Re: growing corn

**donnainzone5** 10/17/2013, 12:16 pm

I'd give that corn a little more time. This year, I planted much more of it than usual, and it was difficult to see the tiny, tiny ears as they began to form. I think if ears are going to develop, you should see something within a week.

**sanderson** 10/17/2013, 12:38 pm

Okay, I will give it one more week. Thanks

yolos 10/17/2013, 8:13 pm

sanderson wrote:My first corn have tassels with open "flowers" that are starting to shed pollen. But, there are no ears or silks. Should I call it good for the year and pull them up? I will definitely grow them next spring. I'm putting a few boxes to bed until March 1.

Thanks

This summer my tassels came early and pollen fell before the silks came on the ears. No corn for me this last summer. I grew silver queen too.

**sanderson** 10/17/2013, 8:29 pm

Well, this was a late season experiment so I'm not too disappointed if I pull them up in a week. I planted 12 in a 1' x'3' box. The cat chewed the stalks and felled 4 of them! Who said a cat can't fell a corny stalk plant (Sung to the tune of "Everyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant") The remaining 8 are 5 feet tall with tassels so I know they grow in MM, 4/sq.

Yolos, do you know of any reason yours didn't produce ears? I would like to learn from failures as well as successes. Thanks

CapeCoddess 10/18/2013, 3:40 pm

littlejo wrote: The baby ear won't make this late in the season, some corn will make an ear that will be small but will have corn on it in the spring.
I'd wait on picking the corn til the silk is real brown. If you are expecting a frost, you can gently pull back the husk a little bit and see if the corn has filled out enough. Pick before frost comes!
What kind of corn is it? Looks tasty!
Jo

OK, I can do dat. What a Face

Thanks. It's Silver Queen. There are a few with browning silks but I don't know if they'll finish before frost or not: corn - growing corn - Page 3 Oct18212

Here's ta hoping... corn - growing corn - Page 3 3170584802

I'll definitely plant earlier next year now that I know they will even grow for me.
CC

**donnainzone5** 10/18/2013, 4:10 pm

What I found this year was that the silks turned brown, then nearly disappeared when the corn was ready!

murarrie25 10/18/2013, 4:18 pm

Corn stalks are a good source of material to compost planting out side the square foot garden may also be a good idea .Getting others in your area to plant corn would also help pollination .

**donnainzone5** 10/18/2013, 4:53 pm

As long as they don't plant the wrong varieties of corn!

CapeCoddess 10/27/2013, 9:08 am

We picked and ate our first, and probably only, Silver Queen corn this morning: corn - growing corn - Page 3 100_0415

Holy moley! It tasted beyond fantastic! And no worms. I'm not a corn eater but if I can grow this I'll be a convert.

Now I can't wait for corn - growing corn - Page 3 274447

.

Silver Queen = corn - growing corn - Page 3 2027012869

Thanks for your help and guidance, everyone.

Question: Are the little kernels due to pollination issues?

CC

littlejo 10/27/2013, 9:26 am

Those little kernels are due to lack of polination. Normally, all kernals are very tight and plump. Early Spring is the best time to plant, but boy, isn't the flavor great!
Jo

**sanderson** 10/27/2013, 11:27 pm

Got back from a week long vacation and found 5 little ears with silks! I'm glad I didn't pull them before we left. Silver Queen.

audrey.jeanne.roberts 10/28/2013, 1:09 am

So glad you got your ears, Sanderson! My corn was a dismal failure two years in a row. We can buy incredible corn here in the valley so cheaply and we even have a stand down the street from us that the Mennonites have on the honor system so I'm not going to waste the space on it next year

**sanderson** 10/28/2013, 2:24 am

Now I have to see if any of the kernels get fertilized!

**sanderson** 11/27/2013, 1:05 am

Here it is a month later and my experimental Silver Queen is still growing. Question, the color is turning from green to purple/brown, and I am wondering if this is normal for this time of the year. Can I safely add it to the compost pile? I don't want to add a diseased plant to the compost. First frost is any time now.
corn - growing corn - Page 3 Corn_110

Rambo 11/27/2013, 1:43 am

All my sweet corn plants produced nice sized ears with every kernel full of juice and golden yellow in colour. I did nothing special other than place a large plastic garbage bag over 9 of the plants to enclose them and shook the plants to dislodge the male spores. I picked them for consumption 3 weeks after the silks turned brown.

I've just pulled all the plants out, the roots had spread into adjoining squares and very dense. Never had any pests or issues.

I found corn fast and easy to grow, plan is to grow 8x4 full of corn next time.

Not sure if it was beginners luck or the conditions were perfect for corn.

murarrie25 11/27/2013, 1:49 am

My corn reached 18 inches high and decided to flower looks nice and green cobs not very big.

**sanderson** 11/27/2013, 3:12 am

Oh, I will definitely try corn for real next spring. I'm just out of time for this experimental batch to grow to maturity.

My question is: is the purple color normal? Is it a disease or just natural cold weather affect?

**Turan** 11/27/2013, 11:39 am

sanderson wrote:Oh, I will definitely try corn for real next spring. I'm just out of time for this experimental batch to grow to maturity.

My question is: is the purple color normal? Is it a disease or just natural cold weather affect?

Yes, it is normal for many varieties of corn so I would assume for Silver Queen as well. I do not know if it is weather related, it seems a reasonable assumption that cool or dry would bring out other colors than green like it does on the trees leaves.

**sanderson** 11/27/2013, 1:12 pm

Turan, thanks. I will chop them up and keep separate until I feel reasonably reassured they are not discolored by disease. Good grief! Until this year, I never knew there were so many pests and diseases to watch for. Of course, until this year, I had never tried vegetable gardening! Very Happy

**camprn** 11/27/2013, 1:51 pm

I think that coloring looks normal. Nothing in the photo is screaming out 'disease' to me. What a Face

**sanderson** 11/27/2013, 2:38 pm

Thanks

southern gardener 11/27/2013, 2:50 pm

I don't recall if my Silverqueen had red on them, but I remember my KandyKane did. I can't seem to go back far enough in my posts to see the pictures. I have a feeling you're fine tho. We chop ours up into about 1' lengths and they break down really nicely! Good luck, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!

**sanderson** 12/2/2013, 7:53 pm

Now, don't laugh. I planted corn for the first time but not until August. August 18th, the 12 seeds sprouted. We are expecting a hard freeze this week so today, 3+ months later, I cut down the stalks and checked inside the immature ears. I'm encouraged to plant corn again!
corn - growing corn - Page 3 Corn_h10

audrey.jeanne.roberts 12/2/2013, 8:15 pm

Looks like "Barbie" corn, LOL! Or the perfect corn to play house with your grandkids. So cute!

There's so much great corn grown around us, I don't think I'll grow it again. My first two years' attempts were pathetic.

What are you doing to get ready for the deep freeze? I'm setting up my greenhouse within a greenhouse and bought my space blankets to put over the top and reflect the Christmas tree lights. We rarely get any colder than we're supposed to be getting this week, so if I make it through this one chances are I'll be good for the winter. If not, I'll probably let a lot of the summer type things go and focus on what normally is easily grown during the winter.

southern gardener 12/2/2013, 11:09 pm

that's pretty much how our corn turned out too. TINY and pathetic with the exception of the Silver Queen that had 1 plant per 9 squares. I'm pretty much convinced that there's just not enough nutrition in the MM to support that much corn per square. We had excellent germination, but teeeny tiny plants/ears.

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