river22,

How long after you planted your beans and cukes did it take them to start coming up? Do you water yours with a soaker hose? I have some seedlings, but I am going to have to direct sow some of them. Sheri

River,

That's great. I'm glad all is going well. I agree that it is wonderful that spring is finally here, and I hope the mild weather lasts a while before the significantly hotter weather arrives.

Dawn

My green beans and cucumbers started coming up about 7 days after I planted them as did the squash. This is the 2nd week and they are still coming up. Okra is slow, but it's been chilly so hopefully this week they will pop out. Still waiting on the corn.

My beans came up 10 days after planting. I only watered them once because we were getting some rain here and there. Yay, I'm so excited...this is my first attempt at any veggie gardening!

River,

Do you know how warm your soil was when you planted the corn? Corn's sprouting is affected more by the soil temperature than the air temperature.

Different types of corn sprout best at different soil temperatures. Regular sweet corn can be planted once the soil temperatures are in the 55 to 60 degree range. Supersweet corn does better when soil is in the 65 to 70 degree range.

You can check your soil temperature with an ordinary cooking thermometer that has a metal probe (the kind you use to check meat temperatures, not a candy thermometer).

Or, you can look at the Oklahoma Mesonet map and check soil temperatures at various depths for your county. I usually check the soil temp at 2" to 4" when determining if the soil is warm enough. I've linked the Mesonet below. Just click on whichever soil temperature you want at the left of the page and it will pull up the map with the temps. for each county.

Brenda: Congratulations! You're the "mom" of a whole family of baby bean plants.....so your garden is on its way! Have fun. If you planted bush beans, you should be picking beans in approximately 7 to 8 weeks, and maybe even sooner if the weather stays nice and warm.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Mesonet Soil Temperature Data

Dawn,

I'm fighting the wind. I've barely gotten my mowing done, much less any of the planting I wanted. I just put some corn in a cup of water a few hours ago to soak for planting tomorrow. It's a triple sweet variety. I thought it would germinate around 60 degrees which is what the mesonet says mine is averaging @ 10cm. Am I incorrect about the temp with regard to triple sweets? I've got plenty more seed if I need to wait or I could try presprouting, but I didn't know exactly how you did it? I think I have a meat thermometer somewhere, I'll try to find it and check my actual temperature. I know the weather news in Tulsa is showing a bit warmer readings than the mesonet, but they don't say at what depth.

Jill

Thanks okiedawn for the link. Don't know exactly what temp it was, but it was during the warm spell we had for about a week. I knew cooler weather was coming, but I just couldn't help myself. Once I got started, there was no stopping me. I was like a wild woman, digging in the dirt, planting veggies everywhere!!!! LOLOLOL

Jill,

I've been fighting the wind too, and I am so tired of it.
The poor plants look so wind-beaten and battered, and I know how they feel.

Now, about the corn.....would it surprise you if I told you that this is one of the questions for which there is no good or easy or simple answer? (So many things in gardening seem to be that way, too.) So, here goes.

Standard sweet corn will not germinate in soil that is colder than 50 degrees. At a soil temperature of 50 degrees, it will take it about 7 to 10 to 14 days to germinate (depending on moisture levels AND other factors). It really germinate much better, much more quickly, etc. if you wait until the soil is closer to 60, or even warmer. The warmer the soil, the faster the germination, and this is important if you use organic seed.

Supersweets and triplesweets need soil that is a minimum of 65 degrees, but they germinate best at 70 degrees and higher. To tell you the truth, some universities recommend a soil temperature of 80 degrees or warmer for optimum germination. But, if we wait until our soil hits 80 (well, mine is hitting 80 right now, but it probably won't last since another cold front is coming), then there is a chance our corn will be pollinating when the air temps. are so hot that pollination is impaired, so I try to plant when the soil is 70 or 75.

AND, if you garden organically and only use organic, untreated seed, soil temperatures are of great importance. Why? Because untreated organic seed has not been treated with chemicals to prevent it from rotting in cold, wet soil. So, if using organic seed, you want to plant a little later than someone using treated seed.

So, I hope it is clear....or, at least as clear as mud. LOL

I always take my own soil temps because my raised beds are warmer than the soil temperatures recorded at our mesonet station.

One way to get around the issue of soil temps is to soak your corn in water for several hours and then wrap it in either coffee filters or paper towels and then place it in either a zip-lock bag or a plastic container with a lid. The corn will sprout in a few days. At that point, you go out and plant it. It should come up rather quickly since it is already sprouted. I soak my corn for 8 to 12 hours. Some people soak it for up to 24. I soak it in plain tap water. Some people like to soak it in water to which they have added a very small amount of liquid seaweed or a pinch of a water soluable fertilizer like Miracle Grow.

Hope this info is helpful.

Dawn

Thank you Dawn, the information you provide is always very very helpful. I'll check my soil temp tomorrow, but I'm thinking I may just try presprouting it and then planting. It seems a little more practical. I've acquired an old waterbed heater with a thermostat control, would it be wise to put the zip-lock bags on top of it? I germinated my tomato seeds the way you described but put the bags on an old heating pad.

Do you know if the presprouted corn will be slow to grow if the soil temps aren't very high or is that mostly critical to the germination? I assume most everything will grow better with warmer soil and temps, but I didn't know if it would be as critical for growth post germination. I can't wait until I get my copy of "The Vegetable Book" so I can hopefully quit bugging you so much.

Any of you other folks out there please chime in if you have some input. I've found all of you to be very knowledgable and wise too -- believe me the information you all share is so greatly appreciated!

Jill

Jill,

I just pre-sprout at room temperature. You probably could try pre-sprouting on the waterbed heater, but I am a little concerned that the warmth plus the moisture in an airtight container could cause a fungus or mold to grow, so watch your corn carefully.

Corn that is planted in REALLY cold soil (around 50 degrees since it won't sprout and grow in soil colder than that) is slower to grow and can be stunted for the life of the plant, but it will still produce ears (though they might be smaller than they normally would be). I don't think the soil is that cold now, though, so you should be able to plant your soon-to-be-sprouted seed in the ground and expect a good crop.

The old folk method of knowing when to plant corn (and I've heard this all my life, and Dr. Cotner happens to mention it in THE book too) is to plant your corn seed in the ground when the leaves on your oak trees are as big as a mouse's ear. LOL Well, I don't know about your oak leaves, but ours are as big as a mouse.....so we are really warm enough here.

Soil temps don't fluctuate as much as air temps. For example, my unmulched soil gets up into the 80s during the afternoons already, but drops into the lower to mid-60s at night. Even when the air temps. drop really low like they did the other night, the soil temps. only drop a little.

As for as your receipt of "the book", I look forward to you having it, but NOT, NOT, NOT because you will
quit "bugging" me. I don't consider questions "bugging" in any way. How else can one learn? I'm just lucky that I grew up with many gardening relatives who answered all my questions and taught me so much. One thing about Dr. Cotner's book that is so great is that it takes what you already know about veggies and expands it by 10,000%. And, too, I like knowing that if Dr. Cotner says it, I know it is true and it is backed by decades of research at Texas A&M University.

I have had this book since the year it came out and I refer to it endlessly, and I LEARN SOMETHING NEW from it all the time. How great is that? (At the rate at which my almost-50-year-old brain's memory is fading, that's not likely to change either!) The only thing I have had to adapt is that he wrote the book from the viewpoint of "chemical gardening" and not "organic gardening" so I look at his recommendations for fertilizers and pesticides and fungicides and then substitute the equivalent organic remedy.

Dawn