This sorry spectacle presents the results of what started out as a fairly decent corn patch.
Anyone in climates similar to So Calif coastal have a clue?
TIA
HB
Did you plant in a single row? Or did you plant in a block with closely spaced rows?
Your photo looks like what happens when the tassles did not get enough pollen, which happens when corn is planted in a single row or in multiple rows with too much separation between the rows.
Thanks for suggestion, but corn was not planted in a single row. The separation between the rows was quite small -- less than a foot.
Any thoughts from people in other climes?
HB
Thanks for suggestion, but corn was not planted in a single row. The separation between the rows was quite small -- less than a foot.
Any thoughts from people in other climes? _________________________________________ Sorry HB but I can't suggest anything even though we too have had similar crappy crops in the past. When that's happened I've suspected a) Insufficinet heat and b) perhpas not regular enough watering on my part. Both of those are suspicions I always have when things fail round here garden wise.
Next year you could try to facilitate insemination, as with cucurbits.
Looks like "beercan ear development" to me -- thought to be temperature stress during V8-12 stages, probably a brief cold shock.
Climate not at all similar to So Cal but I did have several of my corn plantings with similar results this year. In my case, it was likely due to stressful growing condition: extreme heat and drought. The tassels browned out quickly and the silks dried out.
Aha! Maybe extreme heat. We have had, and are still having, episodes of wildly anomalous (sp) heat in the early "Fall", which may have shocked the poor things.
Next year, if I am spared -- if we are all spared -- I will plant much earlier. If, that is, I decide to continue veggie gardening. Am considering abandoning veggies and just taking care of the decoratives. We consume so little that even buying good organic produce is probably more cost-effective than spending all that time preparing, planting, watering, veggies in hopes of a harvest. Tomatoes are particularly unhappy here -- I'm not the only home gardener in this area to report bad vibes.
OK, thanks everybody. It's time to have a word with the watermelon vines that are still under the impression that this is mid-summer...(:
HB
Have you considered perennial vegetables? They can be integrated with your ornamentals.
I have a clump of artichokes growing as an accent in my back lawn. We get a few edible artichoke buds in the spring. In your coastal area, they should actually do much better than in my inland area.
I also have asparagus in the back of one of my beds. It can grow quite tall and bushy in the summer. In the spring, you can get enough spears for several meals.
Here, the problem with asparagus is heavy soil. The asparagus did quite well for about 30 years. Then we had an exceptionally wet winter, and the plants rotted. They had dropped some seeds, which sprouted. Just as the seedlings matured to the point of providing us for a few meals, we had another very wet winter that rotted these self-sown replacements. Now I have seedlings from them. Maybe I'll get a good crop in about two years.
Higgs Boson wrote: ...
for me, gardening is a lot about exercise with purpose.
what do you do for getting organic material into the soil or do you grow cover crops in the off season?
find plants better suited to your climate that you would rather grow. fruit trees, dates, figs, almonds, avocado, grape vines, pistachios, citrus, ...
will they keep fruiting all winter there?
songbird
David E. Ross wrote: ...
is it impossible to trench it for better drainage? might avoid further rot troubles and interruptions in production.
still, if you managed to do well for 30 years it may be the case that you had worked some organic material down in deep enough that it improved the drainage enough, but then it finally rotted and went back to too heavy and too poorly drained.
i'd open it up again deeply and put down a drain (either a french drain with a tube or a french drain with a gravel pit seep) then add plenty of organic material again.
30 years of reasonable reliable production is excellent for any planting (including many trees). a drain/tube/trench may be overkill, but if i'm digging deeply enough to plant a root crop around here then i'm doing a lot of work. it won't be hurt by adding a drain.the problem here is simlar (too heavy soil) and lack of space that isn't already spoken for. i'd love an asparagus patch. to put one in would mean clearing the northern hedge and that's way more work than i'm up for right now. perhaps in a few years...
songbird
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