Corn stalks falling
 

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?

Is having two together a cause?

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

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.

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).


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 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.)

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

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

"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)

FDR wrote:
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?

Is having two together a cause?

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

Your spacing seems way too close to me. I try for 14 inches in any
direction to another plant. Even at that 14 inch spacing, mine seem a
little crowded. At that spacing I get only 1 ear of corn per plant, even
from corn varieties fully capable of making 2 good ears. I often get 2
ears from plants at the edge of the patch where they are only crowded on
one side.
Having said all of that, since your corn is only 12 - 18 inches tall,
the crowding shouldn't even be affecting it yet. Some kinds of corn just
tip over easier than others. Since I grow at a windy waterfront
location, I remember which ones to avoid in the future. I usually try a
few kinds each year. Last year I picked up some "Alpine" corn from a
store seed rack just to give it a try. It was good corn. Nice taste and
it stayed standing through a storm that flattened some of the other
kinds. I'm growing a little of that one again this year.

Steve

"Steve" wrote in message
...
FDR wrote:
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?

Is having two together a cause?

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

Your spacing seems way too close to me. I try for 14 inches in any
direction to another plant. Even at that 14 inch spacing, mine seem a
little crowded. At that spacing I get only 1 ear of corn per plant, even
from corn varieties fully capable of making 2 good ears. I often get 2
ears from plants at the edge of the patch where they are only crowded on
one side.
Having said all of that, since your corn is only 12 - 18 inches tall, the
crowding shouldn't even be affecting it yet. Some kinds of corn just tip
over easier than others. Since I grow at a windy waterfront location, I
remember which ones to avoid in the future. I usually try a few kinds each
year. Last year I picked up some "Alpine" corn from a store seed rack just
to give it a try. It was good corn. Nice taste and it stayed standing
through a storm that flattened some of the other kinds. I'm growing a
little of that one again this year.

Steve

The spacing of 8 incehs and two stalks was what the Stokes people put on the
package. Though to be fair, the row spacing I hvae is a closer than they
suggest.

I did have a lot of corn fall over from windy conditions last year. I
had to tie them up to thin bamboo supports. What a pain.

I did read a method of using a bottomless styrofoam cup. You submerge
the cup (minues the bottom disc) in the dirt, so the empty cup forms a
hole (like the cup hole on a golf green). You plant the corn in the
dirt at the bottom of the hole. When it grows significantly above the
ground level, you pull the cup out and fill the hole. Has some added
beneift over omounding since a mound can shift where as the ground
won't as long as the hole was firmly filled in.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph

I'm not familiar with this variety, but as you know that corn has very
shallow roots, so it can't be planted on any kind of ridge or hill with
ease. If anything, corn should be lower than the surrounding ground.
However, assuming your garden is flat, then it sounds like you've got
weather. Winds that seem fairly mild to humans can take out a few rows of
corn.


"FDR" wrote in message
...
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?

Is having two together a cause?

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