HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I am bummed!!!!! My first year for a garden and everything was doing good. I get home from work today and walk back and I thought something looked wierd. Then I saw it........ my corn crop totally down. At first I blamed the dogs, but they could not have gotten into it. Then deer was my next guess, but when I looked closer, it was blown down. I had a little line of storms come through this morning, but only a couple 10ths of an inch of rain (which I need bad) I had 2 plantings and the first one was just starting to tassle. The second was planted 2 1/2 weeks later. This pics were taken a few weeks ago.


My question is, can it be saved????? The stalks do not look damaged, however, there may be some root damage. I have out of desperation, tried putting stakes up on each side of one row, tying twine to the stakes, and puting some stringers in between the long streches to try to hold the stalks apart. The shorter corn looks better than the tassled stuff. Will this work or am I wasting my time? Will I get anything if I leave it lay on the ground?

Any help would be appriciated.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

What zone are you in? My corn is 8' tall and would require a tornado to knock it over right now.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I dunno but you better hurry up and eat that lettuce before it goes to seed!

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Zone 5 northern Indiana. I got it planted a little late, but it hit the old knee high by the fourth of July.

My ground was very well tilled when planted, and that probably didn't help much for holding it in. The wind also knocked down all my onions and didn't do a whole lot of good for the potatoes either.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I have been working on the lettuce for quite a while! Grew like gangbusters! Way more than I need! Some of the spinach already has started going to seed. Still tastes ok though.

The whole idea for the garden was the corn! The rest of the stuff was just extra to see how things would grow.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Same thing happened to my corn last week , just start at the end of the row and stand it up stalk by stalk and step it down at the base and all will be fine , just a little off of a straight line but will be fine .
if you do nothing in a day or 2 you will see it start to curve back up itself , will look like a L but should still be ok .
Good luck . wind got the center of 7 rows of my corn . about 30 stalks in each row , didn't touch anything else ,but after standing it back up its fine now .

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Thanks for the info. I tried to get some stalks to stand up by hand. Didn't really pack the dirt down too much though because I was afraid to damage the roots. I will try this and see if I can get it to stand on its own. It will be much easier than trying to string it up! I figured if I let it lay, it would start trying to stand up, but I would think that that would hurt the ear development.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Corn is tough as nails. A Packed root ball just means more support, which you are apparently denying it. My corn is growing in red clay with thistles next to it. I'll be picking ears in about 2 weeks.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I will try packing them down to get them to stand in the morning. Hopefully it will work. Next year, I will get things in a little sooner and maybe split the corn into 3 plantings to spread it out. This is my first year and I am kind of figuring out what works as I go. I might even change the direction of the rows since the wind hit them from the side.

I have already done a few stupid things that cost me time and effort for no gain. Not on the corn, but on the garden in general. Next year should be better! (I hope):Surrender:

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Hey, you're trying, that's the main part. AND, you're asking advice, the second part! Garden looks great BTW, good job.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Thanks. It has been a lot of work! When I get a chance, I will post a newbie lessons learned during first garden. It should be pretty humorous for people who have been gardening a while!

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I wasn't going to say anything, but, well, you did, so yeah, eat it quick!

Is that spinach there in the foreground that's already gone?

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Waist high corn...throw a pinch of ammonia nitrate under each stalk and pull dirt up high!
It will be a foot taller before you can get back to the house, and will be tassling in a week.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Your next obstacle will be raccoons.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Yup, I have eaten quite a bit of it, but a couple plants that I didn't get to have been to seed already. I have a second 1/2 row of spinach that is still pretty small yet, that I planted later that is real good. The older stuff just tastes stronger. Now hopefully I am not going to find out that you don't want to eat it after it has started to go to seed!


None of the lettuce has seeded yet and some of it is pretty tall. I have been picking leaves off the bottom of the plants instead of just taking the whole plant, because I got a mixed lettuce seed pack and there are 4 or 5 different kinds.

The light colored lettuce in the forground is head lettuce gone wild! Quite a few people around here told me that head lettuce doesn't do to well, so I broadcast see in about a foot wide row, and as long as you see, and covered it up, and I think I had 100% germination! Unfortunately, I did not thin it, so instead of head lettuce, I got leaf lettuce on pretty tall stalks. Tastse fine though. On that, I have been taking the whole plants. It still doesn't look like I have eaten hardly any yet! I have had more salads this year than I have had in my life I think!

I had tons of radishes this spring too! I might try to plant some more in August if it isn't too hot and dry.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Thanks for the tip. I might try this if I can get the stuff to stand back up! I am sure I could if I piled the dirt up around the stalk.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I have been thinking about this too. I have the plastic snow fence up around half of it, and field fence on the other side. No rabbits have been in it yet and no deer either luckily. I have a couple dogs that I let back there some every day, but not at night.

Any tricks to keep them out?

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

The fence is just fun for them. A good dog or a remington 870 not so much. The only other method is to grow enough corn so that you and the raccoons can eat.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

If it all comes back, I probably would have enough, but I have the 870 so I may be able to take care of the problem if I end up having one. I have seen them around, so I imagine that I will. I am sure my dogs would take care of one if they could get to it, but they are not out there at night.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Don't be bummed out. Heck, you should see my garden right now (no, I don't have pictures -- I'm an old f*rt and don't own a digital camera). I've pulled the last of the pea plants and dug the last of the spring potato crop. So now there's not much to look at (desolation.) The tomato plants have been hybernating on the patio; they're in the garden now but way behind everyone else in the neighborhood. The second potato crop is in the ground; but the plants have just begun to poke 1/2 inch above the ground. I've started to plant my beans. But I'm about two weeks behind schedule because of an infected finger and lower back pain.

So if you look out on my garden today, there's a lot of straw, little tomato plants, rusting chicken wire, and turned over dirt. Your garden looks like paradise. Count your blessings. It could be worse.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I resemble that remark.....every year plant a few acres of sweet corn with the field corn......

this year the racoons totally devastated the sweet corn 100% loss

BTW poision wont stop the coons either

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Thanks for the help everyone. I noticed last night that some of the stalks had already started to bend upwards, so i decided to go ahead and stand them back up this morning before work. Everything is still standing tonight. It doesn't look as good as it did before it blew down, but it doesn't look like it is dying either. Hopefully I won't get any wind for the next few days to help the roots settle back in.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

they waddled with their bellys a draggin right past poision sardines.......ima thinking next year i gotta thin them out BEFORE the corn comes in.....those fat bast...ar...d...s....:banghead:

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

When I ran a trap line I always had great luck with honey for coons .

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Yeah, the torrential downpour early this season washed my garden out. I've learned my lesson about over tilling. A few weeds holds the soil together. :111:

I may have to go no-till on the corn and okra next time around. My sister lives in a rental house with a huge back yard and I got her interested in gardening this year. She just made small holes and dropped in the seeds/plants. Her garden is going like gang-busters.

*and I have noticed the straight-line winds have been more severe this year. I may have to break down and build a greenhouse.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I'm in your neck of the woods also. Around 7:30 some wind and rain rolled through knocking down all of our pepper plants. Our tomatoes are tied to stakes, they made it through. Damage control in the morning.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

My corn and my okra are grown in weeds. Of course it is weeded until they get well ahead. You do have to weed out the creepers like morning glories or they will win.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Hope all goes well for you. We've had some plants fall over as well.

Glad you're starting gardening now so you'll already have the skill when you really need it. Are you saving your seed?

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Here is an update on my corn. Standing the stalks back up worked to some extent. I had 2 separate plantings. The first one had already started tasseling when it got knocked down, the second had not. The first planting got knocked down a second time a week later in another storm and I think that one was detrimemtal. The ears on that corn never really developed very well, and it turned out to be a good thing because that actually ended up being my sacrificial corn to the racoon gods!:adore:

My second planting did pretty good, but I ended up having to harvest much of it too early because my first sacrifice was insufficient. :Surrender:

I live trapped 8 of them over about a 2 week period and relocated them to a new home, but new ones would move in.

Major lesson learned. Never plant corn along a tree line that has a creek running behind it. That area must be a super highway for racoons! Also, I think the corn in back did not get enough sunlight to really develop good ears. Overall, I probably got about 1/3 of the ears that I should have if all plants would have produced and the coons would have stayed out, and maybe 1/4 of the actual corn because I gave in and harvested some of it before the ears were full. Turned out to be really good corn though!

Next year, I will be planting the corn far away from the treeline, for more light and less racoons. Oddly enough, the racoons never touched anything else in the garden but the corn.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

You know - you can eat racoon. Put those suckers in the crock pot.....serve with tasty vegs from garden.

22LR and a spot light.....sure they are out of season...but it is you place....do what you want.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

The best thing for coons is Golden Malron from Farm&Fleet or some kind of store of that nature.
Google it to see of you can order it online.
Its fly poison that is yellow in color in small pellet form that smells like rotting flesh.
This stuff knocks them dead in minutes.
I used it after taking advice from a local police chief from a near by small town.
This stuff will kill a dog or cat in the same time so keep it away from pets.
I used it two years ago and three coons didnt make it three feet from where they ate it.
I even had two sparrows that either ate the dead fly's that were lying dead next to it or they themselves ate it to but they were dead also.
Just put some at each end of your rows and in the middle to do the job.
Works great if you have coons living in a barn or attic. Just place it far enough away so they croke before getting back into the attic or dwelling.

Oh yea! Stinks to high Heaven!
Nasty stuff, but coons love it!

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

.


yesum, save them critters for vittles:wink::wink::rofl:

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Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

When our first crop of corn was ready I kept telling my wife it was time. She was waiting for the Daughter-in-law as we didn't need much for ourselves. DIL wanted to wait for it to get bigger or something. I told my wife it's as good as it's gonna get. Corn goes to far it gets tough and starts to dry up. They didn't listen, coons got about 3/4s of it. The wind had taken some down, but not a lot, the coons got that too. As soon as I noticed it was ready, I also notice coons had found it. We caught 8-10 and one skunk. Skunks and house cats will also eat sweet corn, but not do the damage coons will.

Second batch of corn was planted too thick and over half of that got wind damaged, but I didn't wait for the women to decide about picking it, so we got most of what was left. Oh, and one more skunk, but we don't eat those.

Raccoons get life trapped and relocated to a place far away, from which no coon has ever returned. You might say, I have a couple or/and two ways of dealing with them. Hint! [22] ;-)

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I found a baby racoon lying in the middle of the street (uninjured) this past spring at 10 AM in the morning. I thought they were nocturnal! Well, anyway, racoon mama wasn't doing her job, so I took the little one to the local animal hospital. A technician there lives near the forest preserve and offered to take the little critter off my hands, make sure it was eating solid food properly, and relocate it into the wild. I have no idea what happened; but I know that we don't need racoons living in suburban neighborhoods. However cute they may be with their bandit masks, they really are pests.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

A non-raccoon tale from a long time ago.........

So there I am in a particular farm in southern oregon,

And I have a pretty good sized truck garden.

Including a large stand of sweet corn,

Which is getting massacred by varmints.

Coons, I figure.

So I load up the old .22, grab the flashlight,

And post myself after dark.

Well, soon enough I hear rustling,

And then more rustling

And fire up the flashlight

With the expectation of coon stew.

What did I see?

The GD barn cats climbing the corn like monkeys,

And eating it too.

Not like they didn't have their fill of milk

From the brown swiss we kept, just that evening.

So I yelled them away, and, soon thereafter

A horned owl took residence and reduced their numbers

Considerably.


scyth

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

this year been good in our garden to dam many totatoes , corn was good an sweet an in the freezer , i was hoping for more potatoes but the good size but not as many as i would of like . just planted a lot of greens an more onions . water melon was good also .

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

Great looking garden! A storm north of us this week had 50mph straight winds. Or you might have caught a very weak twister. I'm glad you asked because I did not know the answers if it happens to me sometime.

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

I really hate to mention this......but racoons even provide you a toothpick when your done eating them.......:biggrin::biggrin::4_1_72::signs14:

Re: HELP!!! CORN CROP DOWN!!!!!
 

did you call the doctor