RE: [gardeners] Corn is falling over

Seyfried,Alice (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 29 Jun 1998 14:46:38 -0400

Thanks, Kay!  No, they haven't started tassling yet. They're about knee
high right now.  I'll keep an eye on them and pray they straighten up on
their own.  If they don't straighten up by the time they start tassling,
I'm sure I'll be back to find out how to hand pollinate them.  My 4 year
old is so excited to be growing corn (his favorite veggie and his first
garden), I'll do anything to make sure these survive.

Alice
seyfried@oclc.org

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Kay Lancaster [SMTP:kay@fern.com]
> Sent:	Monday, June 29, 1998 2:36 PM
> To:	'Gardeners'
> Subject:	Re: [gardeners] Corn is falling over
> 
> On Mon, 29 Jun 1998, Seyfried,Alice wrote:
> 
> > I planted a small plot of corn (5 rows, 12 plants each) this year
> for
> > the first time and the recent storms we've been having are taking
> their
> > toll on them. On Saturday, they were leaning at about a 45 degree
> angle.
> > I'm afraid to go out there tonite to see what the storms we had last
> > night did to them.  Should I prop them up and mound some dirt around
> the
> > base to give them a little more stability? Are they hopeless?  
> 
> They'll actually straighten up on their own.  Are they big enough that
> they've started to tassel?  If they are, and the ears are actually
> down
> in the soil, I'd slip some cardboard or newspaper under the plants
> and hand pollinate.  If they've not gotten as far as tasseling,
> they'll
> probably straighten enough that you won't need the cardboard or
> newspaper
> underneath to keep the ears off the ground.
> 
> Kay Lancaster    kay@fern.com
> just west of Portland, OR; USDA zone 8 (polarfleece)
> 
>