Corn Quandry

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by JRinPA

I have always liked white corn better. I see yellow corn and I think it's from the grocery store, from a can, or for feed. Hopefully this Incredible changes my mind.

I've tried other varieties of corn and for whatever reason the SQ has always produced best, leaving me wishing I hadn't changed up that year. I still want to try a bi-color and might next year. Came awfully close this year!

Originally Posted by JRinPA

My first set, I planted every 5" intending to thin if needed.

I usually plant every 4" and thin out every other one. For whatever reason, the germination is always about 95% in the rows. It's just the corn in the raised beds that has the germination issues. Could be it's just the variety because I've had no problems with other varieties.

Originally Posted by JRinPA

With the plastic mulch, I'm not sure how I'd side dress. There should be plenty of nutrition since the entire beds are finished compost. It is the nice dark stuff you can see next to the corn where I planted sweet potatoes (Georgia something) a couple weeks back.

That's good looking soil! Mine here is sandy in the non-bed area where the corn, winter squash and watermelons grow. The soil in the beds is getting better every year with all the leaf mulch added. Sweet potatoes... Georgia Jet? This is the third year I've been playing with sweets and use one called 'Jewel' as it's nematode resistant.

Originally Posted by JRinPA

This is the first year I did all direct seed for corn, rather than soil block transplants. I think what I want to try next year is a first round of 2-3 week old soil blocks into the ground on the same day as I put the second set into the ground as seed.

Last year was the first time I tried to transplant one of those extras in a row to a spot with skips. The transplant was just 1.5" tall. Already it had a root about 8" long! It didn't survive the experiment, one I won't repeat.

[JRinPA]

With soil blocks the roots don't grow beyond the block...they work well for corn transplants as long as the mix is right. I just don't have enough room to start all the flats of plants I want to start with one light and no legitimate greenhouse to move them to. That is why I went the clear plastic route like some of the sweet corn people do around here. It just feels so wasteful...that plastic is not bio and I only used it a few weeks. Once it is slit, it is done. Felt like a whole lot trash going in that dumpster. But I admit it did a good job starting corn in the cold and wet.

Patching the skips I just pulled out one of the twins after a rain...they were probably 5" tall at that time. The roots are just down through compost, and I think I just pressed them into the new spot with a finger like a tomato plant. Seemed like the took hold okay.The root conditions must depend a lot on the conditions and soil, not just height.


Georgia Jet sounds right...they were extra someone had. I've never grown sweet potatoes. A fellow here has had very good success with them, usually. He bought three kinds this year to try to pinpoint which one grew so well previously, and these were extras. I wasn't sure if I should plastic mulch over them or if they get hilled later or whatnot.

[GoDawgs]

This is a great You Tube on how to grow sweet potatoes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST-u...3oBKkn4DTQEkes

And another from the same guy on growing slips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAkfXmNv_7k

[JRinPA]

Looks like I should be growing them in a sandbox! Looks like I did it about right except for that. But these slips were a bit rough and skinny compared to his, and as he eludes they had just come in to agway the week before. $7 a dozen, if you believe that.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by JRinPA

Looks like I should be growing them in a sandbox! Looks like I did it about right except for that. But these slips were a bit rough and skinny compared to his, and as he eludes they had just come in to agway the week before. $7 a dozen, if you believe that.

Geez! $7.00. I did my slips from two of the sweets left over from last year since they were sprouting anyway. I laid them sideways 3" down in a cheap plastic window box from the dollar store:



Just like he showed in the video, I was able to get several slips (he calls them "draws") from each sprouting area. You'll be growing your own slips next year!

[JRinPA]

Yeah I would never consider buying...I've never been much for sweet potatoes, maybe eating these would change my mind. This fellow may well be planning to start his own next year, or perhaps did before. I know he is trying to pinpoint which kind did so well the last few years. His garden is a nice fenced plot on a gentle slope, maybe 5 degrees of drop I figured. Mostly raised boxes across the slope. Last year was the first with any problems with runoff. He's thinking about changing it up; I suggested converting to terracing instead. Maybe route with gutters? His peas were a total loss this spring.


Anyway, hopefully my corn stays up with this straight line winds coming through in about a minute. I am out of here.

[GoDawgs]

I went to the garden around 9:00 this morning to get ahead of the heat and do the first main corn picking. 129 ears of Silver Queen! It's pretty, too.





I'm not sure how many decent ears remain to be picked. There are a lot of thin ones (all second ears on a plant) whose silks are dry but there's not much to the ear inside. Then there are a few of those that are just now silking but they've missed the pollination boat. I will say though that even though most won't fill out, I've never seen that many second ears forming on stalks. In fact, I've not seen any pickable second ears. But there will be a few more good ears that just need a couple more days.

We shucked them in the shade of the pole shed and it was great to find only two ears in the whole bunch that had a pollination problem. All the rest were filled out nicely all the way to the tip.

There were some ear worms here and there but not many, maybe one in eight ears? It varies year to year as I don't treat with anything. We did find three ears that had the very beginnings of smut under the husks. That's another variable. Some years it's bad and some years not present at all. And no, I don't eat it or even want to try it!

I will definitely keep the double row scheme but maybe cut back from 4' to 3.5' between sets or even go back to the original 3' between sets. Probably 3.5' and see if there's any plus or minus.

[upcountrygirl]

Nice harvest!

[JRinPA]

Very nice! Did you do anything to help pollination or just let them do their thing?

[GoDawgs]

I just let them do their thing. Thought about going down the rows and tapping stalks with a stick but besides not wanting to inhale pollen, I wanted to see what Mother Nature would do. She did a great job!

[JRinPA]

I picked some of my first set on Friday. They seemed a little undersized, so I forcibly ignored them until this morning, Tuesday. Lots of the little black beetles already, now, chewing up the silk and down into kernels. I see some every year. I think they are what's called Sap Beetles. So I picked about six good firm ones and six that were getting chewed up. They were all ripe. Now I have to decide if I want to pick all of the rest of that first set, or gamble. This first set has about 1/2 with two decent ears, and a few with three decent ears. None of the ears are long, though. The second set is taller and has some cobs that already darkened as well, but more that have not.

This Incredible is okay but it does not taste nearly as sweet as what I've grown the last three years. Kind of a disappointment in that regard, as well as the size. The good news is the garlic was nice and big over there, and the sweet potatoes plants look healthy enough.

Pic from last Thursday's "jumped the gun" ears. Then this morning. I guess I should go pick all the ripe ones and freeze.

[GoDawgs]

I don't think I've seen little black beetles in the corn here, just ear worms. Some years they're bad and some years there atre hardly any at all. This year they weren't too bad, maybe in one or two out of ten ears.

The corn stalks were pulled out two days ago. I'll be planting Red Ripper cow peas there hopefully when the soil cools off a little bit. We're ion another hot streak and hit 100 yesterday.



The popcorn in the bed on the right is making ears which will be left to dry completely. In the foreground are one patty pan, one zuke and two straightneck squash, all teetering on the verge of extinction but hanging in there and making a squash here and there.

There are a few very large, old and orange National Pickling cukes in the empty cuke bed that were left to get that way so I can gather seed from them. I've never saved cuke seed before because it's so darned cheap at the feed 'n weed but this is for practice.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Rajun Gardener

I wouldn't plant 3 to a row either, that will be a pain to hip/sidedress.

I'm trying something different this year too. I'm hoping I can get away without spending too much time weeding and hipping the corn. I planted an 18'x 18' block with seeds 2.5-3" deep every 7 inches with rows 24" apart. Germination is close to 99.5%. After watching a few farmer videos I thought planting deeper would help hold the plant up in winds and maybe I won't have to hip so high or not at all. The closer planting will hopefully hold the weeds down to a minimum once the plants get 2-3' tall.

I tilled the area and applied 3 lbs of 10-10-10 and tilled that in then used a push plow to make a furrow and planted in that. I should only have to sidedress once at the V6 stage. I plan to loosen the soil between the rows and apply nitrogen down the middle and cover it up. Of course all that might change depending on how much rain we get.

Doing the math that's 18 dozen corn in an 18'x 18' area, I know I won't harvest that much with pressure from coons and squirrels but I should have enough to put up and try again for a fall crop.

When do you plant your fall crop?

[GoDawgs]

Rajun, I'd like to know about your fall corn crop too. I've never had much luck because o the heat and insect pressure.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Hulless popcorn is doing really well in that 4x18' bed. This is one of my fun garden "toys" this year as I've never grown it before. Wow, there are at least four ears per stalk! Now let's see if they all get pollinated right.

[Whwoz]

Impressive stalks GoDawgs