sweet corn questions

[Surly]

wondering...will it produce more than once or is the plant finished when I pick the ripe ears? Do I then cut the plant down? and will there be time for another planting to grow and produce?

[butterfly]

wondering...will it produce more than once or is the plant finished when I pick the ripe ears? Do I then cut the plant down? and will there be time for another planting to grow and produce?

Your corn won't be ready til Sept so no you will not have time to plant and produce more

Usually the stock produces one or 2 corn and then the plant is finished

But this is the time of year raccoons come to life even more in my area

They know when it is ripe and often get it before I do so I don't plant it any more

[Surly]

my neighbour said the squirrels got all hers before they sprouted. Mine are a good 6' high now and the ears are getting pretty big. I think I planted pretty early so I may get ripe ears before Sept. Some of my plants are smaller than others (a few didn't sprout so I replanted at a later date) so maybe they'll produce too and I'll have a good run.

fingers x'd!

[Meggylou]

I planted corn once, the birds destroyed it. But I had so many beautiful birds in my yard with the garden full of corn and sunflowers, plus all the feeders that I enjoyed seeing them too much to complain horribly lol.

[JanR]

My corn is doing just awful this year. We had such a cold wet spring so it didn't get planted until late and then it didn't sprout. I replanted and most of it came up, but is growing so slow. It is only about 8 inches tall, so I don't have much hope for corn this year, unless we have a really nice fall.

[Surly]

I had to pull out a bunch of sunflowers because I'd planted stuff too close together. They were really big too, about 5' tall. Oh well, I have more on the other side of the garden that I'm leaving alone.

[bluewillow]

Both squirrels and racoons enjoy corn. Your corn has really taken off and its only July. Did you plant 'peaches 'n cream'? Good luck with the wildlife.

bw

[Mervyn]

Skunks also love corn . . . I've tried planting corn twice over the last few years, both times, when the ears were only a few days away from being ripe, an animal got to them, in my case it was skunks.

I wouldn't plant corn again in that area as corn are very heavy feeders and can drain the soil of nutrients, you may want to consider some sort of quick growing bean/peas to help replenish the soil a bit, or maybe just a cover crop so you have some "green" manure

[Surly]

thanks for the tip Merv.

bluewillow...it's called Early Canadian super sweet hybrid...guess that's why it's maturing so soon.

I havent had any raccoons or skunks in the backyard since I planted the garden. I thought for sure I'd be over run with them. There was a skunk last year who was after a dead squirrel the BF buried out there (even tho I told him not to) but other than that all I have are the neighbours cats.

Just got some help at posting photo links so I can show you my skunk

[Mervyn]

Another thing, if you decide to harvest the corn, and leave the plants to grow ( I did this one season just to see what happens ) be aware ants love to get at the sap of a corn plant ( I had pruned it a bit) so if you have a problem with ants, you might want to take the corn plant out completly. In my case they were far enough away from my house I didn't mind them.

I always felt skunks are very handsome animals . . . to bad about their corn eating habits, and of course the smell