Killing Field Corn Germ - Ask Extension
I feed squirrels field corn on the cob and fight volunteer corn in my yard, gardens and flower pots that the squirrels bury.
How can I kill the germ ...
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Killing Field Corn Germ #877720
Asked July 17, 2024, 10:01 PM EDT
I feed squirrels field corn on the cob and fight volunteer corn in my yard, gardens and flower pots that the squirrels bury.
How can I kill the germ before putting the corn on the cob out for the squirrels?
Deep freeze? Microwave? If so for how long?
Appreciate your help
Allen County Ohio
Expert Response
Thank you for your question to Ask a Master Gardener Volunteer with eXtension.
Unfortunately I haven't found any information about preventing germination of corn by freezing or heating the kernels.
There are a few things to consider within your question. First, feeding wild animals beyond songbirds gets murky in terms of "is it in their best interest?" The biggest concerns are that by feeding, we both habituate the animals to humans (i.e., they lose their natural and very valuable fear) and then we also food-condition them, which is a form of training them to expect food from us - which can lead to some negative interactions, all the way up to aggressive squirrel charges demanding food! So that's 2 forms of essentially training them to be less than the wild animals that they really are. The other concern is that whenever we congregate animals and bring them into densities and face-to-face interactions that would be rare in nature, there's a higher chance of disease and parasite transmission.
I have included the following website from the Ohio Division of Natural Resources for your use.
https://www.recordherald.com/2017/04/04/video-ask-an-odnr-wildlife-officer-is-it-ok-to-feed-wild-animals/
Best of luck to you.
Unfortunately I haven't found any information about preventing germination of corn by freezing or heating the kernels.
There are a few things to consider within your question. First, feeding wild animals beyond songbirds gets murky in terms of "is it in their best interest?" The biggest concerns are that by feeding, we both habituate the animals to humans (i.e., they lose their natural and very valuable fear) and then we also food-condition them, which is a form of training them to expect food from us - which can lead to some negative interactions, all the way up to aggressive squirrel charges demanding food! So that's 2 forms of essentially training them to be less than the wild animals that they really are. The other concern is that whenever we congregate animals and bring them into densities and face-to-face interactions that would be rare in nature, there's a higher chance of disease and parasite transmission.
I have included the following website from the Ohio Division of Natural Resources for your use.
https://www.recordherald.com/2017/04/04/video-ask-an-odnr-wildlife-officer-is-it-ok-to-feed-wild-animals/
Best of luck to you.
Thank you for your reply to my question
Bill Klein
You are welcome!
