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rootsy
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First sweet corn of '09

If the weather holds as the extended forecast predicts... it should make it... Ground is a bit cold but this stuff was planted shallow... Getting moisture on it as I type this... First 2 acres are now in... another 8 to go spaced out a week and a half apart in 2 acre blocks... Can hardly wait until Mid July...

I know it's a bit more than "gardening" but heck still vegetables...

[img]https://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/jaroot13/Farming%20Photos/planter5.jpg[/img]

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jal_ut
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That's great! I am patiently waiting for my ground to dry a bit more. I usually try to hit the 5th of May for planting my first corn. It is going to be a few days later this year.

Thanks for sharing the picture. How wide are your rows spaced?

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rootsy
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38 inch rows... So I can cultivate with the Super A... Shoot for an 8 - 10 inch seed spacing...

Curly
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A total of 10 acres of corn? Do you have a big family or selling at a farmers market? Our ground is still way to cold for corn. Bummer.

Jeff H
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Do you mind telling what type of planter you are using? Do you have a fertilizer hopper on the planter also? I planted 3/4 acre a couples of weeks ago and it has been raining non-stop ever since. Some of the garden has washed away. I am using an international 800 planter without a fertilizer hopper. I have used a cole TP-46 with fertilizer hopper in the past several years.

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rootsy
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Jeff H wrote:Do you mind telling what type of planter you are using? Do you have a fertilizer hopper on the planter also? I planted 3/4 acre a couples of weeks ago and it has been raining non-stop ever since. Some of the garden has washed away. I am using an international 800 planter without a fertilizer hopper. I have used a cole TP-46 with fertilizer hopper in the past several years.
That is an IH 455 straight drill plate planter... Manufactured from 1963 - 1966. The big rusty / white boxes forward of the round seed hoppers are fertilizer hoppers... She can handle half a ton of granular fertilizer on board at full load.. I use 11-52-0 low salt starter. It does alright but if you are using an 800 cyclo I can't even touch you in accuracy... Grew up with a 400 cyclo... Good thing bout your 800 is that they are plentiful and still in wide use today... you can get just about any part you need for them straight from IH and plenty of aftermarket add-ons.

I sell roadside, farmers market and supply a couple of local mom n pop grocery stores. I shoot for a final stand of about 20K plants / acre after germination and loss... If the weather turns cold again.. meaning sub 60ish I'll probably have more loss from seed rot due to cold soil than expected... @ $180 / acre for seed it kinda stings... But beating the big box store rush is worth it...

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Pebbles
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rootsy

I only have 4 little corn plants and not really having much experience at all of growing veg - how much water do they need? Do they prefer the soil to be moist all the time or do they like to have a drink and then live in dry soil?

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rootsy
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Pebbles wrote:rootsy

I only have 4 little corn plants and not really having much experience at all of growing veg - how much water do they need? Do they prefer the soil to be moist all the time or do they like to have a drink and then live in dry soil?
bout an inch a week from silk thru harvest when the ear is forming... You don't need to keep the ground damp. I am only partially irrigated from a pivot, I will put some water on from silk thru harvest if it needs it.. mostly late corn... otherwise I let mother nature take care of it...

if you have room for more than 4 stalks I suggest you plant em... You want to make sure that every strand of silk receives pollen from the tassel and in corn that occurs by having lots of neighbors...

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applestar
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if you have room for more than 4 stalks I suggest you plant em... You want to make sure that every strand of silk receives pollen from the tassel and in corn that occurs by having lots of neighbors...
Also, sometimes, they don't all mature at the same time like you want them to.... :roll: So more would be better. But another trick that worked for me last year when I planted in 4 hills of 4@ 3 feet apart to grow pumpkin and beans in 3 Sisters -- when the corns tassle and start to make pollen, go out after the morning dew has dried on wind-less days, bend the pollinating corn over the silks you want pollinated and gently tap on the stalk to float the pollen over them.

This year, I only had room for 9 plants 12" apart. On the other side of the house, I'm planting popcorn, hoping the house will provide sufficient barrier (wind patterns are different too) 4'x2' space in a deep (18") raised bed -- I'm going to try planting at a tighter spacing (haven't figured it out yet). Later on, I'm going to plant late corn in succession in yet another location (3rd side of the house) after the potatoes are done and I'll only have room for 6. So let's compare notes, OK?

rootsy, THAT's the difference between 20 THOUSAND corn plants/acre and tiny corner of backyard "gardening" :lol: :() (Picturing YOU walking along your corn rows, individually -- and lovingly, mind you :wink: -- pollinating every ear. :cool: Of course, that's what Mother Nature is doing. :D )
:flower: "Here you go... Ah! Hmm? Oh I think you need a little more... Do you have more pollen left for this one?" :flower:

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rootsy
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I hand harvest every ear too... Me and a couple of the neighbor kids that needs extra cash... I walk those rows 3 or 4 times a week inspecting for disease and pest infestations... Varieties I grow are too fragile for mechanical harvesting and if you aren't sending your corn to a cannery then it has to be Grade A to sell on the cob and in the husk... No room for damage from human or pest...

I've been there with just a couple of short rows of plants before I made this a second job... Growing sweet corn on a very small scale can be frustrating... That plant will look good but when you snap that ear and shuck the husk only to find mostly unpollinated kernels it gets disappointing and frustrating.... I Grew up in the grandparent's garden... Farmed with my granfather, father and uncle and also worked for a local produce farmer through HS and a local strawberry / raspberry farmer through my early teen years... I have experience in a broad spectrum of growth styles...

But many of the folks here, at this forum garden on such a micro scale that it is difficult for me sometimes to comprehend and wrap my head around it. I grew up with no shortage of land on which to put a garden... But we are not all so lucky and as I do, we must all make the most of what we have available to us.

Well I do hand pollinate the Dills Giant Atlantics...

2cents
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rootsy,
I bet you pick a bussel in less than a minute.

Starting about 6 yrs old till 12 yrs, DOD rented 5 acres for sweet corn.
Saturdays, we started at first light(sat in the truck while still dark).
Dad and us 3 boys filled the IH(old blue) by 8 AM, I believe 3/4 ton.
Would take it into the city on an old vacant corner, $0.25/dozen
By 2 PM all of it was gone, except what we dropped off for mom to cook and a few relatives.

I've helped a few friends pick, especially in my 20s & 30s. Could out pick 5 guys maybe 10 of them. Only 1 of them ever caught on to how simple it is. But, his Granddad had 410 acre in WVa.

Naehu808
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been reading all of your writings. My mom grew up on a farm in Michigan, dairy. But raised us kids with a big backyard in Calif., and we always had a big veggie garden along with chickens (eggs), rabbits, and many fruit trees. It was a great time I think. I had to get reacquainted with growing corn. my husband and I dug up a 20 x 20 space on the southside of my moms house (we live on the westside of the Island of Oahu, HI), so she could plant a veggie garden. She planted her maters, gourdes, green bell peppers, spinach, kai-choy cabbage and ahhhh, the corn. She ended up having to leave for VA on short notice and has been gone since she planted, so I've been weeding and caring for the garden., which I truly enjoyed....until the other day when I noticed the corn had gazillion ants crawling all over it. I put down cinnamon by the base of the plants, but to no avail. when I came back yesterday, of the 12 plants, 8 were down on the ground, dead. I was so upset and devasted. The maters are do ing fine, as were the rest of the garden and I actually planted squash and more maters 1 month ago, which are coming in and doing great. So why the corn???? and how can I deter the ants the next planting, as I definitely intend on replanting this week. Does cinnamon work, maybe hers was expired...I didn't look at the outdate, but I know she has quite a bit of seasonings that she's probably had for 2-3 years. (I know, time to throw out the old and purchase some new, which we will prior to moms return home, which wont be until July),but when I told her about the corn she was totally bummed. Would really like to surprise her with a healthy new planting. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks :)



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