I'm still growing Bi-Licious sweet corn every year for my annual Labor Day "Corn-U-Copia" Harvest Party. In addition to a bug zapper, I'm also applying BtK oil to each ear on Day 60, which is 24 days before harvest/party time.
I've been using this $10 oil can for the past few years, and it works, but it's not great:
- Hard to control the amount of oil. It's designed to put a much larger squirt of oil than I want. I put a screw under the lever to shorten the travel to about 3/8", and that works OK, but it's still more than I want. Ideally I want about 1/10 of a teaspoon, per the IA State recommendations.
- Impossible to clean. Maybe this wouldn't be a problem if I'd flushed it fastidiously every time I used it, but now it's pretty gummy with old oil, and that old oil residue just doesn't come off with soap and water. I don't want to soak it in a stronger solvent, because I use this for food.
- Wasteful. The pickup cylinder doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the can, so I need to fill the can all the way to the top in order for it to work. But then I use only about 1/4 of the oil I put in it (for ~150 ears) and have to throw away the rest, because it won't keep for year.
So does anyone else apply small amounts of BTK/oil to their sweet corn? What do you use for an applicator? And on what day do you apply it?