Thinking of growing corn - needs some tips

Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:18 pm

Am I to late to grow ? I've tried to grow corn in the past but they got blow down and I was so disappointed. Any ideas on how to keep them standing in the wind ? any other tips would be great also

Thanks
John

Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:47 pm

You should have time for short season sweet corn (maybe a couple of plantings). There are several 65 day varieties. The problem here with late planting is a bug that eats the silks.

To prevent them from blowing over just put up a "guard rail" for them to lean against... stakes at each end of the leeward row with a line between them. For a small bed you can surround the whole thing... with stakes at four corners. Last year my deer netting stopped blowover. This year I expanded the area and had the hills scattered. I probably could have simply used twine to tie all of the stalks in a hill together so they could support each other.

Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:57 pm

If they do blow over, you can just stand them up again. Firm up the soil around them and hill it up over the base a little.

Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:13 pm

I like to thank everyone for the great tips. My corn is doing great. I built up the soil around them ( at the bottom) to help from wind blowing them over but now a new issue for me comes to light. The bottom is so well stabilized that it look as if the corn is now going to snap off or bend in the middle or close to the tops. Should I be concerned if the tops do bend over or snap off? can corn grow with out those skinny top parts? has anyone else come across this issue? With Hurricane Irene coming up the east coast im concerned. Thanks again everyone for all the help

Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:44 pm

The corn will start to sprout off from the main stalk at about 24-30 inches off the ground. At least that's what mine did (Silver Sweet). The plants are around 6-7' tall, presently and I imagine I'm a week from harvesting a piece - maybe a little more.

You could always brace them to be on the safe side. Drive around and find some bamboo growing locally. It's everywhere. If you have only a few plants like I do (I have around 12), you could put a support at each end and zig zag string stalk to stalk from support to support. And that is going cheap. Otherwise, use your imagination and build a fortress around them.

I've noticed something slightly strange on mine. The more mature plants have started another ring of roots about 1-2" above the soil line. They just popped out like boils and then made their way to the soil. Is this pretty typical?

Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:41 pm

Glad you updated on your progress. How many do you have planted? I mean, are they in a block or are they just one row? If they are in a block, I would think that they would be able to use each other as supports and also as a wind-break.

However, if you just have one or tow rows, it might not be a bad idea to put a stake in at each end of the row and then run wires along the length of the rows, sort of caging them in.

let us know how you make it through the remnants of the hurricane.

Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:40 pm

So Happy - my corn made it. Hurricane Irene came and went and the corn is still standing. Thank you for all the great tips that seem to work great even for hurricane winds
http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13617&d=1314711133

Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:47 pm

Hey, glad to hear it......now you have to invite all of us over for a corn roast, lol.

Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:52 pm

garden5 wrote:Hey, glad to hear it......now you have to invite all of us over for a corn roast, lol.

LOL that would be great. I have no power so it would be a backyard roast on the Propaine Cooker.