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Gardening Forum   VEGETABLE GARDENING DISCUSSION FORUMS  Vegetable Gardening Forum

The Great Corn Failure of 2016




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The Great Corn Failure of 2016

Thu Sep 08, 2016 3:22 pm

My corn was an utter failure this year. After 5 years of successful Corn-U-Copia harvest parties, it all went pear-shaped over Labor Day.

I planted on June 22, with soaked seeds, leaving 74 days until my planned party the Sunday before Labor Day. The corn came up as planned and started growing normally.

The first sign of trouble was about 3 weeks ago, when I came back from my travels to find very short corn. Most of it was only about 4' tall:

Image

It's normally over my head by this time, and so dense that I can't walk through it without getting small cuts and pollen all over myself.

I despaired that I'd somehow screwed something up. But the soil moisture seemed fine (it's on a timered drip system), and I had fertilized it every 3-4 weeks since planting. It's in a patch that I'd used 3 years ago, and I had done the identical soil prep as I do every year, tilling in municipal mulch/compost with a generous layer of bagged steer manure.

But things were going to be ok; the stalks were making ears. The ears were small, but they'd be edible.

I was traveling a lot, so I didn't get around to BtK treatment, and I knew I'd have serious corn earworm infestation, just as I'd had a few years ago. That time I "fixed" the problem by going through the patch the morning of the party with a bypass lopper, cutting off the top ~2-3" from each ear.

This year I figured I'd save more corn by lopping the ears a week prior. I went through all ~130 ears and extracted earworm larvae and cutting off corn tops. Success!

Except that by opening the ears, I was exposing them to the peafowl. During the week before the party the neighborhood feral peafowl invaded my patch and ate every single ear:

Image

Two days before the party I saw this, and I panicked. The evite had already gone out, and 80+ people were scheduled to arrive and pick corn for a corn-themed harvest party.

The solution was cases of corn from the local Smart & Final (warehouse store) for $0.33/ear. I bought 135 ears and a box of skewers for candy apples.

I stuck the skewers into the bottoms of the ears and tried tying the sticks to the stalks. It worked, and looked pretty convincing, but it took wayyyyy too long. There was no way I was going to tie 135 ears to stalks. I ended up just "planting" the ears in the ground, at the base of each stalk:

Image

"Them City kids will never know the difference!"

I did get questions, mostly from parents, but the kids "picked" the corn, and there was much rejoicing. So the crop was a failure, but the party was a success!

Next year I'll have to review my corn plans.
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!
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TheWaterbug
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Re: The Great Corn Failure of 2016

Thu Sep 08, 2016 6:30 pm

At least you were able to save the day with your quick thinking.
Pea fowl are horrible at destroying crops. I don't know if they are good to eat but it sure is tempting after you've fattened them up.
ButterflyLady29
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Re: The Great Corn Failure of 2016

Thu Sep 08, 2016 7:59 pm

Skunks, Raccoons, PeaFowl............ A shotgun fixes many problems. I would not hesitate to remove the Problem!
I have also used #3 foot traps to catch and remove pests.

A radio in the corn patch tuned to the local radio station will keep a lot of critters out.
Gardening at 5000 feet elevation, zone 4/5 Northern Utah, Frost free from May 25 to September 8 +/- Plant a Garden
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jal_ut
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Re: The Great Corn Failure of 2016

Mon Sep 19, 2016 3:53 pm

Corn is a large plant. It needs room to spread its leaves, It also needs company so it gets pollinated. It is good to plant a corn patch.
Make it 12 feet by 12 feet and put 4 rows of corn in that space with plants spaced 8 to 12 inches in the rows.

I put a radio in the corn patch tuned to the local talk station. This seems to discourage the night time pests. Skunks, raccoons, etc.

Corn planted too dense may not get any ears on it. Corn planted too thin will get ears, but they don't always get pollinated so the
kernels on the cobs are patchy.

Have fun!
Gardening at 5000 feet elevation, zone 4/5 Northern Utah, Frost free from May 25 to September 8 +/- Plant a Garden
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jal_ut
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Re: The Great Corn Failure of 2016

Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:34 am

I planted 2 corn crops 3 weeks apart the first crop did good the second crop was worthless. The first crop was planted early enough to get plenty of rain to grow tall and it matured in 85 degree weather that is excellent for corn. The second crop started out good but the rain stopped and temperatures were 95 to 97 every day for 2 months. Corn should be planted soon as you can get seeds to grow in cool rainy weather so it gets lots of water. Best crop is always when corn pollinates and grow kernels at 85 degrees or cooler. Corn is also a high nitrogen feeder. Corn does not pollinate well as a small crop and does not pollinate well in very low humidity 100+ temperatures.
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Dirt Man
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