Has anyone ever heard of mixing the mineral oil with water and spraying the corn as opposed to using the dropper method? If so, what is the ratio of oil:water?
Thanks
oiling corn silks
Never heard of this. What is it and why do you need to do it? We have several varieties of corn and don't know any thing about this. Please elaborate.
Putting the mineral oil on the ear suffocates the corn earworm, which enters the cob thru the silks and eats on the ear. My husband said he heard you can mix the oil with water and use a sprayer which would be sooo much faster than the usual 10-20 drops of oil per ear.
mix oil & water?
i have been told that it doesn't take long using a $1 oil can
i haven't done it this year, they don't eat much, & we feed them to our baby guineas!
If you did you would need to use am emulsifier to enable the oil and water to mix. ( A dishwashing detergent should work). You would have to experiment with proportions, probably about the same as for light agricultural oils or dormant oils.
i guess there's always the simple mixture of 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp soap, to 1 gallon of water. but would it be strong enough to smother the worms?