Corn rows - tips?

[ducks4you]

Oregano in a veggie garden would be a big invasive mistake.

Weeds are subjective.

 

[ducks4you]

You can plant MANY kinds of annual flowers with your corn. A N Y T H I N G to take over where the weeds wants to grow. Honestly, though, I would invest in PREEN and apply it after your corn is 4 inches tall. PREEN will kill ANY SEEDS for up to 3 months, and will need to be reapplied in the growing season.

 

[ducks4you]

Hijacking...I have fought weeds for 18 years at my place. Somebody planted lily of the valley on the northwest corner of the house bed. It is moving to the west bed, and I am letting some of it move there. WHATEVER weed that you can pull it is an ok weed, imho. Some of the weeds that have inhabited this bed get too big to pull out and I would rather do that than poison them. I have also had trouble in the garage N/NW bed immediatly next to the garage foundation and I transplanted lily of the valley There, too. I am satisfied that it is filling in where maple seedlings like to grow. Maple saplings are really hard to remove. I have to use a spade, dig down 4 inches, shove a bunch of cardboard in the hole and monitor. I killed many of them like this last year.
I pulled out 15 Rose of Sharon saplings from this bed and the other bed N/NE of the garage. Gotta do SOMETHING in the day after day rain! My lawn looks like a savannah! I have expect a leopard to spring forth.

 

[seedcorn]

Bean do grab nitrogen from the air and bacteria (specific for soybeans) convert it so that the plant can use it in the manufacture of plant and beans. If the soil has plenty of nitrogen the nodules are greatly reduced as is their nitrogen conversion. Nitrogen is the waste product of the bacteria that goes directly into the bean plant. Problem is that corn is a heavy feeder and gets none of the nitrogen from the beans. They will also compete for the other nutrients-micros, P, K, etc. plus we haven’t mentioned the extra water usage. For max production, create an environment that the preferred plant wants. (Sorry for tirade). I do plant squash into sweet corn after ear has pollinated. Could green beans but by then, we’ve had our fill plus they are still producing and all the neighbors refuse to open their doors when they see me coming while the garden is producing.....

 

[ducks4you]

Gee whiz, I act like I am retired!! TOO MANY emails, but I get a corn and soybean digest email. Here are some excerpts from a recent article about growing corn, and I have edited them:
Proper soil conditions

• Compaction can occur from driving on or tilling in wet soils, creating clods and hard pans. Sidewall compaction can occur when injecting fertilizer or planting seed into wet soils when it’s being “mudded in.”
  
• Planting in wet conditions leads to the temptation of planting shallow which can lead to additional problems.

• Plant into soil temps as close to 50°F as possible. Check weather conditions for the next 48 hours to see if temperatures are expected to be 50°F or higher, and avoid saturated soil conditions. If planting a few degrees less than 50°F, make sure to check with seed dealers on more cold-tolerant seed, and only plant if the forecast is calling for warm temperatures the next few days that would also help increase the soil temperature. Once planted, corn seeds need a 48-hour window and soybean seeds need at least a 24-hour window when the soil temperature at planting depth does not drop much below 50°F
• Proper planting depth
• 
  
  • Aim to get corn and soybean in the ground 1.5-2 inches deep. Planting 1.5-2 inches deep keeps corn and soybean seed in even soil temperature and moisture conditions.
  • For corn, proper depth is critical for root establishment and avoiding rootless corn syndrome where the nodal (crown roots) don’t get well established.
  • Get out and check.
  Planting does set the stage for the remainder of the year! This year, we’ve already seen and heard reports of how mudding in fertilizer or seed is impacting germination due to compaction and seed vees not closing.

I would interpret this as not walking on your corn beds after planting.

 

[Ridgerunner]

(if you want to go REALLY traditional, you bury a small fish along with the seeds). .

Dad used to dig a hole in the garden where he was going to plant squash (I can't remember how deep), put some chicken manure from the hen house in that hole (not fresh but not composted either), then build a "hill" over it to plant squash. It wasn't a lot of manure, maybe a shovelful. It's been a long time.

You can plant MANY kinds of annual flowers with your corn. A N Y T H I N G to take over where the weeds wants to grow.

Since we like photos I'll throw this in. When I saved this photo of my garden in Arkansas I titled it "mess", you can probably see why. It was to show what it looked like after the growing season. I'd plant marigolds at the ends of my rows of corn plus as a separation when I staggered the plantings by a couple of weeks to stretch fresh corn as I mentioned above. The marigolds didn't do much until the corn was harvested and the corn stalks removed so sun could get in, but in fall they made a huge splash of color. I also planted zinnias at the ends of some rows, beans for instance, and some other stuff. and sometimes in between other stuff.

I got a lot of volunteers of both marigolds and zinnias. Sometimes I'd transplant them. If they were in a good spot the way the garden had evolved that year I'd leave them. But otherwise they were weeds. I did not do this for weed control. I made room for them because they were pretty. And those morning glories. Those were always weed, I just missed those and let them flower. I really tried to not do that.

I would interpret this as not walking on your corn beds after planting.

I'd interpret that as to not work your ground when it is wet, especially if you have any clay in it. Especially not where you are planting.

 

[seedcorn]

All great thoughts. I am told that walking on ground is worse (per square inch of walked on soil) than driving a heavy tractor or tool over it. (No I haven’t done the math as body weight vs foot size, etc). I push the envelop in my garden doing some things that are possibly counter productive to Max production-yes I’ve had sweet corn in cold, wet soil for over 3 weeks-probably lost. No big deal and was worth the gamble for early, great sweet corn.

 

[seedcorn]

Dad used to dig a hole in the garden where he was going to plant squash (I can't remember how deep), put some chicken manure from the hen house in that hole (not fresh but not composted either), then build a "hill" over it to plant squash. It wasn't a lot of manure, maybe a shovelful. It's been a long time.

You can plant MANY kinds of annual flowers with your corn. A N Y T H I N G to take over where the weeds wants to grow.

Since we like photos I'll throw this in. When I saved this photo of my garden in Arkansas I titled it "mess", you can probably see why. It was to show what it looked like after the growing season. I'd plant marigolds at the ends of my rows of corn plus as a separation when I staggered the plantings by a couple of weeks to stretch fresh corn as I mentioned above. The marigolds didn't do much until the corn was harvested and the corn stalks removed so sun could get in, but in fall they made a huge splash of color. I also planted zinnias at the ends of some rows, beans for instance, and some other stuff. and sometimes in between other stuff.

I got a lot of volunteers of both marigolds and zinnias. Sometimes I'd transplant them. If they were in a good spot the way the garden had evolved that year I'd leave them. But otherwise they were weeds. I did not do this for weed control. I made room for them because they were pretty. And those morning glories. Those were always weed, I just missed those and let them flower. I really tried to not do that.

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I would interpret this as not walking on your corn beds after planting.

I'd interpret that as to not work your ground when it is wet, especially if you have any clay in it. Especially not where you are planting.

You just have a pretty “cover crop”. All very environmental. Very “green” of you....

 

[flowerbug]

@Ridgerunner i like diversity in gardens so that would be ok with me. the morning glories are tough to get rid of because of how well they can hide and wrap around other plants. it has taken a lot of years to get them out of some gardens and always more to go yet as Mom will allow them to grow in some places. no more on the fences though for sure. that's just too much of a mess to keep after.

 

[Beekissed]

We've always planted half runner beans, squash, cukes and even pumpkins with our corn to good effect. The squash and cukes can help keep the weeds down due to their large leaves shading the understory of your corn patch.

I've found human urine to be a great side dressing to corn, with the rows side dressed with this growing a foot taller and producing more and bigger ears than the same kind of corn that was side dressed with chicken compost.

Beans planted at the same time as corn was a great way to keep crows from picking out your corn seedlings and consuming the kernel...the beans grow faster at first and helped to sort of hide the tiny corn seedlings until they were too big for the crows to bother.

Corn properly hilled up shouldn't have any problems with folks walking between the rows as their roots normally don't extend into the walk path and you really don't have to worry about overly compacting the soil between the rows by walking there.

We use 20-24 in. between rows as spacing.