Picked some of our corn today. The further left you go is where we ran out of compost.
The sound you just heard is 45,000 men simultaneously and furiously searching for the long term effects of compost exposure.
Damn that’s something. I never even got to that point with my corn. Something would chew the stalks and topple them all and not even eat the damn thing and just leave the fallen plants there.
It’s a pretty good example of a few things.
Starting from left.
Ear 1 & 2 lack of fertility early on.
Ear 3 severe pollination issues - no fertility problems.
Ear 4 and 5 - ran out of fertility around tasseling.
Ear 6 moderate pollination issues - looks like the plant germinated late.
Ear 7 is immature
Ear 8 - tip back - either genetic or linked to planting density/light levels.
Ear 9 - on the edge with full light and adequate nutrition.
This reminds me of those cookie diagrams showing too much salt and too little flour
I stopped trying to grow corn in my small backyard as it wasn’t worth the effort for the amount of space it would take up to get good pollination. Once it gets to the middle of summer here in the southern hemisphere, corn becomes really cheap to buy anyway.
Plant it in a small high density block. Say 1m x 2m. You can put a plant every 15-20cm equidistantly in full sunlight.
You’ll need to fertilize them heavily, but it works really well.
Third one looks inbred
