Storm Damage to Corn - What Can be Done?

[Johnny & Nancy]

What can be done about our corn that was blown over in a storm.
[img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0039.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0040.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0041.jpg[/img]
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[freedhardwoods]

It doesn't look that bad in your pictures. It should straighten itself up. I will try to get a pic of mine in a little bit. As I came home from work I saw mine flat on the ground. I am going to look at it in a little bit.

[pepper4]

I never grew corn but based on my bean plants and tomatoes that got battered down by rain and wind I believe they will perk up as long as the stalks were'nt broken and by pics they seem fine. Alittle sun and they should be good. Maybe someone else else jump in and have another opinion or suggestion.

[freedhardwoods]

Here is what mine looks like. I have had it this bad before.

[img]https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk129/freedhardwoods/Garden/WindDamage003.jpg[/img]

Even it should recover, although it may not pollinate quite as well as it would without damage. The stalks at gound level will not straighten, but the rest of the stalk will curve upward toward the sun, so the top of the stalks of one row will be almost straight above the base of the next row. It looks terrible, but it still produces corn.

I think yours will be perfectly fine.

[The Black Thumb]

Looks like that will cut down on the need to weed! Hope all ends well!

[Johnny & Nancy]

thanks everyone we just let it grow and see what happens

[The Helpful Gardener]

Sure and after seeing FHW's rows, you have nothing to worry about, right?

Thanks for the input FHW. And condolences on the maize...

HG

[melissawho44]

That's a shame freedhardwoods, It is amazing how things in your garden recover from storm damage!!
We had a little damage in ours also, our zucchini was beat up quite a bit, and our cucumbers were swirled into a mess, but we checked on it today and looks pretty good now.
Melissa

[BrianSkilton]

Must have been the same storm that went through, some of my tomatoes I didn't have in cages got blown to the ground. I hope that corn recovers for you both.

[rootsy]

If the stalk didn't snap it will probably gooseneck itself... Might be a bit tough getting down the rows but you should get decent ears. Depends on how far it is from tassel.

[freedhardwoods]

Here are some before and after pics taken 2 days apart. Corn is very resilient. I just wish it had some more recovery time before tassling.

John and Nancy,
How does yours look now?

[img]https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk129/freedhardwoods/Garden/WindDamage003.jpg[/img][img]https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk129/freedhardwoods/Garden/001-2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk129/freedhardwoods/Garden/WindDamage001.jpg[/img][img]https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk129/freedhardwoods/Garden/002-2.jpg[/img]

[Johnny & Nancy]

Ours is looking better. Here is some after pictures.
[img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0044.jpg[/img] [img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0045.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0046.jpg[/img] [img]https://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa307/redrail1915/SANY0047.jpg[/img]

[pepper4]

They look great I kind of thought all would be good

[!potatoes!]

our corn went down in a storm two days ago...hope it looks as good as yours soon...

[Gary350]

Don't worry about it. The corn will fix itself in about 2 or 3 days. You guys are cracking me up those pictures are so funny my garden looked just like that about 6 days ago. We had sever thunderstorms 3 days in a row my corn was FLAT on the ground. It couldn't have gotten any flatter if I had rolled a big roller over it.

[mdthomas26]

A storm like this came rolling through Easter Iowa early this morning and my corn looks JUST like that flat as a pancake but not busted off.

Do you guys have any pictures of your corn after it recovered?

Does it do anygood to try to stand it back up and build up the soil around it?

I don't have nearly as big a plot as it looks like some of you have so something like that may be more practical for me than it might be for you all.

[soil]

that happened to me last year, they never fixed themselves. I tried to tie them back up. I got 3 ears of corn from a 10 x 20 patch after it fell over. I personally feel it was from planting too close, this year I planted them much farther apart.

[bcallaha]

That's happened to me twice this year. About a month ago, we had a severe storm with winds from the northeast. About 3/4 of my corn was 45 to 60 degrees from vertical. The very next night, we had another storm with winds from the southwest. The next morning, my corn looked like someone put it in a whirlwind. Nearly all of the corn was facing some direction other than vertical. The plants were still in the ground good, none were uprooted. I've seen corn right itself before, so I just let it go. Now you can't tell anything ever happened except a few stalks have a crook near the bottom......hasn't hurt production.

Brad

[rainbowgardener]

But yes, for a small corn patch, you can speed the process up by standing your corn back up, especially if it's been pretty flattened. Stand the corn up, firm the soil around it, hill it up a little bit at the base, and it will be good to go. Obviously no one is going to do that who has acres of corn, since it has to be done for each individual plant.

[applestar]

I think hilling and not hilling can make a huge difference in ability of the corn to withstand heavy storms and to get back up.


I was looking an unhilled corn stalk yesterday -- the stem below the buttressing roots is 1/2 the diameter of the stem above them. When I hill, I inevitably end up burying the bottom leaves and they also act as --oh what are those lines/rope you tie to spikes in the ground to support tents from blowing over called? Nuts! I can't remember... Like "tether" but not... Starts with a "g" ....

[TheWaterbug]

Guywires

[TZ -OH6]

Guy-wires.

Corn patches are like trailer parks.

Last year my deer netting helped hold up my little block of corn. This year I dug trenches and planted in those and then back filled and hilled up a bit but a really big wind won't be stopped (nor will crop circle aliens). I also planted double rows (plants about a foot apart side to side and then 3-4 ft to the next double row), which might help.