Corn stalk one foot tall... and flowering...

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by comradea, Jul 16, 2008.

  1. comradea

    comradea Member

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    Vancouver, BC, Canada
    I missed the first 3 weeks of fertilizing... thereafter doing manure tea twice a week... watering twice a day... (mind you my method was wrong before and water ponded)... good soil... sunny spot... Just cultivated yesterday...

    Now the distance between leaves is like 1" or 1.5"... and leaves are lushly green... as of yesterday 2 of the 6 plants sprouted little pieces from the top... just a couple of strands, the male flower hasn't came out yet... below the extra side-leaf-pocket in some spots are formed (they seemed to just appear overnight, right under my nose)...

    It's only so tiny... how can it support the ears when they form ??... or am I going the get the smallest corn cobs in Guinness World Records ?!?

    What should / could I do at this point ?... Thank you much for any tip !!
     
  2. punkin patch

    punkin patch Member

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    I planted some sweet corn this year (first time) and it's funny, as you go from right to left in my garden, the stalks get shorter and shorter. But all are at the same stage of development. All have male flowers and stalks right now. The tallest stalks are about 3' tall the shortest only about 1.5' tall. The only thing I can figure is different is the tallest ones catch the shadow of my house first as it moves along the ground. I (for the heck of it) broke open one of the very short plants today to look at the corn and there was a very baby ear in there. I just ate it and assumed they are just midgets. It'll be interesting to see what we get.

    Sorry, I know that didn't answer anything 4 you, but I thought it was interesting that it happened to both of us.
     
  3. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    I know this is an older thread now, but I'm curious if these grew significantly in the heat of the recent weeks?
     
  4. punkin patch

    punkin patch Member

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    mine didn't grow much taller but they did fruit and we ate the corn. Unfortunately I had mostly half developed ears, but they were ripe and sweet. I still blame most of the fruiting problems on myself for not heeding the spacing recommendations on the packaging. What can I say? I'm a guy who hates directions and this is my first garden, live and learn. I won't make the same mistake next year!

    however we haven't had much hot weather here. Actually in Virginia it has been reasonably cool (upper 80's) and dry. I harvested two weekends ago.
     

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