-research/docs/cotton-bollworm/
Go plant corn next to cotton...Every bug (insect) has lunch.
The problem is that the gene for resistance to certain pesticides has been transferred from one species to another, that up until now didn’t have it..............
I thought they were the same worm.
I have a huge problem with them in my corn. Left alone, there could be 6-10 worms in every ear, and the mold they bring with destroys the entire ear. Control involves squirting a bit of mineral oil in the end of each ear as soon as the silks show. I’m not sure that would work for sweet corn, but for dry corn it works pretty well. The oil is gone by the time they’re ready to harvest. I only lost a few ears to worms last year, and I think they were the ears that hid when I was patrolling.