I am continuing to catch a small number of corn earworms in my trap. Usually we talk about earworm moths being attracted to silking corn to lay their eggs. However, moths will lay eggs on whorl stage sweet corn and the larvae can cause damage (Figure 1 and 2). The larvae will often feed inside the whorl, similar to European corn borer feeding. This damage is usually not very serious, but growers with very early sweet corn should be aware of the potential.
Figure 1. Corn earworm larva inside whorl of sweet corn plant (Photo by John Obermeyer).
Figure 2. Earworm damage on whorl stage of sweetcorn (Photo by John Obermeyer)