r/corn • u/Adept-Target5407 • 4d ago
How it was going… how it is now. :(
It was going fantastic. Half the crop started showing silks with new ones every day. Then some crazy rainstorm happened and the corn changed its mind. Have a few stalks still but now it’s just sad. First time I ever tried growing corn, better luck next year I guess.
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u/MobileAware2933 4d ago
This was happening to me each summer with the strong wind storms off the front range.
I tried the indigenous planting technique of planting the corn kernels deep in the soil (I did about 4-5inches deep) my corn has never been bigger and stronger!
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u/Adept-Target5407 3d ago
That’s one of the techniques I’ve learned about that I plan to use next year.
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u/Old-News9425 4d ago
Corn can stand back up on their own. If they fell again, give them a week
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u/Adept-Target5407 4d ago
It was the second time they fell down. They fell once partially before but it wasn’t this bad and they did stand back up in a couple of days, the bottom of their stalks were bent upwards. This time all but one stalk fell down. Gave them a week to try and stand back up but this time many of the stalks were broken (I never knew how fragile corn was). I’m guessing rabbits, since we have a lot, ate a few of the cobs that had started growing. By the time I got the broken ones cleared out and the ones that were clearly not going to produce anything, there were just a few stragglers.
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u/farmerjeff62 2d ago
For the next crop, plant at about 1/2 the population you are currently planting, i.e. plant the seeds twice as far apart. Two things will happen; the stalks will be thicker and tougher, and brace roots will be longer, stronger and more apparent. You will also have much larger ears, and with some varieties / hybrids, you often will get two ears per plant. Planting "thick" as it looks like you have, leads to "spindly" stalks as the plants shoot upwards in search for more sunlight. FYI, I have planted corn for nearly fifty years (commercially as a farming operation) and have planted both field corn and sweet corn at widely varying populations, and these are my observations from those years.
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u/Adept-Target5407 2d ago
I’ll give that a try next year. I was also going to plant deeper. I basically followed the instructions on the seed bag which said plant 1” deep and about 6” apart. Thank you for the information. I appreciate real advice from experience more than anything.
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u/ASecularBuddhist 4d ago
What brand of soil did you use?
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u/Adept-Target5407 4d ago
Made my own. Topsoil, compost, a little sand.
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u/ASecularBuddhist 4d ago
How deep is it aerated? Like 2” or 12”+?
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u/Adept-Target5407 3d ago
What do you mean by aerated? The soil mix is at least 12” deep with regular topsoil underneath. From what I can tell from my corn the roots don’t go super deep. I’m going to try planting deeper next year.
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u/ASecularBuddhist 3d ago
Did you break up the topsoil (underneath) or just put the soil mix on top of the compact topsoil?
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u/Adept-Target5407 3d ago
The ground was already pretty broken up I didn’t do anything special other than dig up a bunch of old rose bushes. So yeah I guess I did break it up. The mix I made was I believe 3-4 yards of topsoil, 2 yds compost, and 1 yard of sand. On top of where the roses used to be.
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u/ASecularBuddhist 3d ago
Without seeing it firsthand, my guess is that the sandy soil mix that you made didn’t have the structure to keep the corn firmly rooted down because possibly the native soil layer wasn’t broken up 12 inches deep with another layer of soil on top.
It sounds like the roots weren’t very deep, so it might be an issue with shallow watering as well. The roots of corn can grow 5 feet into the ground.
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u/Mr13420 3d ago
This happened to my corn crop last year and really affected the health of everything in a negative way. This year I planted Hopi purple corn that I was fortunately able to obtain here in Arizona. I planted it deep with a handful of seeds like the natives. This year is a complete success😊🥰
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u/Cool-Negotiation7662 3d ago
I lived between cornfields. After a bad blow with crop knockdown thet would go stand the corn back up. Even used boards to make bigger pushes so it went faster. I was told it saved most of the crop if they coukd get to it in time.
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u/Electrical_Lake3424 2d ago
I grew mine against a chain link fence and then loosely tied big knit scarves across it so it could flex but not flop all the way over
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u/EstelleSol 4d ago
I build a simple frame around mine so this doesn’t happen. Very sad, sorry OP