what ate my corn?

[CTurtleGirl]

So last night sometime I lost two stalks of corn to something. This wouldn't seem like a big deal except that my garden is small and I only have 18 stalks. Whatever it was literally chopped off the stalk at about 6 inches high from about 3 feet high almost like a machete and you could see the future flowers laying on the ground next to it along with the leaves. I know we don't have rabbits around here, cause I live in the city and have never seen one here and I don't think it could do that to a plant. Would a racoon do that? I've seen coons in my yard once before but I wonder why they would only go for two plants. Maybe they got scared off? What do you all think? Thanks!

CTG

[2cents]

Coons love corn as do deer.

If you have mature or near mature ears, both will take the corn a night or two before it is ready to pick.

If the stalks are standing and the corn has been eaten.it is a deer.

If the stalks are knocked down and the corn is eaten, it is a coon.

I had a persistant coon a couple years ago, she would bring the ears onto my deck and eat them on the deck, all the husks for me to clean up the next morning......sort of like insult to injury, the coon must have been sadistic.....laughing as it was just rubbing salt into my wounds.

[havnfun]

I also had a friend that was about ready to pick their corn and the next day there wasn't an ear of corn left in their garden. As they walked across their pasture toward the woods, they could see ears of corn in the trees where the coons had taken them the night before.

[CTurtleGirl]

whats wierd is that no ears had formed yet, the "flowers" were inside the stalk somewhere (this is my first attempt at growing corn so I dunno) and they were not eaten, just thrown to the side. Maybe the coon was disappointed in not finding ears. Is there any way to deter coons. I finally pretty much got rid of the cat that was digging up the garden, now a new friend.... sigh

CTG

[rainbowgardener]

I gave up on growing corn even back when I had the space to do it, because EVERYONE loves corn. The coons, mice, wood rats, possums, squirrels, deer, starlings, blue jays and other birds (all of which we had on our property). I think you would have to grow it inside Fort Knox. At the very least make a cage of deer netting all the way around it, buried a few inches in to the ground and over the top. And/or try all the critter repellant stuff. And sit out there with your shotgun watching over it (no I'm an animal lover, I didn't say that last.)

[rootsy]

Deer. They will walk down a row, pull the tassel right out of the whorl and chew it a sec and spit it on the ground... The plant will break off at the weakest point. Generally the tassel coming out of the whorl vs the stalk breaking...

Deal with them all year... I have a few rows on a hill that are as tall as the rest of the corn on low ground... due to no tassels...

The coon like to hit the corn when the ears are filling and becoming sweet. They will tear ears off and eat some if the ear will snap easily but most of the time they'll tear open the husk and take a bite and move on... complete waste either way. They can ruin dozens of ears in a single night per coon... A family can decimate half an acre in a night...

Have trapped 4 in the past week and the first corn is just pushing out tassels. They must be scouting... took 26 out of the population last year...

[gixxerific]

I did and it was good, thank you!