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Post by toad on May 23, 2011 15:25:23 GMT -5
Great tool :-)
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Post by spacecase0 on May 23, 2011 16:46:01 GMT -5
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 23, 2011 17:29:59 GMT -5
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Post by spacecase0 on May 24, 2011 12:59:44 GMT -5
thank you, I see now, to bad that airport (or any airport ) is so far from where my garden is as far as the weather, I guess I am back to calculating it myself and likely better that I do the math anyway so that I know that some computer did not mess anything up
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Post by 12540dumont on May 25, 2011 20:27:55 GMT -5
I had a talk with Bob from the Corn Cafe/ Kingcorn.org, he's from Purdue and corn is really his thing.
He gave me this equation to help me figure out all my dents and flints, so that I could keep the silking days 7 days away from each other.
GDDs to silk = (15.1 times "day" rating) minus 311.56 ex. a 120 "day" variety ~ (15.1 x 120) - 356 = 1500 GDDs to silk
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 7, 2011 19:11:57 GMT -5
I didn't get any plugs started, but I managed to put a floating row cover over a patch of freshly planted corn. I took the row cover off yesterday. Here is what the covered corn looked like: And this is what the uncovered corn looked like: So it looks like covering them may have added around 30 GDD:10C to the crop (about 3 days earlier harvest). I could have added another 50 GDD by presoaking them at room temperature for 4 days before planting, (about 5 days earlier harvest).
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Post by raymondo on Jun 8, 2011 7:22:37 GMT -5
That's impressive Joseph. Were they covered from sowing? How long undercover? Hmmm...food for thought here.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 8, 2011 9:28:57 GMT -5
Were they covered from sowing? How long undercover? Hmmm...food for thought here. They were planted on May 6th, which is one day later than the earliest that I dare plant sweet corn. (3 weeks before our average last frost.) They were under cover for one month. I could have gained a few more days if I had planted on a south facing slope instead of a north facing slope. Oh well, I was saving the hottest part of my garden for tomatoes and melons.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 9, 2011 8:14:57 GMT -5
I have a question. I wish I could post a couple photos here, they are on my Facebook page and if you need to see them to understand what I'm talking about, the Album is called "May 27, 2011" and they are in the album with a windmill on the first photo.
The issue is this, our friends and neighbors are concerned by the fact that we are not putting nitrogen or 10-10-10 on our corn. Their corn is very dark green. Ours, is a lighter green.
We are in a "severe drought" condition. Much of their corn is starting to turn brown and die. The leaves are, at this point, pointing straight up and curled. The leaves on our corn are still draped and normal looking. Some of our leaves are brown and dying, but they are at the base of the plants.
I'm thinking that the added nitrogen and fertilizer is creating excessive heat and causing the early die off of plant material, particularly in the hot dry conditions we are currently experiencing.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jun 9, 2011 9:47:08 GMT -5
The issue is this, our friends and neighbors are concerned by the fact that we are not putting nitrogen or 10-10-10 on our corn. Their corn is very dark green. Ours, is a lighter green. We are in a "severe drought" condition. Much of their corn is starting to turn brown and die. The leaves are, at this point, pointing straight up and curled. The leaves on our corn are still draped and normal looking. Some of our leaves are brown and dying, but they are at the base of the plants. I'm thinking that the added nitrogen and fertilizer is creating excessive heat and causing the early die off of plant material, particularly in the hot dry conditions we are currently experiencing. I'll throw in my opinion, even though i in no way know if i'm correct or not. But, in some way's i think their concern is partly valid because of the difference in color, but i think their solution is flawed. whenever i see gardening shows tell about adding synthetic fertilizers to plants, they always say something like "but dont add too much because you will burn the plants!". Something to that effect. Since you are in a drought, your neighbors may be experiencing this effect without realizing it. And it's one of the reasons i almost never use synthetic fertilizers. But, i personally would still probably rather grow "organic" (for lack a better term) crops that are slightly deficient than to risk it with the chemicals. plus I've read that while synthetic fertilizer treatments may prevent the "big three" nutrients from becoming deficient, that they actually make it worse for the other micro nutrients in the soil which are also needed by plants. If someone plants corn (or any crop) over and over without adding any type of fertilizer, the soil will eventually become deficient. I have seen this effect on the soil around the apple trees after seeing my dad rake the leaves up for years and never leave any to decompose. The worst soil in his yard is under those apple trees. I'm starting to learn about alternative ways of fertilizing though. This year i did an experiment, and it looks like it has paid off better than i could have imagined. on an area of the garden where the soil was very hard and perhaps even dry. Early in the season i spread mowed up leaves on that spot. Now it has some of the softest and darkest soil in the whole yard, and it's where i planted some of my watermelons. The effect has been amazing. Just ground up leaves and maybe bits of mowed grass and weeds. Also whenever i pull weeds (mostly bindweed) instead of collecting them up, i just leave them on top of the ground to dry and decompose right where they were found. I think it's kindof acting like green manure. anyway, just my two cents.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 9, 2011 18:04:28 GMT -5
That's my thoughts on the matter as well. Last year we "fertilized" the corn field by planting field peas and lima beans after harvesting the corn. We didn't pick all the peas and beans and they sat in the field. I've also been exercising "weed replacement" in that field for a couple years. That means that there is a variety of mustard, kale, and turnips growing in the field. Pretty darn tasty greens I might add. Anyway, I'm just wondering if my thoughts are valid. The proof of the pudding will be in the harvest of course.
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Post by raymondo on Jun 11, 2011 19:27:51 GMT -5
Another possibility...a 'hungry' plant is likely to have deeper roots than a well-fed, one might say overfed in the case of the addition of 10-10-10 or whatever plant. Deeper roots mean better ability to scavenge not only nutrients but water too.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 18, 2011 14:42:35 GMT -5
--- Painted Mountain flour corn ---
Planted: April 26th Harvested: August 17th Elapsed Time: 113 days GDD:10C = 838 (dried)
--- F1 hybrid sweet corn [LISP Ashworth X Precocious se+] --- (Precocious is marketed as a 65 day corn. Ashworth is about a week earlier in my garden.)
Planted: May 6th (Under floating row cover for ~ 1 month) Harvested: August 10th - 17th Elapsed Time: 103-110 days GDD:10C = 745 (fresh eating)
Planted: May 27th Harvested: August 17th - 23rd Elapsed Time: 82 - 89 days GDD:10C = 775 (fresh eating)
Weather Station: Logan, Utah airport
For those following the floating row cover experiment with the Ashworth corn... The early gains of the covered corn resulted in about a 3 day difference in harvest dates between the covered corn and the uncovered corn. Since the Ashworth is an open pollinated corn the range in individual plant DTM was about a week.
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Post by DarJones on Aug 18, 2011 18:14:58 GMT -5
Joseph, If I have my dates right, the Cherokee Squaw X Silver King should be about 30 more days to maturity.
MNJR, your speculation re the addition of nitrogen is not quite correct. The addition of nitrogen triggers high levels of vegetative growth. That extra growth requires more water to fuel transpiration. When drought hits, that overfertilized plant will die down much faster than a plant that is growing at a more normal rate. In a good year with plenty of rain, the extra nitrogen can double or even triple your crop. In a dry year, it can cut your crop to zilch. This effect is emphasized by most of the commercial hybrids on the market today. They are genetically programmed to grow faster and need more nitrogen with the result that they are much easier to water stress. Open pollinated varieties are not necessarily more drought tolerant but they are generally less susceptible to the boom or bust cycle of hybrids.
DarJones
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 19, 2011 0:47:28 GMT -5
The Cherokee Squaw X Silver King in my garden is currently about 9-10 feet tall, and tasseling. Last I was in that garden a few days ago was a market day, so I didn't stop to look how far along the cobs were. It was planted on May 23rd (A week before my last expected frost, and 3 weeks after typical sweet corn planting day). Hope I catch it at the milk stage for a taste test.
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