Corn took a beating

[mattg]

I live in Northern Va, and I decided to start a garden in this the first full growing season of our first house.


I used some Scotts fertilizer when I first planted, and the results have been outstanding. I have already picked the beans 3-4 times, I am getting huge tomatoes (mostly still green though), etc.

This week, the corn began to reveal the tassles and the hair from future ears of corn... which leads me to question #1. Some fo the corn is probably 6 feet tall (or more), while some on the edges is more like 4 feet. All of them are starting to show tassles - why when there is clearly growth differences?


Now for the bad news... Cindy came through last night and dumped about 2.5 inches of rain on us along with the winds. I woke up this morning to see about 75% of my corn laying on its side. (I have 5 rows of about 10-15 plants in eash row). This happened before when the corn was about half as high as it is now. I had just wattered well, and then it got windy. I packed dirt around the base of the plants to stand them back up, and it worked. I did the same thing today, but with the plants so far along now, is there hope the corn will survive?

I am thinking about putting a stake on both ends of the rows and using string to support the corn on both sides. I would have string coming off the stake on both sides connected to the other stake with the corn inbetween the string.


The storm also tipped over one of the tomato plants in a cage. The ground was too wet for the cage to be stuck back into the ground and support the plant, so I had to tie it up.

[The Helpful Gardener]

There's the thing about nitrate fertilizers; you can juice plants up far beyond where they should be and they will be weaker for it. Stems on your corn grew fast, but not strong. Staking might work but do it fast so they may reheal those breaks instead of going necrotic...

Growth diference is all about available light; higher light on the outside means they don't reach as much (same in the farmers field, just look...)

HG

[mattg]

That could be what happened. Having little knowledge about the quality of the soil, I decided to add the fertilizer, which was a 10-10-10 mix.


I stood the corn up by packing dirt (well, it was mud at the time) about 2-4 inches high around the base. When I picked them up, the ground was still really soft, so I am hoping there is little root damage. Its been a few days, and the corn is showing no ill effects so far.

I'm keeping my eyes on Dennis' path, and will probably tie the corn up if it heads this way with any force.

[The Helpful Gardener]

BOL

HG