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Beautiful spring. Summer isnt happening?
My sweet corn looks like its going to have THREE EARS per plant.
Never seen three before. Two is a sign of a good season.
Anybody else seeing this two and three ears per plant thing?

I don't think I've ever seen three. I have heard that it depends on soil conditions. For instance, corn around here always grows 2 ears, but up in Pennsylvania, they normally only get one, although it is a little bigger. Don't know if it's true or not, but I've had farmers tell me that. Another little tidbit- each kernel of corn is attached to its own strand of silk. I feel like I should have known that before last year, but I never did.

assateague wrote:I don't think I've ever seen three. I have heard that it depends on soil conditions. For instance, corn around here always grows 2 ears, but up in Pennsylvania, they normally only get one, although it is a little bigger. Don't know if it's true or not, but I've had farmers tell me that. Another little tidbit- each kernel of corn is attached to its own strand of silk. I feel like I should have known that before last year, but I never did.

I have green hands. Not thumbs. My grandfather was a gardener and taught me well.
When I hoe corn I pull dirt toward the plants. Then I mulch them with lawn clippings. Its been raining every day little bits with sun in between. Unbelievably good for my garden.
I reall need HEAT to get my maters ripening.

Corn by the back fence is a different variety and was planted about ten days sooner. As soon as I harvest, will plant second crop.
My green beans are growing like weeds too.

Pulled all my stalks out yesterday. Only have cucumbers still in the ground.

Shit man...just got the garden planted a few weeks ago. All we got so far is radishes, colorably, and broccoli.

No kidding. I've got jalapeños to pick, but that's it. Nothing else even close.

Was looking at fall planting soon but gonna hold off and work on the soil a bit. Yields were pretty low for the most part even though I didn't expect much this year.

The tomaters haven't even flowered yet.

I planned my corn plots by estimating how many dozens of ears I wanted. We usually buy 6-10 dozen at a time and freeze it.
I planted about 300 plants in several small plots. I figured some would not grow or get eaten by squirels. Getting two or three ears per plant...woa, I did not expect that.

Corn is doing good up here. There is a corn patch down the road from my grandparents house that has plants over 8 ft tall that are getting good ears on them.

Most the corn hear is about knee high. The good tiled fields on high ground that got in a little earlier are about 3-4 foot.

The saying used to be "knee high by the 4th of July", but that was before the invention of GMO in the early 80s. Now, if a a farmers corn isn't at least 6 feet tall and tasseling by the 4th of July, he's crying a river because he screwed up or the weather sucks.

Exactly, in SW MI most of the stuff planted in early May is over my head.

Illini Extra sweet dont get tall. Four to five feet is all.
Its different. The Illini Super Sweet and Extra Sweet varieties were designed just a couple miles from my home. University of Illinois is in Champaign-Urbana.

True - the commercial corn or field corn will get taller, silage hybrids even taller.

I am out every day checking. Gotta guard it from critters and varmints.
Corn patch at abandoned house...no water etc. Its a gamble. My backyard patch is well guarded though.
This summer is a good one so far. Am ready to start lighting fireworks.

Ever put a hot wire around the garden?

DeadEye_Dan wrote:Ever put a hot wire around the garden?

Add a sixer of beer and sounds like cheap entertainment.

Flightstopper wrote:

DeadEye_Dan wrote:Ever put a hot wire around the garden?

Add a sixer of beer and sounds like cheap entertainment.

'merica

Would need 300 feet of extension cords. The place is haunted. Crows and hawks live in the trees and foxes under the back porch. The critters I worry about have two legs.

Buddy of mine from Missouri showed me a trick to keep the deer out of a garden. I don't think it works for anything else, but it does work for deer.

Get some stakes and some baling twine. Run one loop around the garden, about a foot high. Run another loop about 3 feet high, a foot further away from the garden than than the first one. And run the third one about 2 feet high a foot further away from the garden than the second one.

Something about the staggered heights and widths messes with a deer's depth perception, and they're afraid to jump it. Works like a charm. I've seen it in action.

We ran a rope around our garden about 4' up and hung old CDs about every 18" on a 1 foot lead. Haven't had a deer problem yet, but the coons always find the corn before we do.

Hot wire 6" off the ground keeps deer and coons out.

DeadEye_Dan wrote:Hot wire 6" off the ground keeps deer and coons out.

My gardens are in the city. The abandoned farm used to be outside city limits but was annexed. No deer or coons. Skunks and possums, yes.

I could shoot many rabbits. We make brush piles and burn em every year or so. Lotsa bunnies. I put up chicken wire to keep them out. If I get hungry for rabbit I get the air rifle and go shoot a couple from inside the shed.

Around here it's mostly feed corn and the majority of it is about 7' tall right now.

Corn here is already burned up around the house. Crazy the differences between north and south.

Flightstopper wrote:Corn here is already burned up around the house. Crazy the differences between north and south.

Everything is a month behind here from all the rain/flooding we had this spring. There are some fields by my house that were planted last week and some that still aren't planted.

NuffDaddy wrote:

Flightstopper wrote:Corn here is already burned up around the house. Crazy the differences between north and south.

Everything is a month behind here from all the rain/flooding we had this spring. There are some fields by my house that were planted last week and some that still aren't planted.

In central Illinois optimum planting date for corn is 4-25 thru 5-10.
Mine got planted around that time four waves. Some ever four days during that window.
Should get a lot of sweet corn starting around July 15 or so. Illini extra sweet takes 85 days.
Planted a hybrid variety that takes 78 days. Cant wait to start eating sweet corn.

the first of my sweet corn should been ready in a week
my field corn is hip deep with out pulling a leaf straight up
it wont be long until i start chopping silage