SWEET CORN

[heavyhitterokra]

Today is March 30th, 2019.

The buds on the oak trees are as big as squirrel's ears...  It's time to plant sweet corn!

[meandtk]

My sweet corn is up! I planted two weeks ago.
Sadly what little Indian corn comes up is gotten by crows. Hmmm....

[macmex]

I wonder why the crows favor the Indian corn?

[meandtk]

I’m guessing that the coating on the sweet corn deters them.

[macmex]

Okay, you mean a fungicide, something like that?

[meandtk]

Whatever the red is that is on it when purchased.

[john]

A trick I learned that is simple to do Is to put a stake at each end of the row and tie a string to the stakes. You want a string (I use the cheap sissal string) above your corn seed/seedlings. For some reason the string, agitates the crow enough so that they don't feel comfortable around the corn and they leave it alone. Once the corn is about a foot tall you can remove it. I learned this by accident. In the past I had always hoed out my rows by hand and used a string above as a tool so my rows would be straight. I would just naturally leave the string up until the corn was well along. When I got my little farmall cub and started making the rows with the tractor I no longer needed the string. The crows hit me hard, going up row after row. I figured out what was going on and started putting the string up and I was able to get corn once again. I think they like the indian corn more because it has a full sized plump kernel on it, unlike the shriveled up little sweet corn seed. In my garden the fungicide treated seed doesn't seem to make a difference. They will still eat them. Years ago you could buy a product that was called "crow checks" that was like a black tar dust that you could treat the seeds with. That stuff worked but it is illegal now.

[heavyhitterokra]

John,

That string stretched between two stakes sounds like a really good way to keep crows from eating your sweet corn seedlings, but what can you do when your sweet corn reaches that sugary sweet stage that brings throngs of raccoons that make crows look as harmless as a group of Girl Scouts?


 
"Take us to your weeder."

[mountianj]

they def know when corn ready to harvest especially here.i plan on put couple electric wires around where i plant corn this year try get one that solar power. outside dog works good or trapping them but its like you move 2 then 4 more appear. i m hoping the electric wire couple strands will work wonders one bout 6 inch from ground other 12 inch.

[heavyhitterokra]

The electric wires might work, as long as no green vegetation is present to short them out to the ground.  I used an electric fence in an attempt to keep squirrels and deer from eating my cucumbers once.  I think I electrocuted myself more than the deer and squirrels did.

It seemed like every time I'd lift the vines to check for cucumbers, I'd forget and accidentally touch that darned electric wire again.

[john]

There are only two ways to keep the coons from getting every last ear in a large patch. (based on my experience)
1. Electric fence, set up well in advance of the crop maturing. 6" off the ground and use a timer that goes on at dusk and shuts off at dawn to avoid getting shocked yourself. The movable fiberglass stakes are ideal for a quick set up. The cheap fence chargers are best because the shock isn't pulsed. They are dangerous in my opinion, but they work fantastic and are only about thirty bucks. The fence must be weed whacked at least once a week to keep the vegetation off of it.

2. Start trapping well in advance of the expected harvest date. This gets tiresome and wears on your spirit after a while, I now choose the former method.

Corn is a lot of work no matter how you slice it. If you just had a small patch you could hinder the coons by putting socks or stockings over the ears as they approach maturity. The coons will generally start checking your corn before fully destroying it. IF you see a few ears with husks torn apart, you know they are watching and waiting. They will wait until it is just about ready.. usually a day or two before you go in to pick it. I have tried using a paste of ground up hot peppers, painted onto the ears. That has worked for me in the past.

Corn is so prized you may be successful in keeping out the coons, but wind up losing your crop to birds who peck the ears. Some years bird can be just as bad as coons, especially in the late corn. In 2018 we had such a bad squirrel problem they were were able to get under the electric fence in a few spots. They love corn too. GRRRRR

[macmex]

This is one of the reasons I simply went over to non sweet corn. Living some years in Mexico, where sweet corn was not popular, our family learned to enjoy roasting ears of regular field type corn. Coon and birds generally leave that alone.

[Tucson Grower]

Apparently the best time to plant sweet corn, here in the Tucson area in southern Arizona is [mid-February to Early March] and then in [late-July to early August]. In 2021 I planted about a dozen varieties, in mid-April, but by the time for pollen shed, none had silks, yet, so all the pollen went, bye-bye and then growing it turned out a wasted effort.

I did more research and it's apparently due to the excessive heat the plants are subjected to, while they're trying to flower. Hopefully this will help. I should find out by early this summer.

[chrysanthemum]

I’ve had that happen to my corn before. When is your average last frost?

[Tucson Grower]

Last frost of the season - 7 February, 5 days from today. It will probably bring us highs about in the 100s F by April. But if our forecast is accurate, our last frost was this morning (it was 31F). From here on our lows are forecast to be in the 40s F or high 30s F.