Is corn always this &^@*#)ing hard????

13 years ago

Last fall I made a nice small plot for some corn. Amended the soil with lots of compost and turned it real deep. Banded some 10-10-10 in and planted the seeds. Well, the &^@*#)ing sandhill cranes immediately swooped in and dug up all my seeds!

So, I replanted and covered the plot with some bait netting I had laying around, and that kept the critters out. Once I thought the corn was big enough, I removed the cover. You can probably see this coming... the corn wasn't big enough and the critters dug my nice little plants up again.

So, I did it again with a temporary garden fence setup that finally kept the critters at bay. But by this time, it was really too late in the fall. I ended up with three pretty poor corn plants, and only two small ears (but they were delicious).

So, having learned from my mistakes, I was set to conquer corn cultivation this spring! I set up my little plot, thoroughly amending the soil and banding fertilizer and planting the seeds (this time, with sufficient critter protection). Only about half germinated despite getting water every morning and every night. So, I did some succession planting and changed the garden fence to a different type that I hoped would allow more sunlight to the seedlings. You can probably see this coming... the new fence material didn't deter some sort of critter like the old material did, and SOMETHING DUG UP ALL MY &^@*#)ING CORN!

Is corn always this &^@*#)ing hard????

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Comments (6)

User
13 years ago
grew up in corn country in illinois .my first job at 12 years old was detassling corn for eight hours a day. rule of thumb is "knee high by the fourth of july!" tried in once here, miserable failure.........m....:)
whgille
13 years ago
Corn is one of the hardest crops to grow in Florida because bugs, needs a lot of space for proper pollination but at the same time one of the cheapest to get from local farms when in season.
My favorite corn is the large kernel, I grew some in previous seasons....

{{gwi:61360}}

The dish has the beans and corn growing together, the color ones were for seed saving...

{{gwi:61361}}

M, I lived in Chicago for a few years, very windy.:)

Silvia
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ibarbidahl
13 years ago
In a word, YES! LOL. When it's not critters, it's bugs, when it's not bugs it's rot when it's not rot its....

Florida and corn are not so great together. I always plant and I always get corn, but I plant a 4' square and get a good 6 or so ears. Not worth it $ and heartache wise, but tastewise - OH YUM!!!!

Popcorn does a little better than sweet. btw, but not by too much because it takes longer.
TampaBull
13 years ago
I'm glad I'm not the only one!

My problem isn't birds. It seems bugs are eating the roots after they've grown a few inches. After constantly promising starts, they start shriveling. When i look into the soil there's small white/clear looking ant-like bugs, almost like termites.
This is in a brand new raised bed.

Anyone knows what they are? And what to do?

Also, when is the best start/end time to plant seeds?
The IFAS website mentions Feb-Mar and Aug-Sept for central Florida.

Thanks...
thetradition
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm going by the UF calendar, too. Bugs were easily controlled with a little BT once in a while last fall. It's the larger critters that cause problems for me.
judyk_2008 9a DeLeon Sprs. (NW Volusia)
13 years ago
You probably have saved yourself the heartache of finally getting the ears almost ready to pick and you go out in the morning to find the racoons have totally destroyed your crop. The last time I tried to grow it, it looked like they had had a party. Half eaten ears thrown all over the place and the stalks all broken. It was so crazy I took a picture of the destruction. Down here the saying is the corn should be in the ground by the sound of the first Whipporwill. (which I have been hearing lately) My dad use to grow great corn in patches of about 40 X 40. He planted it the first of March in Orlando area. He didn't have a critter problems but he was a heavy user of Sevin Dust.