Corn is one of the things we've struggled to grow for years here on the homestead. This year we actually managed to grow a pretty good crop, but it was almost entirely eaten by wild animals just before harvest. Although that sums it up pretty nicely, I thought I'd talk about it in a little more detail, with lots of pictures.
The old brassica bed didn't get planted last year, so it was fairly overgrown. It didn't get planted because I hadn't finished getting it leveled, but I'd gotten close enough that I could finish it with the rototiller.
The new bed I started for popcorn last year was still in very good shape, and one quick pass with the tiller had it looking like new.
The brassica bed took longer, because I pulled the larger clumps of weeds by hand first. By dragging the rototiller backwards, I was able to move the rest of the dirt I needed from the upper to the lower part of the garden. While it's still not exactly level, it's flat enough now that I don't experience washout during heavy rains. The weedy patches you still see in the pic below are asparagus, on the left, and peppermint, near the far edge in the middle.
I wanted to plant the corn in square patches instead of rows this year. By planting the corn about 8" apart, I could get 25 plants in a 4' by 4' square, so that was how I began to lay it out. Rather than measure and mark everything, I just used this 4' long piece of lumber, probably left over from building the chicken tractor.
I used rocks that I pulled from the soil to mark the edges of my squares. This garden bed isn't very rocky any more, so I didn't have enough to line all the way around the edges of every square. As I ran out of rocks, I began just marking around the corners of the squares.
I used a pointy stick to poke holes where I would plant my corn. I did all the holes in each square before planting and covering the seeds, so that I could be sure they were spaced as evenly as possible.
I planted three squares of sweet corn in the brassica bed, and one square of yellow beans. The beans (the square in the upper left corner) never sprouted, even after replanting.
I raked the popcorn bed into terraces, to help with water retention, and it worked really well this year. I planted Painted Gem corn on the top row, blue popcorn on the bottom, and used the middle row as my walking path.
I planted each tier in two sections of 24 plants, 3 deep by 8 wide, with a little square space in between them for some marijuana plants.
I poked holes with a stick like before, but paid less attention to whether or not everything lined up perfectly.
With everything planted and watered in, I was ready to set up my fences and wait for my bountiful corn crop to begin growing.
I didn't have enough fence at first to go around the entire brassica bed, so at first I just fenced off the corner that faces the woods. Deer are my biggest problem with the corn, but they're generally pretty lazy and just need enough deterrent to guide them around the gardens.
It worked for a while, but the very day I came home with the fence needed to finish the job, the deer ate the tops off almost all of my new corn!
I quickly replanted, and the corn quickly resprouted. I had nearly 100% germination rate on all my corn this year, so I had plenty of plants to keep my garden filled out.
Weeding was (and always is!) a chore, but I kept up with it very well. With the newly installed fences, I was happy to see my corn gardens flourishing, free from the ravaging influence of the local gangs of white-tailed deer.
The popcorn grew especially fast, with the stalks towering over everything so quickly, the only weeding I really needed to do for them was on my walking path!
The sweet corn did not grow tall, but every stalk set at least one ear of corn. Hedge Witch and I were able to enjoy a few ears of sweet corn before those furry brown devils jumped the fence and ate it all. I didn't get good pictures of the destruction, because I was so angry I had to just walk away, but it looked almost targeted. They decimated the corn, but left all the tomatoes, basil, and amaranth.
The popcorn grew amazing all year long, and each stalk set 2-3 ears. I was really looking forward to having enough corn for popping and milling to cover the next couple years, at least.
When I took the photo below, I figured I was about 2 weeks from harvest. If you look closely, you can see the stalks are practically covered in ears of corn.
Just a few days later, I went back to check on the popcorn, and the only things left standing were the small marijuana plants. They ate every ear so completely, I don't even have seeds to plant for next year. Hopefully I won't have a problem ordering in new seed in the spring.
It was more than a little heartbreaking to see all that work get eaten by a bunch of grazing herbivores that were already too fat this year, but I've learned that disappointment is a common feeling for a part time farmer!
To make my fences high enough that the deer won't jump over them, I'll have to get them at least 7' above the ground, which will require purchasing a lot more fence than I want to buy right now. Hopefully this winter I can get more work done on my 'zombie fence'... an 8'-10' tall wooden fence I began building at the edge of the woods to deter the deer around my property. Once I have that fence built all the way around the areas with gardens in them, the only pesky mammals I should have to worry about are the woodchucks and bunnies.
Thanks for stopping by to share my misery! I hope you all have had much better luck keeping your harvests than I've had this year! Until next time, I hope you get just enough rain, more than enough sunshine, and a refreshing amount of sleep!
What an absolute shame. Without compounding your misery though, its amazing how animals know what to eat and when. The deer waiting for the ears to develop before munching them off and they obviously have a preference for popcorn over getting high!
I also notice you mentioned milling. If you do ever get any corn, I'd love to see the milling processes, that would be really intersting.
Best wishes for a better growing season next time around, being out in the fresh air in such beautiful surroundings is reward in itself :-)
Right now our corn milling process isn't very interesting at all... just mortar and pestle to grind enough for the occasional tortilla. I do intend to get a small hand operated mill once we're growing more grains, and I will definitely post about it when that happens!
Damn, that's frustrating! Here we don't have deer but we have gangs of Mousebirds, which are basically flying rats and they decimate vegetable and fruit gardens. Luckily I have very active cats that keep them away. Seems you need to get your dogs on the case or something
Neat looking birds, but terrible what they can do to your crops! Locally we have crows and bluejays, but the crows tend to stick to the multi-acre farmer's fields nearby, and the bluejays don't take too much (though they are the reason I put netting on the strawberries and blueberries!)
I just have one dog here, and he's getting too old to chase away the deer; he barely even comes that far up the hill anymore, preferring to stay in the driveway area where there's more people (with treats). I've considered replacing him, but don't really have time to train another dog right now.
Darn, it's true that dogs need training. Luckily cats just need to be themselves to get the job done
I have a maize challenge ging for 2022:
https://peakd.com/mc2022/@felixxx/1000-hbd-prizes-maize-challenge-2022
I'll check it out, but pretty much everything that happened with my maize this year is in this post.
just add the tag #mc2022 and you're in.
Sounds like an easy edit, will do!
One of the things a maize farmer must bear in mind before embarking on farming is how you are going to protect the maize from the day it starts yielding out leaf till the harvesting period. This is because they are mostly harmed by animals just as you pointed out.
I long ago gave up growing corn. It took too much room and the raccoons got almost all of it.
Thanks for sharing this. My experience with corn was equally dismal but for different reasons. I planted only sweetcorn. Germination rate was poor and eventually one or two forlorn looking ears formed on some of the plants that did decide to venture out of the dirt only to be decimated by a particularly vicious summer sun... This year was my first real attempt at growing food so I'm writing this particular failure off to experience. The rest of the garden produced well so I'm putting the corn's no show down to poor location. The beans and pumpkins planted in the same area were also rather dismal. Let's hope that next year yields better results for you too. Your problem with deer may of course indicate a lead deficiency...
LOL! A light sprinkling of lead would definitely help with my deer problem, but where I live is close enough to the 'downtown' area of our little village that any gunfire usually brings a response of flashing lights and sirens. I have a nice compound bow I inherited from my father, but I still need a bit of practice with the broadheads.
I've used paintball and BB guns to shoo them away for years but I've been experiencing diminishing returns with that practice. My best bet will be to finish the fence.
The fence it is then... I'm in Europe so lead dispensers for "expats" are not easy to acquire. Fortunately the deer seem content to stick to the other side of the river and give my wife and I the pleasure of watching them graze next to the forest as we sit on the deck with a glass of fermented grape beverage... We have had no losses to deer. The cows are another issue entirely and I will need to make a plan with restricting their access next season. They're welcome in winter as they are kind enough to pay their way with manure deposits...