Big Corn This Year

[freedhardwoods]

My corn is doing better than I've ever seen before. The board propped up in the pictures is 8' long. The "shorter" corn is my sweet corn. The taller is Indian corn. The really tall one is over 11'.

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[grwrn]

Looks great!

Your area must have had ample rain this season. We have had a dry season here and local corn was stunted. I have mine in a squarefoot garden and it was watered regularly and it grew tall too but not tall as yours and some of my stalks "bent/broke" and I had to splint them.

[applestar]

Looking great! What a difference in scale to my little patch of Bloody Butcher

What varieties did you grow?

[freedhardwoods]

What varieties did you grow?

Silver Queen and Stowells Evergreen sweet corn. Rainbow indian corn.

Looks great!

Your area must have had ample rain this season. We have had a dry season here and local corn was stunted. I have mine in a squarefoot garden and it was watered regularly and it grew tall too but not tall as yours and some of my stalks "bent/broke" and I had to splint them.

We've had perfect weather for the most part. We did have a 4" rain with some wind about a month ago that knocked some over. I just let it straighten itself up.

[TheWaterbug]

My corn is doing better than I've ever seen before.

Mine, too! My Bi-Licious stand is "only" about 8' tall, but that's at least foot taller than it's been in previous years. I rotate my corn around my garden, so this is the first time I've ever planted in exactly this location, so maybe the sun exposure it just that much better here.

But in any case I'm hopeful for a good crop!

[freedhardwoods]

My corn is doing better than I've ever seen before.

Mine, too! My Bi-Licious stand is "only" about 8' tall, but that's at least foot taller than it's been in previous years. I rotate my corn around my garden, so this is the first time I've ever planted in exactly this location, so maybe the sun exposure it just that much better here.

But in any case I'm hopeful for a good crop!

You must be having good weather too.

My wife and I are going to try to count how many sweet corn ears we harvest, but with 2,200 feet of rows and 2 or 3 ears per stalk, I might need to borrow someones fingers and toes to count that high.

The high number of multiple ears are a first for me too. Are the rest of you seeing multiple ears this year?

[gardeningwithe]

This is my first year growing corn, but I have a lot (well relatively in my small area) of multiple ears. Must be because we have had a decent amount of rain? That hasn't helped some of my other plants and I have been fighting powdery mildew, but we had a giant zucchini as did everyone in my area (Eastern TN). Guess each yr. you win some lose some- perhaps that is the draw that brings us all back. I would say big win for your corn this year!!!! Enjoy it!

[TheWaterbug]

I have 100 linear feet of corn, with plantings every 1 foot. I originally dropped 3 seeds per planting, and I got good germination. When the stalks were about 4' high (yeah, way too late, I know! I'd been traveling . . . .) I thinned half the patch down to 1 stalk per site, and I left the rest of the patch at 2 or 3, depending on how many had successfully sprouted.

It's a loose science experiment to see if I get better yield per stalk when I thin. Thus far it doesn't look like it. The denser corn is just as tall as the thinned corn, there's 2 ears per stalk on all, and it all seems to be about the same size. If it turns out well then I will not thin at all next year.

We've had zero rain, but I have the entire garden on a drip system, so they get enough water and fertilizer.

By the way, I'm about 2 weeks from harvest right now. Does fertilizer have any benefit at this late stage?

[freedhardwoods]

By the way, I'm about 2 weeks from harvest right now. Does fertilizer have any benefit at this late stage?

I always side dress with nitrogen long before it tassels. I don't think you would get much benefit now.