Take a look at this Steve - - X

another Steve's digits

I've also heard that corn smut can be greatly reduced by "sweetening" the soil (adding lime). In acidic conditions smut can be much more of a problem. I experienced this in 2004, in NJ.

We did make lemonade of our lemons, though. The smut, known in Mexico as Huitlacoche (pronounced Wete-la-coach-ay)cooked up very nicely in eggs, served with hot sauce : )
We just had to harvest it while it was still gray colored and tender.

George
Tahlequah, OK

That's it, just didn't know what it was. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me, thanks.

Wouldn't sweat the smut too much. It is something that varies from season to season. You might see it often or almost never. Of course, cleaning up refuse is one way to keep from building up any spore base.

I never saw corn smut in my garden for years and years. Even in its present location.

Then a field of sweet corn was planted across the road from me. In fact, more fields of sweet corn have been getting closer and closer - probably a half dozen within a mile. Now, I've got corn smut.

As Paveggie suggests, the 1st year it was terrible with maybe 5% of the plants effected. Last year, there was just a little. This season, I was just barely able to find any. Continued to cut up the normal stalks and leave them to be rototilled in the following Spring, as I'd done before. I did carry the affected ears and tassels out of the garden.

Steve

5%? Hah. I lost at least a third of my corn to smut this year, but from what I read I had very good conditions for it: white corn, planted densely, watered heavily, without good air circulation, in a plot that had smut the year before.

It made a nice soup, but I put too much onion in it and I'd rather have had the corn. Plus my husband wouldn't eat something I called "smut soup". :D

I didn't have one ear infected this year, mostly because I kept an eye out of it before the corn eared up. I found four or five smuts starting on the tassels and cut them off before they burst and I harvested the rest of the crop clean of it. I use my chicken manure compost and till it in and I've heard it is worse when doing this, and can even be spread by chicken feed infected with smut spores.

When you remove smuts they need to be disgarded away from the garden site, not composted.

I tried to cultivate on purpose this year and was wildly successful (thanks to lots of wet weather in Aug). I have about 5 lbs in my freezer. It looks kind of gross but it is very tasty when harvested before the spores explode.

Saute it up and use it in soups, quesadillas, tacos, etc. My DH won't try it either, maybe you should call it by one of its other names: Corn Mushroom, Huitelecoche (wheat-la-coach-a)that way it sounds better.

I never knew it was edible until a few years ago -- just thought it was gross. Then I sauteed some up -- now, we love it. It tastes like mushrooms mixed with corn. A fancy gourmet market in an upscale suburb here was trying to sell it this summer for $19.99 a pound, and it was very old and mostly rotten, doubt they had many takers. They were trying to sell rotten white morels in May for $49.99 a pound.

I guess it's "when life hands you lemons," google some Mexican recipes for corn smut.

"I tried to cultivate on purpose this year and was wildly successful..."

Please give us the details. I want to grow it.

Jim