How do you grow corn?

[Antau LJn]

I have tried to grow corn, but it never works for me. Even when I try to plant in blocks, not all of the corn comes up, or there are very few ears, or the ears are small with hardly any corn on them. It appears that corn growing takes special care that I am not aware of.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I lived in a high desert when I tried growing corn. I know corn can grow in a high desert, because the Hopis have grown corn for years. Quite possibly, the Navajo also.

 

[zigs]

Hmm,

Sorry to hear that, I grow it in the UK, but it needs a good summer to do well over here. Would have thought it would do well in the dessert. Its a C4 plant, which means it can use the sunlight all day. Most of our veg plants are C3, which means they stop photosythesis in the middle of the day.

Might have been a soil problem, they are hungry plants, or pehaps they didn't get enough water.

You're doing the right thing planting them in blocks, they are wind polinated, it helps to give them a shake at the right time if there is no wind.

Over here most of us start them off in toilet roll tubes indoors or in the greenhouse. They don't like root disturbance so the whole tube is planted out.

Mulching between the plants helps reduce moisture loss and water well in dry weather.

After all that effort I put a wire fence round them, its heartbreaking to find Mr Badger has knocked them all over & eaten the lot over night.

 

[Antau LJn]

Thanks for your reply, Zigs. It most definitely is heartbreaking to have animals destroy what one has worked hard to grow.

From your answer, I'm thinking that I did not feed the corn enough nutrients. The watering may have been factor, since the ground dries out quickly in the summer, whether the altitude of the desert is high or low.

 

[zigs]

My pleasure, i'm quite used to what Mr Badger gets upto They uproot the onions to play football with them as well, they don't eat them, just have a good kick around.

You'll need to add as much organic matter to the soil as you can to retain moisture, even if its old cardboard. Can't imagine trying to grow in a desert

 

[Antau LJn]

I'm finding it much more difficult to grow in a low desert than it was in a higher desert. In the high desert, the temperature rarely got over a hundred degrees, farenheit. Where I'm living now, May til Sept are over a hundred. Plants have a difficult time - at least, many of the ones I like to grow.

 

[zigs]

That is a problem, just translated that for us Brits to be over 37 Celcius

Whats your water supply like?

I'd seriously be thinking about building cages to put shading netting over to protect from the midday sun.

 

[zigs]

It was similar temperatures in Israel when I was out there, have you had a look at what crops they grow in the Kibbutz's there?

http://www.hazorea.org.il/ViewArticle.aspx?articleID=113

 

[Antau LJn]

Sadly, there are water restrictions in the area I currently live in, because of a drought that has been around for a few years. And if we consider it a drought, I suppose it really is one. If I had my own well, I could use as much water as I want - at least at the moment.

I do think that if it can grow in Israel, it can grow in my area. There are pomegranates here, and I think they might grow there, as well.

I looked at your link. There's a lot of information there. Thanks.

There are many cotton farmers in my area. It's the main source of income for many people. Melons may take too much water, come summer.

 

[zigs]

Might be worth opening a dialogue with a Kibbutz, i'm sure a lot of them speak English.

 

[headfullofbees]

In the Mediterranean, they use polytunnels to shade fruit and veg from the strong sunlight and to mitigate evaporation.

You could probably grow corn in this manner if you aligned your tunnel to the prevailing winds.

 

[ViperDove]

Maybe the variety of corn you used was the problem. Or it may be the soil fertility and alkalinity.

 

[dconklin]

I have never planted corn myself, but living in NJ we have a lot of corn fields around (something NJ is well known for.) I don't remember ever seeing the farmers water the corn, tho in the desert it might be a bit too dry for it - we are not often in a drought but sometimes close and we do get some dry summers. I only remember once that they limited our water usage in areas and it was a while back.

The soil does make a big difference. I know people from NJ that moved to other states and said they miss Jersey corn as they just haven't gotten it to grow well where they are now.

You may need to see the nutrients your soil might need to get healthy corn plants.

 

[Antau LJn]

Thanks for all the replies. With your helpful replies, I hope to be able to be successful the next time I plant corn.