You all may remember me posting in June - about finishing up the spring corn planting. Even at the time, it was clear the the high yeild corn of last year was not likely going to happen this year. Our area was no different than most other - cold & wet. I thought I' d share a " failed" plot story with anyone who wanted to read. We have higher hopes for the 1+ acre re-planted plot (see sunflower post).
Well - the pictures tell the story of manual cultivation of a corn plot - when the corn is slow to grow. I cultivated with a 3 row 3point hitch implement - three different times until July 8th. These pictures are taken on 8/1:
This picture shows a couple rows of sweet corn, with field corn in the backround. The obvious problem is the ridiculous ragweed growth - all the ragweed growth occured within the rows with the corn (in between was cultivated). The sweet corn is the corn tasseled out - the ears are VERY small, and we do not expext to get much from them.
Sorry to say that the picture below shows one of the best sections of the 3 acre plot. - We' ll get some corn - but its spotty, and the yeild will suffer greatly. Quite simply - ragweed and some other weeds grow faster and use nutrients more efficiently than corn when the weather is cold. From planting on May 20-June 20 - Our corn never got higher than 6" while weeds flourished. - When I applied the UREA In early July - those weeds really took off!!!! The corn rebounded - but whole sections of the feild will fail.
http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...nter_field.jpg
This picture gives you an idea of the corn height and weed infestation - my Son is 8 yrs old.
URL: http://images.andale.com/f2/115...orn_8_1_03.jpg
Already we are considering ROUNDUP READY corn for next year. While the cost seemed SO HIGH only 2 years ago, it would have been a SAVINGS of several hundred dollars this year when you consider failed/poor plots, and replanting.
Any questions or comments - I' d be happy to respond.