Corn won't grow
My brother has a garden in his backyard and corn will not grow in the garden. It gets about 6 inches high and then the "leaves" turn yellow. What could cause this to happen? He thinks there may be to much fertilizer. What do you think? Thanks
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7427
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
Have you been putting fertilizer on the plants? If you over fertilize it can be a problem. If you think maybe too much fertilizer is the problem flood the plants with too much water it sometimes will help.
I ususally don't fertilize my corn until it is about 2 ft tall. Corn loves nitrogen I mix a pint of ammonium nitrate with 5 gallons of water then I pour that on each 20 ft row of corn once a week all summer. About once every few weeks I also throw in a hand full of 15/15/15 fertilizer. I put some lime in the water too, lime has the ability to unlock nutrients in the soil so the plants can use it. Corn in 65 days.
I ususally don't fertilize my corn until it is about 2 ft tall. Corn loves nitrogen I mix a pint of ammonium nitrate with 5 gallons of water then I pour that on each 20 ft row of corn once a week all summer. About once every few weeks I also throw in a hand full of 15/15/15 fertilizer. I put some lime in the water too, lime has the ability to unlock nutrients in the soil so the plants can use it. Corn in 65 days.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri May 22, 2009 10:50 am, edited 3 times in total.
Corn is rather sensitive to chemical and environmental conditions when they are way out of whack. Low pH levels combined with nitrogen deficiencies can cause symptoms like this along with over-watering.
I mainly use organic material for feeding plants with the exception for corn. They get a dose of nitrogen when the plants are about 6 inches tall.
I mainly use organic material for feeding plants with the exception for corn. They get a dose of nitrogen when the plants are about 6 inches tall.
You said it has been a couple of years. Was this ground previously conventionally farmed? Not many chemicals with that kind of hold-over. Corn is technically a grass and unless genetically modified to withstand chemical subjection will perish to grass killers...
These folks do all of my soil testing... but they are only 3 miles from me...
https://members.tripod.com/~litchlab/
These folks do all of my soil testing... but they are only 3 miles from me...
https://members.tripod.com/~litchlab/
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freedhardwoods
- Senior Member
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- Location: Southwest IN