yes, each time you hill, the corn puts roots out higher on the stem, i think twice is necessary. don't want that pretty corn blown down! might use a different plant food this time...
The Secrets of Super Succulent Sweet Corn
Hi Friends, Have had a few health problems for past month so haven't been able to look at all the usual forums. Missed this one.
I made my first planting of corn May 10, 3 varieties, ground temp. 50 degrees. had pretty good germination, Serendipty 82 days, Harris Sweet 67 days, and Territorial Early Vee 60 days. First corn ready July 27, so wah 77 days for both Harris Sweet and Early Vee. But we did have some pretty cold weather in late May and in June.
Made two more plantings of 3 varieties each May 28 and June 25. Last year i planted last in early July and it just barely had time to ripen.
May corn area is quite small about 12 feet X 24 feet total. I have a quite old ditching hoe that I make a trench then drop seeds in about 3 or 4 inches apart. When they have germinated and are about 4 or 5 inches tall, i thin to 8 to 10 inches depending on how well they came up. I side dress once with an organic fert. 9-4-3. Have to keep planting in the same area as no where else to go, so have to keep the soil well amended.
Haven't been troubled much with corn earworms. At my other place in the middle of the orchard did have a problem some years.
Boy that first corn did taste good. Gave a few ears to my sister yesterday and tomorrow will have enough to give some to other friends. I used to plant in marked squares 3 or 5 kernels in a hole on 3 ft square. But was planting much more , now only myself so use this easier method and hand weed. Don't sprinkle the corn for irrigation, just dig a little furrow and run water down . Works pretty good for me.
Really living now as far as eating is concerned, Today, fresh string beans, cukes, tomatoes, corn and for dessert, fresh blackberry cobbler. Doesn't get much better than that.
DonnaS
Hey DonnaS
Sorry about health problems!
Now you've done it though. I been enjoying tha veggies but You Mentioned fresh blackberry cobbler.
Fresh cobbler of anykind is my favorit.
I have a truck driving Son leaving for Everett Wa in tha morning. Maybe I should ask if I could ride. I don't believe its all that far to your place lol.
Guess I can't though. He said it was a 6 day trip for him.
I don't need to be gone from here for 6 days rite-now. Darn it!
I know you would share with this old man, so thanks anyway....
[Stay Healthy]
heycharlie, would be more than happy to share, but it is some distance from here to Everett.about 6 hours. I live east of the Cascades north near Canadian border. Actually from Everett to here is closest to come across on Queens Hwy in Canada.
I love my huge sweet (I think they are Triple Crown, seedless) blackberries. Many times just go by them to pick a few off the vines and enjoy. Will be putting some in the freezer this week. DonnaS
good to hear from you Donna!
let us know next time you are sick so we know what to worry about :-)
waiting for my second crop end of Aug...
Ok. Got it. I'll hill it again, now that it's 30" tall. That will make twice now.
As far as a "different kind of fertilizer", (other than bone meal), I don't know what to use. What ever I put on, it will have to be something I can buy. I don't have anything around the house here.
Those Blackberries sound really good, Donna. Mmmmmmmmmm :)
i just meant, since you gave it a good dose of phosphorus, it might need something else. if the leaves aren;'t dark enough,m it may need more nitrogen. potassium would be gpood too, maybe you can find a 5-5-5 or 5-3-3.
since typing is so hard and takesso long, itend to give too general answers then hope someone else filllsin the details, sorry bout that :-)
tamara
Tamara, you haven't mention how your hand is doing. How is it?
I wish I understood fertilizer better. I have some 15-15-30 and 15-15-15 and Bone Meal. I put the 15-15-30 on my tomatoes and summer squash, and let me tell ya, they took off like crazy. I have tons of squash and tomatoes are getting better and better all the time.
well not as bad as the first two weeks, but let's say i had no idea when the dr said pulling the stitch out would hurt. that was monday. last night burned finger on using hand while cooking, what a night i had LOL
i am new at this, but thought more than 5 was just too much to be good for the soill long term just boosts the plants into extra growth.
but i don't know if you are organic-minded or not. that said, if you can't get 5-3-3, just use less of the others than recommnded. too much esp for corn is not good. the 5 is Nitorgen, then Phosphorus (main nutirent in bonemeal), then K=Potassium
you don't have to fertilize at the same time you hill, that can wait till later, like whrn silks appear i think...???
Darrell...when your corn is tasseling would be a great time to side-dress. During tasselling the plants will require N and will use even more of what is available when the ears are filling out. A good slow release food would do you justice (like alfalfa meal, if available) and you'd only have to side-dress one last time.
Since you have some chem fertilizer available I'd go with the 15-15-15 at this point. You could also do your plants justice with a foliar spray for fish emulsion and/or kelp.
Glad your hand is doing better, but....OUCH. If you sort of stay away from hot things that doesn't happen. LOL
I'm new at this too. This is my first time. I'll hill it, but there isn't much dirt left between the rows to haul up on the plant. Pretty soon the dirt will roll back down into the path between the rows and I won't be able to hill it any more. I can do it this time, but I don't think I'll be able to hill it again without the dirt rolling back into the path.
I think there is something wrong with this compost manure the guy sold me. It seems like some things grow well, while other things just sit there and grow only a little. For example:
I planted Spinach in the same soil or compost, as the corn. I had 5 rows planted that were 8 feet long. There was a "spot" where it grew and the rest only grew about 2 inches high and now it's all gone to seed. That "spot" where it did grow, it only got about 5 inches tall before it went to seed.
Now in the garden, the beans are planted in a row that is 30 feet long. At the end of the row, about 3 feet, the beans are nice and green and look healthy and tall. The rest of the row is short and has yellow-green leaves. Same with the beets and radishes in the garden. Some are good and some are short and only sitting there.
My corn is speratic in growth. Some of it is chest high and some of it is short and reaches the top of my knee.
I don't know what the problem is but, I know there is one and I need to correct before next year's planting.
maybe the spot was shaded, spinch wil bolt to seed in hot weather.
plants can be stunted from hard pan soil, or lack of nutrients. chem fertlizers don't stay in the soil, & are also more readily used by weeds, so plants have to eat fast or lose out.
don't get impsatient, soil building takes timne. there are some good forumd here at DG that talk about that
my corn grows that way too.
don't use any more dirt fro,m between. use a pile of compost or composted manure or hay (alfalfa), and pile by the shovelful. takes time, but spending more time out there could giv you a chance to observe some things to help uyou figure out the prpblem. shade, wind, pests, level of ground.
gotta eat, yesterday was a self proclaimed "no more sandwiches" day. usimng one hand to cut something in half on a cookie sheet, /& it slipped. still looks bad but feels better. coulda been worse :-)
Tamara Faye, sorry about your hand. Hope heals soon. A sore hand is surely no fun.
I put 9-4-3 organic fert. along my carrot row, only about 10 feet. Then covered with compost, then covered that with shreds. I have a pretty good shredder that hooks up to my BCS 10 hp garden tractor. Actually now that is all the BCS gets used for. Anyway the fellow who works for me does the shredding of large weeds, smallish limbs etc, then I either make into compost or use in some other way. Donnas
Shoe, I just saw your post.
If corn likes Nitrogen, then why am I using Bone Meal? My bag of Bone Meal says it's 2-14-0. The 2 is the Nitrogen, right?
I don't know if I can find any Alfalfa Meal or not, but I'll look around. The stores are getting low on their fertilizer selections. How about Epsom Salts? That's high in Nitrogen.
Tamara, as far as the garden getting shade and about my spinach, I don't know what more to say. The sun is even on the entire garden.
Picture in your mind an area that is 30 x 30. I had a tandum load of top soil dumped on that spot and then spread out. Then they dumped a tandum load of compost manure on top of it and spread that out. I planted eveything right in the compost manure. I didn't till it or do anything to it. Well, except rake it all smooth and clean it up a little. I had a second tandum load brought in and I carried it by the bucket full to boxes I built. I planted the spinach in two of those boxes. In some places things grow, and in some of the other places, it doesn't grow. I think it's from too many wood shavings. But I don't know much about composting so, I can't really say too much about it.
well, wood shaving MAY use up too much of the nitrogen in the soil as it decomposes.
epsom salt is a good source of magnesium, which is a building block & important mineral for most anything
go woth alfalfa something or water with compost tea. your soil may just be out of balance. mulch with something your soil may be compacted from those big heavy trucks
i am currently reading this book:
Micro-Eco Farming http://www.nwpub.net/meftoc.html
available from: http://www.nwpub.net/
good resource for other references, gives good general ideas
Darrel, I have no idea why you're using bone meal. Never understood why someone would tell you to use that. And yes, the "2" is N.
Bone meal certainly does offer N and lots of phosphorus (albeit slow release and that is good, but never for a quick fix). I use it quite often in my plant food recipes and directly in the gardens.
As for Epsom's Salts, I've never seen it to be high in Nitrogen, it is Magnesium sulfate. Would be interested in your source of information on that though. Thanks!
It sounds like you would've been better off to have mixed the composted manure into the topsoil that was delivered. "Topsoil" could just about be anything these days (I used to think it was Perfect Soil untill I found out otherwise), especially when sold by garden/nursery centers, etc.
There could be a pH factor involved, there could be a non-composted manure factor involved, there could be cold soils/lots of rainfall (or no rainfall) involved.
If you can't get alfalfa meal you could scrape off some of the "composted manure" you had delivererd, put it in a barrel/bucket, add water and make up some tea and water with that. (Or foliar spray.) Or, if you choose, check out a local feed store and buy some horse feed that is made up of alfala pellets, that will do you good and is usually 100 percent alfalfa. (That's how I have to buy it.)
Hope this helps.
Haha, Started this post and had to go outside. Came back and TF & Shoe done gone and answered what I was gonna say lol & haha too..
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Here's mine saying 'bout tha same thing. Haha again, 'now repete after me'
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Hey DarrellR
"I don't know if I can find any Alfalfa Meal or not, but I'll look around. The stores are getting low on their fertilizer selections. How about Epsom Salts? That's high in Nitrogen."
Epsom Salts is high in magnesium, some make a spray to use when blossoms are falling off.
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Alfalfa Meal Is good but I don't use it. Nor do I use 'Green litter' Haha check it out.
Same thing!
What I do use and buy a lot of is [alfalfa pellets] Most any feed store in this part of tha country has it year round. Water hits it and ya got meal.
I hill (twice)! Bout tha time the corn starts to tassel I lay on the alfalfa pellets, heavy don't hurt and it won't hurt the stalks. I hill tha last time then.
Sprayed mineral oil after I seen the silk starting. Didn't wait to see any moths laying eggs lol.....Had next to no worms eating me corn.
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Good pic's of ye but you can forget winning any contest!
John and me done won tha ugly prices.
oh, charlie, was it a tie? teach ya ta leave in the middle of posting
darrell, when it comes to corn, DG really has the experts, they have taught me everything i know, now wish i knew everything they d o!
shoe, how bout a pic of you or kids in crnfield, folks come to this thread for the pics you know. not the one with your twin PLEASE :-)
I have a problem that i haven't had before. I'm sure in the mid-west and maybe everywhere the problem exists. Blackbirds are eating my lovely corn. The husks were quite tight but they manage to peck through and are busily eating the corn kernels. I don't know what to do to combat them. It is much too hot to sit out there with my little 22 shot rifle to try to get rid of them that way. I doublt if the Plantskkd that I bought and plant to use to deter the raggits, gophers and deer would work for blackbirds. But maybe in desperation I will try it. Any advice would be welcome. DonnaS
Here's the long and the short of it, of what was passed on to me:
Epsom Salts = Greener Leaves and high in Nitrogen.
Bone Meal = Corn loves bone meal & Bone Meal nutrilizes the acid in the soil, and I should use it on all my plants that don't like acid soil.
When I first joined DG, in March or April of this year, I read and read and read all the different things in the forums. One of the threads I read was about "Alfalfa Pellets". Some people liked the pellets that had molases and some said it didn't make much difference if you had molases in it or not. But, ALL of the people reported that making a "Tea" or working the soaked Alfalfa Pellets into the soil, did amazing things for their plants. It wasn't a handful of people who talked about it, it was a LOT of people who swore up and down that it worked on their plants.
Those same people said that you shouldn't let it sit longer than 24 hours, as it will smell. If you use the Tea only, then discard the rest of the "mess" at the bottom, far away from where you are, because of the smell. If you use the mess at the bottom, make sure you burry it in real good, or your plants will smell really bad. I guess it's safe to use everyday too.
So, I think I'll try the Alfalfa Tea, and work the rest that falls to the bottom, into the soil.
As Shoe stated, There is absolutely no nitrogen in Epsom salts, only magnesium, sulphur and oxygen. Magnesium will green up certain types of plants IF the major nutrients (N-P-K) are in place.
Corn is a grass, and is one of the few vegetables that likes a high level of nitogen. For most of the garden I prefer a 1-2-1 ratio of N-P-K. Corn does better with 2-1-1. If you have access and are organic, Chicken ( or any type of bird manure) is ideal for corn.
hey charlie...........I bet I get a prize next year!!!! LOL
i hear chicken feathers are good too, but don't recall what-fer!
Donna, put nylon stockings or paper bags over the ears, fasten with twine, rubber bags, industrial strength twist ties, don't let them have your ears. then take some shiny things & tie below the tassels, like some CDs or mylar (i save old balloon & cut into strips). Enough stuff reflecting the sun could fool them into thinking it is a fire.
next year i am having birdhouses built & put on poles to attract & house the insect eating birds. they are very territorial & will keep the blackbirds & other flying varmits away.
good luck to everyone with their corn!
tamarafaye
Yep, Darrell, just about any tea/leach you make will stink to some degree. My aerated vermi-post tea doesn't seem to smell bad though, most likely becus is it working with aerobic bacteria and not anerobic (such as you'd get when making a leach).
I just use the pellets directly in the soil, both before planting and also when side-dressing.
I've never heard that bone meal has an affect on the pH of a soil. Perhaps because it contains a bit of calcium someone misunderstood its affect, or lack of? (Dolomitic lime contains a bit of calcium as well as magnesium and it is used to sweeten the soil. However, it is the lime itself that does that and not the calcium.) {Can you double-check me on that, F-Dill?)
T-Faye..."shoe, how bout a pic of you or kids in crnfield, folks come to this thread for the pics you know. not the one with your twin PLEASE :-)"
Hah!...was that one too scary for ya! Well...that cornpatch is almost played out. Here is a pic of my garden that is north of town. This corn patch pic was taken on the 17th. It is now in full tassel and silking so maybe I'll take the camera when I go work that garden today.
Whoops, wrong end of garden. Sorry.
Here's the correct pic.
nice stand, Shoe!
Ok, Shoe, your double checheck. Lime stone is Calcium carbonate (Ca(CO3)2. Dolomite is Calcium Magnesium Carbonate (CaMgCO3). Both are naturally occuring rock formations, which are ground for use in gardens. Both are salts which react with acids to release a more insoluble salt, water and carbon dioxide. Did you not build CO2 generators in your high school chemistry class?
Thanks, Dill! (and no...never built a CO2 generator but sure sounds like fun!)
TFaye, thanks for the suggestions. I will try covering the corn ears, am sure that will work even tho time consuming, but i love my corn.
However about the bird houses. I would surely not discourage you or anyone as to putting up lots of birdhouses. I have more than 25 around my couple of acres and have lots of birds. Actually the blackbirds start the eating of the corn but the doggone little house finches are right there ready to eat . They don't build nests much in b. houses but I have hundreds of the little rascals. I'm sure the English/house sparrows also eat the corn. I don't have a bug problem so far anywhere that I notice this year except those horrid earrigs. they also get on the corn.
Shoe you have a lovely large garden .
DonnaS
heycharlie,
when you spray the mineral oil, is it full strength? or do you put some water with it?
Here's my Silver Queen. Not quite ready yet.
-Juli
And a full shot.
-Juli
Very, VERY, nice, Juli. It doesn't look like it will be much longer. mmmmmmmmmm :)
Hey Darrell
"when you spray the mineral oil, is it full strength? or do you put some water with it?"
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Water didn't work for me, like water & oil it was. (I heard adding a little dish soap might have helped)
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Running it straight, out of the spray bottle jus made a stream, wouldn't spray.
I added alcohol, shook like crazy, sprayed & shook some more. Looked like a nut going down tha corn rows shaking.
[For a few stalks, applying out of tha bottle would work fine]
Hey TF;
I've known 'bout chicken feathers fer these many years.
[chicken taday feathers tamorrow]
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[From eHow]
Some plants respond well to foliar feeding (having their foliage sprayed). Before you spray manure tea, add 1/8 tsp. vegetable oil or mild dish-washing liquid per gallon to help it adhere to leaves.
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A moment of fun;
Making this collage
beautiful country & gardene, that is SHOE'S PLACE! nice collage charlie.
darrell, someone (eweed?) told me to use the oil can from walmart, costs a buck, just need a coupl;e drops per silk to smother anything inside, don't diltue it
donnas, last night when i wasn't sleeping it occurred to me maybe you DO have a bug problem, worms in your corn, they would be close to the top, maybe that's what the birds are after>? you might sas well check. but i really don't know...
juli CORN ENVY i will be on the next flight to your place to dine until its all gone read that airplanes are safer than hospitals :-)
I couldn't resist a peek so I pulled back some of the husk and there are only a few full kernals the rest are still really small. I hope that doesn't mean they weren't pollinized and I hope they will get plumper. They sure do look good on the outside though.
-Juli
sorry to bear bad news, peek at another. kernals grow at the same rate per ear
Tamara Faye, Actually my name is Donna Faye, same spelling. No i don't think there are any corn earworms, it is just that the darn blackbirds discovered the corn. This is the first year there have been so many blackbirds. Guess they have decided they don't need to live near water, the little lake is a mile away. I am not going to grow EarlyVee again. This is the second year I have tried it. Forms hardly any ears and very small and no earlier than the next ripening corn type. Thanks for your help and interest. DonnaS
hah! HeyCharlie!...just saw your collage! That's great! What a nice surprise! May have to save that pic to my files and show DW and DD!
Thanks for the treat!
Corny...that is actually two different places Charlie put together; the one with me and my "twin brother" is here on the farm; the other two pics are on some land north of town that my Daughter's Godmother lets me use. Sure looks nice all put together like that, eh?
Juli, you may still get some corn to fill out. What color are the silks? And are they good and dry yet?
The silks are turning a burgundy brown on the ends so I thought maybe they were getting close to being done. Are what parts good and dry? The silks? and do you mean what's hanging out or what's down inside?
-Juli