Try Resistant Varieties
Corn - Apache, Bellringer, Burgundy Delight, Butter & Sugar, Calumet, Country Gentleman, Quicksilver, Stowell's Evergreen, Sweet Sue, and Tablevee show some resistance to borers.
Adjust Planting Date
The moths do most of their egg laying early in the season, so delay your corn planting if you expect problems. Borers in each multi-generation area follow a similar life cycle; between generations there is a gap of about 3 weeks when virtually no egg laying occurs. Refer to your records of the previous season's insect activity for the best planting date. You should plant so that your crop ripens during this midsummer gap.
Encourage Predators
Barn swallows, blackbirds, downy woodpeckers, flycatchers, grackles, phoebes, and sparrows, as well as moles and toads, all eat corn borers.
Assassin bugs and tachinid flies help control the European corn borer.
