Item in today's paper in the Garden Tips column. Reader asked how to keep worms out of ears of corn. Columnist cited Dick Raymond's book, Joy of Gardening. Raymond said the best way is to start now. Remove all corn stalks as the European corn borer winter over in them. (My cattle love the stalks and any ears still on.) Then till to disturb the pupa of earworms and prevent them from overwintering.

Next year some control can be achieved by using a medicine dropper to squirt mineral oil into the tips of the ears after the silk has begun to wilt and the corn is maturing. Also mentioned for control is Sevin (which can be harmful to humans) and the nontoxic remdy of baccillus thuringiensis, sold as Thruricide, BT and Dipel.

P.S. Does anyone know the correct botanical name of what is commonly called 'mole plant?' At least locally it is planted in gardens to help keep moles out. It grows to over six feet high on a single stalk, which is purplish in color. Leaves are large. Seeds are in a cluster and look a bit like very large purple sandspurs. I believe it is an annual.

-- Ken S. in TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 03, 2000

Answers

Ken S. in TN, what you are describing sounds like the commonly called castor-bean plant, or if you wish, castor-oil-bean plant. Inside of the sandbur looking seed pod, you will find very pretty looking seeds. They look a lot like oversized pinto beans, though there are some varieties that have a different looking seed. The seeds contain ricin which is a poison. Be advised that as few as three of these seeds when ingested can kill a child. I use the mature seeds to place in mole runs, where ingested kill the mole.

As far as the plants detering moles while growing, a garden book I have says that they have little effect.

They are a great plant for landscaping, but caution should be used where children are concerned.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), September 03, 2000.

Are the leaves heart-shaped?

-- Ken S. in TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 03, 2000.

Ken, thanks for all your tips. It's like having our own garden calender on-line. Do you know the proper time to harvest dent corn. A friend gave me a few ears of red dent last year. I'm hoping to grind it for red corn meal. It sounds kind of unappetizing, but it will be a novelty!

-- glynnis in KY (gabbycab@msn.com), September 04, 2000.

Ken, I'd say the castor bean leaves were more like maple leaves than hearts. May just be the variety I grow up here. Otherwise it does sound like the mole plant you're describing. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), September 04, 2000.

Ken, sorry for the lateness of getting back to you. The castor beans that I planted this year didn't sprout, so I don't have any to look at. The seed was from 1997 and was harvested damp enough that it moulded before I remembered that I had gathered them.

I believe that Gerbil is right about the shape of the leaves, at least for the variety that I grow as well.

Some of the seed catalogs carry a photo of them.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), September 04, 2000.