Corn Yuck
 

I had a question about some latter season corn stalks I planted.
While the earlier variety did much better I noticed the late species
developed some rotting mush in the tips.
I don’t know if over watering contributed to this. There was more! Small
black beetle like bugs that caused a black aphid infested mold between the
leaves that also attracted ants. Some of the ears had a big ugly worm in the
rotting mush!

Also, how many ears of corn should one expect per stalk ?
I got one regular size and one slightly smaller and 2 or 3 more that were
undeveloped.

Thanks!

Corn Yuck
 

Mike wrote:
I had a question about some latter season corn stalks I planted.
While the earlier variety did much better I noticed the late species
developed some rotting mush in the tips.
I don’t know if over watering contributed to this. There was more! Small
black beetle like bugs that caused a black aphid infested mold between the
leaves that also attracted ants. Some of the ears had a big ugly worm in the
rotting mush!


Sounds like you got borers &/or black smut. Or that's (smut) what it's
called in our region anyway. A lot of corn varieties get this problem
very easily it seems. However, I don't know what causes it or how to
prevent it. Sorry - maybe someone else can answer that one. I'd be
interested in that answer myself.

Also, how many ears of corn should one expect per stalk ?
I got one regular size and one slightly smaller and 2 or 3 more that were
undeveloped.


It's not uncommon for different varieties to produce more than a couple
of ears. However the stalks that only have 2-3 ears fair better than the
ones with more than 3 on them. In other words the less amount of ears on
the stalk, the more developed the kernels will be.

Thanks!



have you checked out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize
might be better info there for you.....