CORN 2018

[nkline]

You could also have root worms which might cause spindly stalks or random down plants. We had a terrible wind year hear with green snap around the 4th of July, then a late soaking rain followed by wind causing all but the bigger root systems to root lodge for lack of solid ground to hold on to.

[RpR]

Oct 2, 2018 23:06:39 GMT -5 nkline said:

You could also have root worms which might cause spindly stalks or random down plants. We had a terrible wind year hear with green snap around the 4th of July, then a late soaking rain followed by wind causing all but the bigger root systems to root lodge for lack of solid ground to hold on to.

You are probably correct!
When working in the corn I saw what I then thought was a three-lined potato beetle and wondered why that was there as it was in the corn and any T-L Beetle damage in the potatoes was minor and had stopped long before the plants withered.
Western type looks similar.
I saw the beetle in the sweet corn that lodged.
Might have to treat the soil.

[RpR]

I cut/dug my Chippa Corn up North.
No worms but I did have some smut that I did not get to in time to try on the stove.
Next time I plant Indian Corn I am going to try the planting in a trench and filling that in as it grows as the corn had multiple rows of prop roots a foot off of the ground.
Now that fact the corn patch was watered every other day by the irrigation system may have encouraged it but the roots in the ground were , compared to what I have seen in the past, rather spindly, though that made digging easier as I had a very old shovel that was thinner than they are nowadays and I could cut off most of the root with the shovel rather than dealing with a large wad of dirt or if I cut the stalks a lump of corn roots next spring.
I have tried the trench method in the past, ten years ago and blah to total waste of time but I am a hard learner so I will give it a shot again
Some stalks had two cobs and a fair number tried to give two cobs from the same location.
One odd thing was three stalks had red stalks including all leaves and the cob husk; I did not peal the husk back yet so I do not know if the kernels are yellow or off color.
With the wet colder than normal, 15 degrees below average near every day, I simply could not leave the corn to dry in the field so the cobs have not even started to dent yet.

[RpR]

Corn is all down now and bundled for decorative shocks.

I was amazed down South I had more tipped corn even when it was drying and I have never had corn lodge that late in the year before.
Soil was wet so removing the stalks by semi-cutting the root ball with a sand shovel was easier than I expected but few stalks were rooted solidly enough that I could not pull up the entire root ball by hand and that is not normal, though, I have never pulled them in soil this moist before.
I did cut a few off and then dug up and tipped the entire root ball and they looked healthy so maybe it is was just he wet soil.
I did miss a few ears of corn when I pulled them a couple of weeks past and those few had dropped and started to dent.
I have planted late term corn many years but this is the first time that they were that that close to mot being picking ripe that were not some South American types that take extremely long.

Sweet corn did well but as unless I am there to lead by the nose those who want me to grown it, as far as knowing when to pick it, not much reason to grow it anymore.
All in all , best year for corn , for me in awhile.

[reed]

Oct 22, 2018 15:01:06 GMT -5 RpR said:

Sweet corn did well but as unless I am there to lead by the nose those who want me to grown it, as far as knowing when to pick it, not much reason to grow it anymore.

That is hilarious, I'v decided that she, those here, that want sweet corn every day all season instead of treating it like a summer time treat can just run out and buy it cause that's what she, those here, do anyway. I might grow one little patch but for the most part I'm done with it. Not to mention, but I will anyway that she, those here, are hooked on that nasty super sweet stuff that don't even taste like corn. Ain't no way I'm wasting my time and space on that. 

[steev]

I grudgingly tolerate white sweet corn, but yellow is what tastes like corn to me; Golden Bantam is my benchmark.

[reed]

I much prefer white. There is a variety called Aunt Mary's, I think it predates Golden Bantam. It was common in Ohio at the beginning of the 1900's and one of the first used when commercial canning started. I'v found and grown it in recent years and think but can never know for sure, that it is what my Granddad grew that I loved so much back in the 1960's. It is strongly represented in my sweet corn mix that others here find inferior to the modern super sweet crap. My decision stands, I'm about done growing sweet corn.

[oxbowfarm]

All sweet corn does is contaminate field corns with weakness. It is ridiculously cheap to buy too. A colleague at market sells it for $5/dozen. I can grow two successions of 30+ lettuce on the same ground it takes to grow a dozen ears of sweet corn, which would earn me between $150 - $180. Why grow the stuff when they are giving it away?

[RpR]

The Aunt Mary's I planted did well; strong stalks and large yield. I put that up North where I am most often so I could watch it closely.
Years back I often put in Silver Queen and Country Gentlemen , Aunt Mary's reminded me of those in growing manners.

Buhl got great review fron the Sandhill dude ; I was not around when it was at eating stage and as I said, those for whom is one reason I still dicker with sweet corn, were clueless but when I removed the stalks, the yield of full ears was very good.

I put my excess seed in the freezer for later planting, usually, but as is usual, I have found old seed I did not know I still had while trying to find unused corn seed to put in freezer, but I cannot find the packs/bags bought this spring.
I can reorder but the more the other half rearranges my piles, that are actually an oddly ordered filing system, the more stuff is only found by accident.

Time to get more 4x8 foot trailer loads of Sheep manure. I am going to , if weather permits, it is sloppy wet now, put two loads on the East side of the garden and see it that will make it produce like the West side.
No real reason for that one side, and it was like this when Dad planted decades back, does so much better than the other, though ten years ago, the East side did give me a great tomato crop but with Ma gone no reason to plant tomatoes down South but they were the one real exception.

Corn goes on the East side next year, so how well that does will tell me much.

[steev]

[quote author="oxbowfarm" Why grow the stuff when they are giving it away?
[/quote]
I like to grow sweet corn because I like to pick and eat it raw in the garden, enjoy huitlacoche (raw or cooked), and like the uncommon-colored ones matured to cut into salads (even tho' they're starchy). Granted, I wouldn't grow but for personal use.

[RpR]

Oct 26, 2018 19:31:02 GMT -5 steev said:

I like to grow sweet corn because I like to pick and eat it raw in the garden,

That is really the only way I now truly enjoy sweet corn; I no longer get the rush I used out of cooked corn, that is only as good as the butter I put on it and it is now hard to find grade A or B butter that tastes much better on corn than AA that stores sell.

[RpR]

I am going to put this here as my 2019 corn planting was mostly a failure due to probably squirrels; their loss as now they will have no cobs to chow down on all winter.

Anyway, down South twice I planted multiple plots of corn, sweet and dent, the total result was ONE STALK.
Up North I planted two small plots of sweet corn; one came up fine but the second was a total failure so I replanted with a different type and that was near one hundred percent emergence.
SWeet corn up North looks real good now.

[RpR]

Of the two sweet corn types I planted up North, one was mediocre but the other which did not get ripe till near Sept. was very, very good but I lost where I marked down which variety the replant was.

Any way, I was going through my book marks and checked this one I have not looked at for over a year.
Some new varieties here I have never heard of before.

www.siskiyouseeds.com/collections/corn