# MELOC....my corn AFTER the fish emulsion 'treatment'



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

remember my corn plants that were yellowing on June 28 following a series of very heavy rain dounpours and I thought were suffering a temporary nitrogen 'washout' (for a better lack of words. lol) or chlorosis, or whatever. 

So, the picture here on June 28 is how the corn plants looked:










After giving them a good boost of fish emulsion fertilizing both foliar and at ground level to feed the roots, and about 10 days later. I also gave them a watering of manure tea a few days ago once it's been drying good. (not raining for almost 2 weeks now)

Here's the same corn plants and how they are doing now:


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

so do you think the fert helped the condition, or was the drying needed? or both?

looks good!


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

those plants have really bounced back


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

MELOC said:


> so do you think the fert helped the condition, or was the drying needed? or both?
> 
> looks good!


I think the nitrogen boost really helped get it back to a 'green' growth spurt. Corn is a heavy feeder anyway. Good that the waterlogging didn't last any longer even though it slopes and drains good, I'm sure the deluges of rain depleted many plants that needed to bouce back. Even our fields looked yellow green for a while, and then I notice a flush of clover coming in much of the ground cover which fix nitrogen themselves to really green up those areas. The thing about fish emulsion is it's quick and direct, so it doesn't hold down the game of our short growing season to begin with. :shrug:


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## Shinsan (Jul 11, 2006)

Moonwolf,

How big is your patch of corn, how thick is the mulch around the plants, and how many ears would you normally expect to get from each stalk?

Shin


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Wow! What a difference healthwise! Think I'll make some manure tea!!! Where did you get your barrel? What kind of manure do you use?


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Shin,
I planted about 250 corn plants. I expect each stalk to produce one or 2 ears. 
I'm mulching about 3 to 4 inches of grass clippings around each bunch of plants. 

COS,
I got that plastic barrel from a hospital. It held cleaning detergent and was washed out and they sold them for $5 each. 
For the manure part, I use composted chicken manure that is put in a bulap bag and hung inside the barrel to 'brew'. It sounds better also to call it 'compost tea' if you like. Lol. 
The fish emulsion is called "Alaska" brand. It's potent and smelly stuff, but I think it can sure pack a nitrogen 'punch' directly to the roots. I'd avoid using it if you have cats, or skunks around, or they might want to dig into the plants watered with the emulsion. Blood meal also should be good, which can be worked below the soil surface.


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## Shinsan (Jul 11, 2006)

Moonwolf,
I mulch my corn to a depth of about 8" with a mixture of dried grass clippings and straw, onto which I add some compost and 'blood & bone' meal, and water well - once a week adding fish emulsion to the water.

If you look at the base of the stalks as they are growing, you will find extra roots coming out above the ground. By mulching high up the stalks, those roots will extend to feed on the mulch/compost, which in turn will increase the yield. Last season my plants were giving me 4, 5 and 6 ears per plant!

I'm using raised beds measuring 5' X 12', and put 24 seedling in each of 4 beds. However, I start with 12 seedlings in one bed, then three weeks later 12 more, then 12 more in the next bed and so on, until the four beds are full. This gives me a continuous supply of fresh corn through the season, rather than a glut at one time. 

I originally put my corn seedlings in quite close together, but later found out that too close is as bad as too far apart, for pollination, so spaced them a little farther apart. Next season I'll be undersowing the corn with cucumbers, which will be kept clean by growing on top of the mulch, and climbing beans, which will utilise the corn stalks as bean poles.


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

My small garden patch is right over the area where my pigs and goats lived so there are years accumulations of manure, hay, straw etc. there. The soil looks WONDERFUL and everything is growing by leaps and bounds. Later on when things are bigger, I'll have my neighbor take a picture with her digital camera and I'll try to post it here. I have to be careful where I plant as I have alot of leach line nearby.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Shinsan said:


> . By mulching high up the stalks, those roots will extend to feed on the mulch/compost, which in turn will increase the yield. Last season my plants were giving me 4, 5 and 6 ears per plant!
> 
> .


That's amazing. I've never heard of corn giving that many ears per plant. 
What variety is it? Interesting idea about the deeper mulch.
I can increase the mulch depth once the beans that are planted with the corn get tall enough. So far also, I've been fertilizing with manure tea weekly, and will sidedress with some good compost. See what happens. Today, the corn is thigh high. :dance: 

COS,
Looking forward to pics of your garden!


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## Shinsan (Jul 11, 2006)

Moonwolf, I got the corn seedlings from a nursery, and I know I kept a couple of labels, so I'll try to find them. When the corn came up, there were three stalks to each plant, which I hadn't seen before, so I put some labels aside for future reference. As to the deep mulching system; I learned that from a gardening program on TV.
It was also recommended for tomatoes, so I tried it and had a great yeild of fruit there too. (Check out the thread 'Tomato Support Advice' for a system that I'm using.)


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Shinsan said:


> Moonwolf, I got the corn seedlings from a nursery, and I know I kept a couple of labels, so I'll try to find them. When the corn came up, there were three stalks to each plant, which I hadn't seen before, so I put some labels aside for future reference. As to the deep mulching system; I learned that from a gardening program on TV.
> It was also recommended for tomatoes, so I tried it and had a great yeild of fruit there too. (Check out the thread 'Tomato Support Advice' for a system that I'm using.)


I've had great tomato yeilds by 'trenching' tomato plant so that their stems have the most contact with soil when transpanted. It gives the stem strength as well as more root growth in the nutrient absorbing upper layers. I leave a few inches of area between the mulch and stem of tomato plants to aid watering. It's worked well for me that way. As for the multi stalked corn plants, that makes sense that one would get more cobs developed. 
The variety of corn I planted this year is 'Golden Beauty'.


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