We had high winds and alot of rain night before last. Half of my corn is now laying down. I believe most are are about a 1-1.5 feet high. 1) Will they stand back up with the sun? 2) Are they doomed? 3) Is there something that I chould do?
corn laying down
Most will straighten out at that size but you could help by standing them up and hilling the soil at their base. Before hilling is a good opportunity to feed.
Usually corn 1 foot tall or less will completely straighten itself back up. As it gets taller, the less it will completely stand back up.
I agree with the hilling. Some corn varieties like Kandy Corn are much more prone to being blown over. When you hill it will give your corn a better base. You could wait for a couple of days to see if they are starting to stand up.
Field corn grows strong anchor roots up higher, but sweetcorn doesn't do much of that and therefore is easy to blow over if you get high wind AFTER a heavy rain.
In the pictures below you will notice I cut tomato cages in half, and set them over my corn crop to deter my two labs from trampling my corn. Last weekend we had a major storm blow through with high winds, and heavy rain. The cages actually helped my corn stay upright.........I did not put the cages there for that purpose, but now I am glad I did..........got lucky I suppose.......Also pic's of my garden if anyone is interested....I know I enjoy looking at other folk's garden pics.....It is interesting to me how some of you set your gardens up..........
http://s706.photobucket.com/albums/ww66/hornstrider22/?albumview=slideshow
This message was edited May 20, 2009 8:40 AM
This message was edited May 22, 2009 8:22 AM
Thanks everyone for the replys.Nice veggies hornstrider. Alot fo my corn is yellowing, especially on the outer leaves. We have had alot of rain, but not much in forecast now. Could that be the reason? What do I need to do?
Thanks Texasescimo.........this is my first attempt at growing corn so I have no idea what would make your leaves turn yellow....sorry......I need help with knowing when to pick my corn...I have read that when the corn silk turns brown the corn is close to maturity......I pulled back the husk on an ear of corn last night, and poked a kernel, and a clear liquid came out.......I have read that the liquid is supposed to be a milky color.......How much longer do I wait??........any help would be appreciated....
Corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder. So potentially it could be lacking nitrogen. I've received alot of rain lately and mine have yellowed slightly too.
Thanks for all of the replies and the advice on standing up and hilling. I had to stand my corn up about 4 times this year I grew about 10? rows of "Peaches and Cream" about 65'? each. About 25% did nothing due to being in low spots with wet feet. The majority of the rest was about 5' tall and got 2 ears off alot of it. Worms not as bad this year. I did sprinkle BT powder on silks quite often, I think too thick on a few preventing pollination. I think it was more the fact that I planted a earlier variety of corn than the powder though. I also did hand pollination a few times, primarily on the up-wind side.
Hornstrider, I hope you recieved the answer to your question in time.
Qinx, I gave my corn extra nitrogen and it seemed to help. I think it was from rain leeching the Nutrients(?), as it was mostly the lower rows that yellowed. Some of which died, others recovered.