Corn Thread for 2014

[digitS']

". . . this is the first year i can say i successfully grew corn from seed to produce ears."

Yay! @Chickie'sMomaInNH !!



Steve

 

[freedhardwoods]

well, finally got to pick some of the Glass Gem i was growing. i was hoping to keep them on the stalk a little longer but something keeps getting to them. i'm thinking it is a bird of some sort since the stalks aren't getting broken except for the ones i planted my pole beans too close and now they're weighing them down.

any ideas on how to protect the stalks and ears in the future? i've thought about putting a cage around them/ or maybe some sort of fortress like Marshall does with his beans. btw these are about 6-7" long. i have a few longer ears still on the stalks that haven't been touched yet.

You might try hot pepper spray. It is supposed to make plants taste bad (spicy hot) to bugs and animals. I make my own, but I've seen it for sale also. I had a pretty bad bug problem on my green beans. One week after spraying, almost no bugs. I didn't have any deer problems and very few bugs in my corn this year so I didn't try it on corn.

 

[PhilaGardener]

Birds don't seem to taste the hot pepper. They even treat birdseed with it to cut down on losses to squirrels. But if it isn't a bird that is causing the problem it might help!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i didn't give it much thought till i realized my local feed store sells hot pepper treated corn cobs to feed to the birds. it could be a local chipmunk or mouse enjoying them.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

got some better pics of the latest ears i pulled this morning. enjoy some of the pretty eye (maybe that's ear) candy!

 

[baymule]

Those are beautiful! Are they dry now or still fresh? I have to pick corn when it is semi dry or it will sprout/mold/rot/mildew in the shucks.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

some were dry. a couple need some time to dry out fully. i have lots of small ears going that i don't think will have big enough kernels i would want to keep for seeds. and then there is 1 stalk still going that has 4 full sized ears that i was hoping would fatten up but don't think they will before something gets to them. it seems to be a very productive and resilient corn. sort of like a Timex watch-takes a licking and keeps on ticking. the stalks that fell over are still growing and trying to push out new ears.

oh, that ear with the greener shades is dry enough i already picked the kernels off for keeping/trading/selling for seed.

 

[Jared77]

I agree from my experience this year it's a very resilient variety. Great pics!

I'll be harvesting the rest of mine this weekend.

 

[Hal]

Well the Painted Mountain is 1' high and doing okay despite us having cool 70 ish days then the next day going to 92 or so.
I'm really nervous though, I have never had trouble growing corn but I have a lot riding on this.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Beautiful corn Chickie'sMoma and Jared!

I'm sure that you'll get it Hal! Painted Mountain has a lot of genetic diversity, so if your Australian climate proves to harsh for some of them, others should survive. How much corn did you plant?