Corn Lodging

 

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Yesterday we saw a spattering of rain here at the house, and forecast says just a chance of scattered thunderstorms this evening and tonight, so this morning I drove out to the Ness Farm figuring I should water the popcorn which is now pollinating, and give the squash hills a good shot of water to hold them for the week.  I got a bit of a surprise when I arrived though.  Soaking wet there, and apparent high winds had flattened some of the corn.  This is the Iroquois White Flour corn.  Of all the ones I have there, this one fared the worst with the wind.  Not really a problem though.  I checked it out, and none of the stalks are broken, so by the end of the week it should be standing back up.  I do not think I will be mowing between those rows any more this year.

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Now, just for reference, the winds that hit the garden came from the south west.  This is the pink flour corn I am working on, which is directly south of the Iroquois White.  Some stalks laying down, but not many, and it took the wind before it got to the Iroquois White.   It was about 6 inches shorter than the other corn as well, and maybe a week ahead of it in maturity.

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The patch planted with the corn from the one black ear of Wamneheza harvested a few years ago showed no indication there had even been any wind.  These stalks are shorter yet, being only about 6 feet tall.

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Sweet corn planting saw some knocked down, but not a lot.

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The Blue Speckled selection, like the plants from the Black cob, also have no outward indications of there being a windstorm the previous night.

Years ago, when I first grew Iroquois White Flour down at my parent’s place, there was a similar incident, and I learned the hard way that it is better to just leave the plants alone and let them stand back up by themselves.  You are far more likely to fracture the stalks trying to get them upright.  I guess the lack of issues with it getting flattened since, was more due to a lack of high winds than any selection on my part, though I will dutifully favor saving seeds from the stalks which remained upright.

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Overall things look pretty good there, and when I checked the soil, it is soaked over 6 inches down so watering was not necessary, and will not be this week.  The picture above is of the popcorn, which is dropping pollen heavily today.  Nice to see all of the pollen on the leaf.

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Ears on the plants already maturing look nice.

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I did lose a lot, maybe 50%, of my sunflowers.  Oh well.  Snapped them right off at the base of the plants.

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That U of M #13 cowpea is looking good still.  Some of the pods are filling out with seeds already.

And with no need to water, and nothing that I can do about the corn, I headed home to do other things.  Patti and kids are gone for the rest of the day now, visiting her mom and dad.  I have cooking, laundry, cleaning, and some watering in my yard to do.

The weather is into the dog days of summer, which is kind of funny, since it is the first real extended summer-like weather we have had, with days in the 80s and nights in the 60s, and here we are in August.  Before this week, temperatures had been running ten degrees cooler overall, which, while comfortable to be in, is not what those tropical perennials we grow as short season annuals like.   Should be getting peppers and tomatoes in abundance soon.

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