Darrell, I hilled some of my corn plants today. These I planted "three sisters" style. But regardless, the way someone without machinery does it (or at least what has worked for me), is to use a spade or scooper shovel, and pour it on, then shape real quick with your hands. A hoe is risky around those tender roots, I think.
If I remember right (no promises there!), it is best to hill corn when it is about 10 to 12 inches tall, or more. Mine was 15 inches high on average I would say. First I cut off the suckers (see next paragraph). Then I fertilized them with Espoma Plant-Tone 5-3-3 (it's organic approved). Just side-dressed them, used a hand tool to rake it in a bit, and poured on a little water. Then I put a spade full of composted cattle manure around the base of each stalk. Then I hilled them with scooper sized shovelfuls of composted cottonseed burrs (organically grown). I would say the mounds are about four inches high by the stalk, then slope out. You can use just dirt, or compost, or even hay or straw. I prefer to use alffalfa hay on my long season sweet corn, so they get a slow dose of extra nutrients!
Before I hilled it, I cut off the suckers. You can leave them on if you like. Since mine are pretty close (6 around a circle 2 feet across), I wanted them to have plenty of air circulation,so I cut off the suckers at the base with a pocket knife, and tossed them in the compost hole. This is not really efficient for growers with large plots. But Ruth Stout said she does it and gets bigger ears, so I thought I would give it a try. I did it last year and they grew back, so who knows? If you want to leave the suckers, just leave pelnty of extra room between the plants and the rows...
Also last year, this same corn was eaten down by rabbits three times. It grew back (well 1/3 of them did), and produced some ears, but the stalks were pretty short LOL! So this year I have discouraged the rabbits by keeping an old metal bucket with a mixture of bloodmeal and rainwater and little boys peepee upwind of the corn patch (have to move the bucket to the other end occasionally). Also, I kept a row cover on to protect from rabbits and hail, and also made dialy dumpings of banan peels and orange rinds aroeund the area. I don't know which is working best and don't care, point is, the rabbits hop around there all the time, even when I am out there, and they haven't touched a leaf of anything!
I say a tassel peeking up today, so I couldn't be prouder :-)
Be sure and give us a picture, if you can, when the seedlings come up...
Tamara
The Secrets of Super Succulent Sweet Corn
TamaraFaye,
Now see? I didn't know you were suppose to wait for the corn to get that height before you started to hill it. In my mind's eye, I thought it was right from the get go, about 3 inches or so tall.
"Suckers"? I didn't know corn had "suckers". This sweet corn growing is getting complicated.
How do you know which is a sucker and which is the ear of corn coming out from the stock? I don't want to cut the ear off thinking it's a sucker.
I'll takes some pictures when I get this going. I hope in a couple weeks. Right now, there is a huge hill of top soil out there. The bulldozer is suppose to come today and spread it out. I "do" have pictures of that area where I'm building a garden. One hill is top soil and the other hill is manure. I am "building" a garden area. Had to cut down a lot of tree's and had to put in a lot of fill dirt too. The fill dirt was spread out the first part of May. Next is the top soil and the manure.
I can't imagine cutting down a tree, we live in a desert region LOL. You can hill it when it is smaller and again later, but I don't have the time. The winds are bad here, and I haven't had one blow over yet.
The suckers come early on, before tassles or silks. They grow out the sides at a 30-45 degree angle to the stalk. I cut them off at the base, then cover with manure and soil. However, to prevent injury, I always do any cutting or pruning during a waning phase of the moon, and/or a dry sign. This makes certain there is less moisture in the plant stalk, so less risk of injury... well, that is a whole other story. I also hill at the beginning of a dry sign, particularly gemini, because that is what I read to do. Of course, do what suits you :-)
Growing corn is the most rewarding of all the things I plant! You can actually sit in a chair and watch it grow some days. And some day I intend to do that LOL!!!
Going out to plant the beans, will take some pictures. You can also get good corn information on some other threads, like corn seedlings, and three sisters. Do a search on "corn" in the box above, there were lots of good discussions last year as well.
~Tamara
DarrelR, how are your corn seedlings doing?
Is the garden building moving along?
I planted more corn today, and was really rewarded by some work i did last year. I had hardpan, and compacted clay soil. A fellow was behind on cleaning our his horse pens, so he brought a couple of trialer loads of manure. We unloaded it and spread it out. I collected old loose hay and spread on top. And then I left it barren last year. Let the russian thistles (tumbleweeds) grow there, and then raked them away late winter. Early spring the wild carrots took over, and the ladybugs lived and bred there. Late snow almost wiped them out, had it not been for the cover of the weeds! Last weekend, I mowed the weeds down in an area large enough to plant some corn and okra.
So today I went out to dig my circles for my corns. What a pleasure it is to so easily turn a shovel or dirt over, as though it had just been tilled!!! I kid you not, just wait for pictures. My back didn't even know I was digging, so it will be our little secret LOL. And the corn is prefertilized too! For more planting details, check out the three sisters forum.
How is everyone else's sweet corn growing?
Here is a picture of my first crop of circles. located about 300 ft west of where I just planted (and a small building in between). There should be no danger of cross pollinations, because, as you can see, the first corn is tasseling, and the other has just been put in the ground! Who says you can't have your corn and eat more too???!!!
(Yes, this is the corn I babied, and kept the row cover on forever)
TamaraFaye
Well, they brought what they called, "Top Soil" for the garden. It's more like clay dirt than anything. There's no way I'm going to be able to rake it or hoe it. I tried. Hard as a rock.
The bulldozer came and flattened the "top soil". Then I had them dump a load of compost manure on top of that.
Then, naturally, it started to rain. And it's been raining for 3 days. Here it is, June 18th already, and I don't have the compost manure spread and hoed in for my corn.
I think growing corn this year is more or less going to be out the door. I see other gardens and the corn is planted and up about 5" - 6".
Don't give up! I didn't get mine finished today, as my four year old decided to leave wihtout permission.
Put something on top of the manure (hay, straw, grass clippings) to keep it from drying out, or growing weeds. Walk on it as little as possible, so it won't get compacted.
Take care of those seedlings, and keep the faith!
TF
I planted Silver Queen and we did the trenching thing because of the heat here. Due to our weather here we were able to plant last month. I'll bet you could still plant your corn because it's a 62 day corn, that would make your harvest the end of what? Aug begining of Sept.. Horseshoe said to sidedress with a high nitrogen fertilizer like fish emulsion but I used blood meal because I have rabbits and they don't like that. I also sprayed with Hinder which is a rabbit and deer repellent, I don't know if it works on moose. Even though I have planted in trenches I still mound the dirt up around the bottom of the stalks so that they don't get top heavy and fall over because of the winds here. I'm having a problem now with either mice or grasshoppers eating the young stalks cuz we keep replanting some parts. The red cups give some protection at first and I had hoped the wind chimes would help other than give the rabbits some dinner music.
Here's a pic of what I've got so far.
-Juli
That looks really nice, Juli, tell me again what the red cups do? Have you tried pepper spray or tomato leaf spray on the stalks?
That looks really nice Julie.
What are the red cups for?
The red cups have the bottoms cut off and stop the mice/rabbits from attacking them and because we have such strong winds it helps the plants grow without the wind knocking them down. We also use liter soda bottles and plastic milk jugs with the bottoms cut off, they serve as mini green houses. You just have to be careful taking those ones off cuz sometimes the leaves burn due to they are used to high moisture and indirect sun.
My DH tried a little ammonium sulfate on everything and it all greened up really nice.
-Juli
Oh I see now. I didn't see in the picture that the cups were in the row. At first glance it looked like they were just there. Makes good sense too.
I don't know what you would do to help with the sun light and the burning though. Maybe use something clear? rather than opaque like the red cups? How about a quart jar? it would keep the critters out and let the sun in.
Oh, but glass gets it too hot, remember that science experiment where you started a fire with a magnifying glass in the sun? They only need six hours of sun a day anyhow... Peepee and marigolds have kept the critters away from my corn, and more than half of it is tasseld and silking now!
TamaraFaye......What does "Tasseled" mean?
I have been meaning to start a new thread, showing the different stages of corn growth. I have taken LOTS of pics, and will get them posted the end of the week (hopefully).
Here is one photo, of the tassel coming up out of the stalk...
And here it is up all the way, but not "out" all the way. That one will require me taking another picture, but first, finding my camera ;-)
It truly amazes me how fast the stalk grows once the tassel appears. It shoots straight up like a rocket ship, at lightning speed, or so it seems.
I've heard people say, "We are going to "Tassel" the corn." What are they doing when they say that? Breaking off the Tassel? if so, Why would they do that?
Hmm, seems eweed mentioned that after the silks were pollinated (they turn brown), he would speed up the maturity by topping off the stalks, cutting all of the tassels off, so maybe that is it. I've never heard that phrase myself...
Darrell, more'n likely "tasseling" is a colloquial for "detasselling". Many of the bigger farms in the midwest grew (still grow?) corn for seed stock and also for silage. Those growing for seed stock used to get paid pretty good money for it, much more than they'd get for the field corn grown as an edible. The seed corn was created as a hybrid, hence their were two types grown in the same field. The tassels were removed from certain rows of plants (one variety) and the tassels were allowed to remain on other rows (another variety) so that would be the preferred pollen to pollinate the silks. This would create the hybrid seed.
There is no need to "tassel" your corn in your home garden, especially since if you do you'll end up with no corn to eat.
Hope this explanation helps!
Shoe
Thank you Shoe. That helped a lot and you are right, it wasn't "tasseling", it was called "detasseling".
For years I've wondered what that ment. I heard the term for the first time when a friend of mine told me that her kids made enough money for all their school clothes and books, plus extra, from "detasseling corn. From that day on, (many many years ago), I had always wondered what it ment. Now I know. :)
Thanks from me too Shoe! All day long, while I worked outside, I kept thinking of other things it could mean. But that one didn't cross my mind...
This is so funny! Many years ago my cousin from Iowa said the same thing, she made a lot of money at her summer job "detassling" corn. I've never known what it meant and have always wondered. Tee Hee!
Thanks Horseshoe!
-Juli
Happy Birthday Tamara Faye !
thank you sorgina! Have you been lurking? Are you growing corn? I didn't get logged on and re-subscribed in time to see my name under the birthday list :-( But I had a great day! Corn isn't ready to eat, but I cut a vase full of flowers for myself yesterday evening...
Yes Tamara Faye-I have been lurking for a few weeks, especially in veggies and organic gardening. I have a small,organic veg plot. I'm especially interested in square foot gardening, (thinking about trying it),so I've been enjoying your and Drew's conversations and pics about it. Last night I couldn't sleep (habitual with me),so as usual I was mooching around DG when I saw your name on the birthday list...Hope you had a good day : )
This message was edited Jun 27, 2005 3:31 PM
Had a good day, getting by so far with lying about my age :-)
Have you read the SFG threads, there are at least two...
Someone I know stopped by yesterday and asked me what I was going to do about, (i think it was), "Corn Borers" and some other bug.
This is my first time growing corn, so my answer was, "Do you really think I'll get bugs in my corn?" She said "yes".
I said, "I don't think I will, but if I do, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."
The real answer should have been, "I don't know what I'll do. I've never planted corn before."
I hadn't seen her around for about 6 years and when she started asking me a lot of questions about the garden and giving me directions on how this should be or that should be, I was put off. When she mentioned she didn't have a garden this year, but was thinking she still had time to plant and was thinking about planting some beans, radish's, and a few other things, I said, "Well, good luck to ya. I've gotta get back to work." I have extra seeds of all those things she thought she might still plant, but didn't offer any to her. She really did put me off toward her.
Anyway......Now I'm going to get bugs, according to some people. What do I look for and what do I do when I get them?
Darrell
PS.....Where can I buy a straw hat ?
Darrellr...... check out: http://www.cowboyhatstore.com/index.htm
LD
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/pest/cornborer/
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/pest/cornborer/images/
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/fldcrops/ef108.htm http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/pprborer.htm
You may or may not have corn borers. I don't have any problems with early corn. But they are a major pest on late planted corn. They destroy the plant, before it ears. They can be controled with insecticides like Bt or Carbaryl but it requires an accurate spray schedule.
Those are some nice looking hats cottonpicker. A lot more than I want to spend though.
Farmerdill:
I'm gonna be a nervous wreck untill I have the corn picked. My corn is only about 3 inches tall, about a week and a half old in the garden.
I saw someplace here on DG, that you put a drop of Mineral Oil at the tip of the ear, in the newly forming silk. What's that for.
Oh man, if I get these bugs in my corn, I don't know what I'm going to do. I've worked so hard on this corn planting thing. I had tree's cut down, top soil brought in, a tandum load of compost manure dumped and bulldozed, just so I could plant some corn. Now I'm gonna get bugs. Lordy!
I guess all I can do is watch the leaves for those, "Whorles" and if I spot any, destroy the leaves or pull up the plant before they spread.
Thanks for the the information.
Darrell
The mineral oil is for corn earworms. As for borers pulling the plant won't stop them. They come in a moth invasion. At the first signs dust from the top with Dipel (Bt). Should save most of your corn. But remember unless there are farmers in the area growing host crops, you may never see one.
There are no farms in my area. This is a coastal province. There are a lot of fishing boats, mostly lobster, University of Moncton is here, a lot of high tech industry, and a lot of stores. No farms though. Maybe 50 or 60 miles away there is a farm though. Several gardens out here in the country.
I'll sleep better now. lol
Thanks again Farmerdill.
I'm still looking for a straw hat everybody. An old farm hat kind. Something to keep the sun out of my face and neck. I'm wearing a baseball cap, but would rather have a straw hat.
Darrell
Or this one?
http://store.sfhat.com/
YES!!!! Perfect!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I've been looking for a hat like that for..........I can't remember how many years.
Enjoy it
araness:
I ordered the first hat you posted the picture of. They said it would be here in about a week.
I was almost affraid to call them and order it. I'm in Canada and they are in WI. I had my fingers crossed that they could ship it here. It wasn't a problem. Wooooo Hooooo
Thanks again.
Darrell
The DH liked that hat too and wanted to order one for his Mom. You'll have to model and post pictures.
Darrell--let me know how you like the hat. I'm thinking of ordering one, too.
I've wanted a decent sun hat for ages; ball caps just don't cut it!
Rhonda
I'll post a picture in my profile and here when I get the hat. I'll let you know how I like it after I wear it a couple days.
You're right Rhonda, baseball caps don't cut it.