"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
FDR said:

I'm tring to grow Temptaion variety corn this year. The stalks are maybe
1
to 1.5 ft. tall and half of them are flopping over. I've tried to mound
dirt around the base and prop them up but it doesn't seem adequate. I
have them growing in 2 stalks per place, rows a foot apart and plants 8
inches apart.

Did I not plant the seed deeply enough?

Not relevent.

Is having two together a cause?

It could be a factor (especially in making it harder to hill them up).
But too much nitrogen vs. potassium might also be a factor. Corn is
a grass, and needs plenty of nitrogen, but for strong stalks and disease
resistance it also needs potassium.

I added plenty of 10-5-10 granular fertilizer when I planted the seed.


The weatheris also an important factor. One violent storm can wreck
havoc.

There's also a possibility of stalk rot. And heavy infestations of corn
root worm make the plants more likely to lodge (fall over).

I pulled a stalk and didn't find anything unusual.



Should I just pull them and start with new seed considering the season is
still young? Maturity is stated as about 60 days.

I'd pull to one plant per spot and, if the plants you pull look healthy
(other
than the leaning over) try hilling them up again. You can be pretty
aggressive with the hilling up.

I'm afraid of pulling them at this advanced stage. I think that I'd wind up
disturbing the remaing stalks too much. I'll try and experiment with a
couple first and see the results.


I sometimes use compost to hill up the corn if a bad storm knocks some
down. (Later in the season, I might use posts and run string to hold them
up.)

Thanks Pat. I'll get some soil and try the mounding.


--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)