24-07-2003, 01:22 PM
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Corn patch made into crop circles
(Chris) writes:
What gives? Is it something about the closeness of planting? (The
stalks bent at the soil, the plant did stay in the ground.)
Possibly. If your plants were crowded enough that they didn't develop
as much root system as they normally would, that wouldn't help. But
this is just a typical problem with corn, so you may not have done
anything wrong. Corn just doesn't develop a very strong root system
below the soil, and it presents a big target for wind.
Or the smallish patch didn't afford as much protection to the
interior as a huge planting?
Probably, although I've seen plenty of large fields where corn around
the edges was standing tall after a storm and large patches in the
middle of the field were flattened.
What do I do now? So far, I've done nothing and the stalks are
still green and don't seem too dead.
If the ground is very wet, you may be able to stand it back up, as
someone else suggested. It may stand back up somewhat on it's own,
too. If you can't stand it back up without breaking the stalks, it
will probably grow okay where it is, as long as the ears aren't
actually touching the ground, but it'd be better for pollination to
stand it up if possible.
And finally, how do I prevent this in the future?
There's not much you can do, short of building a windbreak of some
sort around your corn. Farmers buy crop insurance to cover it, and do
their best to harvest it anyway, even if it means using special
equipment to pull the downed stalks into the combine.
--
Aaron
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