New corn from Burpee?

[hoodat]

I see your point about making it better able to resist lodging by having two sets of roots but if you plant that deep a lot of it will never make it to the surface. If you want it that deep it's best to dig a shallow trench and plant it at the bottom and then hoe the dirt back in to fill the trench back up when the stalk is thick enough to take it. The old method of hilling up doesn't work as well in drought years. If the hilled up soil dries ot the second roots won't form.

 

[seedcorn]

The first 3 nodes on a plant are 1.5" long and have to be under soil to set roots that feed/water the plant. If planted shallower, they become brace roots that do very little to feed the plant. When the soil or air become hot, they will not set brace roots as the hot soil will actually make them recoil.

 

[nittygrittydirtdigger]

I just got my Seed Savers Exchange catalog yesterday. They list an unusual miniature corn (3') that they say "bear 3-6 ears with sweet steel-blue kernels that turn jade-blue when boiled. One of the only sweet corns that can be grown in containers." They sell a packet of 25 seeds for $2.75. If anyone is interested they order # is 1194A.

 

[vfem]

Ok, I went through the Burpee catalog today and saw this. I don't think this would satisfy our needs.

We're going to go with the silver queen this year and we have to buy between 200-300 seeds to rotate in enough to have us fresh corn through summer and into the fall. We soak the kernels for 48 hours before we plant and we do a rotation of 2 rows 3 deep every 1-2 weeks. Last year we only ended up planting 90 instead of the 200 we bought (I got sick... I know... again!).

I think we need more nitrogen rich fertilizer this year, or we need to feed MORE often then we did last year. Our stalks for the kind we tried we supposed to be 8 ft stalks, but they were only 5ft. So something serious was lacking!

 

[seedcorn]

Many things will shorten corn plants up. Thin planting, plenty of sunshine, early planting, and what you said, serious nutrient deprivation. Height is made early so lack of moisture until tassels come out will also do that and not hurt harvest much at all (you will lose a few kernel rows is it). But if first ear is smaller, the greater the chance it will develop a decent second ear.

Were the stalks thin in diameter or normal, just short?