MAYOR, Master and Magnum: corn borer control
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Maize stubble cultivation
Mechanical control of European corn borer larvae is one of the most important measures for securing a successful harvest.
At maize harvest, around 70% of the larvae are below the second node.
This makes cultivating the stubble after the maize harvest an important operation. The key is to break and crush the maize stubble so that water can penetrate it and speed up decay. It is also important to damage the root crown. This way, the corn borer larvae have no chance of survival.
Another important side effect of cultivating maize stubble is improved field hygiene. The risk of following crops such as wheat or maize being infected with harmful fungi or viruses is reduced.
top agrar put it to the test in practice:
Which implements and combinations are best for fighting the corn borer?
The results speak in favour of GÜTTLER® twice over.
Effective corn borer control – enormous output, low costs
The aim is to leave the corn borer no intact maize stubble in which to overwinter and pupate in spring. With GÜTTLER® rollers, the maize stubble is struck, crushed and broken open by 305 prism points per square metre.
Even if some of the stubble is only partly damaged, this still creates entry points for decay organisms.
This gets decomposition going over the winter, and by the following spring there is no intact stubble left in which the corn borer could pupate.
Although the result does not look spectacular, it made us the test winner among 9 implements in the comparison test in top agrar issue 5/2014.
Corn borer control at moderate extra cost
Combining corn borer control with stubble cultivation saves a great deal of time and money. The cost of the roller and the extra diesel it uses are comparatively minimal.
Instead of hauling dead front ballast across the field, you do valuable work and make corn borer control even more effective.
Even more effective with a levelling bar
Levelling bars are available on request; they strike the maize stubble at its base and knock it over in the direction of travel. The MATADOR then crushes the stubble against the firm ground.
The levelling bars are identical in design to those of the GreenMaster system. This means:
- Solid bar, high weight, good effect
- Parallelogram guidance for ground contouring and overload protection
No room for corn borers
The corn borer loves uncultivated stubble. One of the most important countermeasures is therefore to make this winter shelter for its larvae as uninhabitable as possible. The question the team of experts set out to answer: which machine leaves the highest proportion of completely destroyed stalks?
To reveal the answer straight away: no implement achieved 100%. But there were two clear test winners.
“With the most effective machine, we counted only 4% intact, 42% partly destroyed and 54% completely destroyed stalks.” They are talking about the GÜTTLER® MATADOR front roller with levelling bar and disc harrow.
The second GÜTTLER® machine in the test also delivered excellent results, with 58% destroyed and 36% half-destroyed stubble: the GreenMaster 640, a combination of levelling board, harrow and roller. “The grassland specialist proved efficient on maize stubble – but we only saw it once we had dug everything up and counted it. For us, one of the surprise winners, and it could even sow green rye at the same time.”
(For comparison: the machines of other manufacturers achieved between 11% and a maximum of 49% destroyed stalks. In some cases, up to 16% of the stubble remained intact.)
For its system comparison, top agrar tested nine machines from different manufacturers in autumn 2013. The surprise: a better-looking result was sometimes deceptive. Below the surface, enough intact stubble could remain hidden for the corn borer.
Practical tip from GÜTTLER · last updated 11 Aug 2025
