I could have titled this sweat corn season as hot as it was out today.
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I tried out a new variety this year that came from Stokes Seeds. Of course by now I've forgotten what the name was but this is the most vigorous sweet corn I've ever grown. I bought a 6 row JD 7000 planter just for sweet corn, my good buddy offered to store it in his shed in return for using it to put his in.
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It is easily 8' tall and the ears are huge. We are still a week away from harvest yet, if it doesn't taste good I'm bringing the combine in. :D
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I just got in from putting up an electric fence to keep the coons out. I just put up a low strand to keep them out and will go with a high strand if the deer get too bad. Most times the deer just go through it no matter how many strands you put up.
Great looking sweet corn. Hope you like pulling corn. I share mine with the deer and coons whether I like it or not. This year the cows got into it so the deer are mad at them. Me too. They ate it to the ground.
If the corn tastes good I would like to know the variety.
thanks,
Fish
Norm, if that sweetcorn tastes as good as it looks, it'll be delicious :) What do you plan to do with all of that corn and how will you harvest it if used as sweet corn?
You're not the only one that has trouble remembering what varities you planted. I planted a different variety of tomato at each end of you garden. They are both newto me and one is doing great and has big uniform, defect free fruits. They are extremely meaty although I'm having respatory problems and can't tell for sure about the flavor. The tomatoes at the other end are really pitiful :( One variety was 'mortgage lifter' but I don't remember which it was and I don't remember the name of the other.
Thankfully Stokes had my order from this spring archived so I could see what variety I planted. It is called Brocade, a SE enhanced bi-color that in a field test from northern MO had the heaviest ears. It is also ear worm resistant because of the tight wrapped leaves, we have problems with them most year. Because we had field corn next to it this year I did not use a SH2 variety like I have in the past.
Noble I have a corn picker called Patty that is used for harvest. She's a bit temperamental but she's got other good qualities that make up for it. :D We have a neighbor that sells to a bunch of farmers markets and they have a real slick automated picker for sweet corn. I looked into one and realized unless we wanted to do the same it's just too much money.
I think there's about a half acre there so whatever we don't use or sell will be left on the stalk and feed out to the fat horse and donkey this fall. This area is where we keep them confined to over the winter, one thing they're good for is fertilizer.
You could always bring some over to the pig roast! ;D
Our sweet corn patch at work got taken over by the racoons. Fortunately, we have a friend that decided to put in a couple of acres of sweet corn this year. We know where it was planted. Its a bit thinner than it was two days ago.
We've been pigging out for over a week now. Yesterday I went up in central Missouri and there was a pickup at every crossroad on 71 highway selling sweet corn. We found one vendor that sells Peaches and Cream which we think is the best.
How do you folks cook yours?
I soak the ears in ice water for two or three hours than throw them on an old gas grill for 1/2 hour or so on low heat.
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I should have taken a pic for Kansas of the peach crop coming in...we have to get a bushel tomorrow, to deliver Monday to some of our poor Yankee kin folk up in the frozen north. ;D
Wow, that is a nice corn patch!
My favorite way to eat it is creamed. My wife makes the best that I have ever tasted.
I envy all but the picking. Make sure that Patty has plenty of water and that she does not get too hot :).
Danny would your wife be so kind as to share with me her recipe?
My favorite way to cook it is pretty much how Larry showed, lot's of real butter and salt too.
Wow, grows fast out that way. Won't be no local corn here for a month. Nothing in flower yet, not even the cow corn.
Looks awesome Norm. 8)
We never used to have coon trouble here in garden corn until every farmer got talked into feeding cows corn and began planting 100's of acres of it. It even had a side effect of increasing the corn borer population so bad they began eating potato vines. ::)
I did observe something today, literally too many sparrow like birds to count in the hay fields out back and they appeared to be hunting down those yellow cabbage moths. They can eat all they can wrap their beaks on. There was sparrows everywhere chasing them moths. ;D And cow birds by the hundreds going.
I 2nd the Peaches and Cream. Mmm Mmm good!!
Saw corn today for sale.Figured he was getting ready,he put the stand up.He covers acres of corn with row cover.Really pushes it to get it early.At least this year water is not standing between the rows like last year.
I am going to buy 20 dozen ears of corn this year as soon as it is ready which will be in about 2 weeks here. Nineteen dozen will be frozen.
Quote from: Norm on July 17, 2010, 06:31:29 PM
Danny would your wife be so kind as to share with me her recipe?
Norm,
Maybe it is so good to me because the recipe is so simple. Slice through the kernels halfway through the kernel with a sharp knife. That leaves half the kernel still attached to the cob. Then, take the knife and scrape the cob to get out all the remaining corn endosperm and juice. Add a little water, add salt and pepper. Add some butter to the skillet and cook the corn
slowly until done. She does not add any additional sugar or sweetner, and to me, the natural sugars in the corn give it the perfect amount of sweetness.
Thats it. Nothing fancy, just great food.
That sounds pretty dang good. I love creamed corn. I also like it roasted.
I'm looking forward to some soon!
Thank you Danny and please tell your lovely wife it is much appreciated!
Looks great Norm... how many lbs of seed do you think you planted? I'm trying to get an Idea of how much sod to break this fall.
Went to a friends Monday at 4:00pm HOT! and with an old man's help picked 10 bushels of Ambrosia (looks like peaches and cream) and it tastes DanG good as well.
Went back on Tuesday and we picked 8 bu. again. Divided it b/t the two of us and kept the boss busy the last couple of evenings. Ya know I don't recall shucking a single ear so far this year. ;D
Oh that was b/c on Monday my fuel pump went out on my 2002 gmc 2500 hd so I got to spend quality time in the shop. But it is running great right now.
woodsteach
We've tried different methods of preserving ear corn with mixed success. New method this year...wrap each ear with plastic wrap and freeze. When time to eat just pop it in the microwave. I'm hoping. :D
Quote from: Larry on July 21, 2010, 09:17:48 PM
We've tried different methods of preserving ear corn with mixed success. New method this year...wrap each ear with plastic wrap and freeze. When time to eat just pop it in the microwave. I'm hoping. :D
Mmmm. I don't think you can pop sweet corn. :o :o
;D ;D
Quote from: Larry on July 21, 2010, 09:17:48 PM
We've tried different methods of preserving ear corn with mixed success. New method this year...wrap each ear with plastic wrap and freeze. When time to eat just pop it in the microwave. I'm hoping. :D
I read somewhere that you were not supposed to microwave saran wrap do to some cancer concerns.
Lately we've been doing corn on the gas grill. Shuck the corn, wipe with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and grill for just a few minutes. Quick 'n easy.
I did ten plantings this year at about 1/12th of an acre each My newest planting is about one foot tall and we are into the third planting . The first one was so uneven in germination but quick to catch up , I was always checking the wrong ears . We abanded that one and went onto the second . we picked about haslf of it before it got a bit mature. It looks like the fourth and fifth will be ready about the same time. We put in Bodacious . I get it from Pioneer as they sell it in the big sweet corn bag size. I spray the young plants with seven about every week to keep the ear worms and corn borer out . Sure is nice to not have to debug every ear.
I sure would like to know how to keep critters out of a small stand of sweet corn. Every time I tried to grow it in CT, the raccoons would trash it the night before it was ready. I finally gave up!
I found its best to plant enough for us and the critters. Then wage war on the critters. Its not too difficult to trap a coon in sweet corn with a live trap and sardines. The coon can be relocated or later dispatched at your convenience. Having dogs around helps too. Electric fence helps keep deer at bay. Sweet corn is a deer /coon magnet. And i'm pretty sure the coyotes love it too. Insects give us fits down south. I think I would give up with bears and moose ::). Seems if you have critters you best figure on sharing sweet corn.
Quote from: fishpharmer on July 25, 2010, 06:08:01 AM
I think I would give up with bears and moose.
Better look out with bear claws and moose hooves going at that corn. :D :D :D ;D
We put up an electric fence to keep the coons out. We use a very strong fencer, and keep the grass/weeds mowed under the fence to keep it from shorting out. The fence is about 6" off the ground. This works pretty well for the varmits. As far as deer.........a second wire about 3-4' high slows them down some, but usually they just crash through both wires and bring the whole fence down. Deer are like rats with antlers around here and we have found that our hands are tied when dealing with them since we cannot shoot them. Our hope this year is that we get it picked before the deer find the patch, otherwise we are out of luck.
We have several acres of alfalfa and field corn and soybeans in the area, so we are counting on those crops to keep them well fed and out of the sweet corn patch.
Quote from: Patty on July 25, 2010, 10:24:12 AM
We put up an electric fence to keep the coons out. We use a very strong fencer, and keep the grass/weeds mowed under the fence to keep it from shorting out. The fence is about 6" off the ground. This works pretty well for the varmits. As far as deer.........a second wire about 3-4' high slows them down some, but usually they just crash through both wires and bring the whole fence down. Deer are like rats with antlers around here and we have found that our hands are tied when dealing with them since we cannot shoot them. Our hope this year is that we get it picked before the deer find the patch, otherwise we are out of luck.
We have several acres of alfalfa and field corn and soybeans in the area, so we are counting on those crops to keep them well fed and out of the sweet corn patch.
Why can't you shoot them?
We can shoot them during season but by then the damage is done. You can get depredation tags but the DNR makes it very difficult and again they are only good during the season.
During the gun season the deer herd up and will stand out in the middle of the fields where they can see you coming. We also have some neighbors with 1000's of acres of timber that do not allow hunting so they hide out there until the season is over. Since the DNR don't care about the damage they do and make a bucket of money off the season permits they could care less.
Ah our govermint looking out for us again huh?
Yea, the state owns those deer right up until you hit one with your car.
Deer damage to cars keeps many of the autobody shops in business throughout the year.
I put my first wire about 4" off the ground and a second wire about 6" above that. This year I made my bottom wire a ground and then I did not have to be so persnickety about the grass. I use a fencer that will charge 20 miles of fence on about 1/3 mile . It will jump a spark about an inchand a half.
The 50 should reach out that far , why you should be able to hunt from the comfort of your back room . ;D
Norm did you find a lot of doubles and triples with the 7000 planter? I have one row equiped with a Precision Planting unit and still have a problem. I was thinking that one of my winter projects would be to re arc the fingers so that the contact spot was a bit smaller. I plant aprox. 24000 per acre
The state of Kansas has viewed deer hunting as a cash cow. As such,they kept the price of licenses high for the revenue. The deer population got clear out of hand.The number of car/deer accidents was terrible. Finally, about 6 or so years ago, a county attorney in northcentral Kansas declared he would no longer prosecute poachers. It caused waves all through the political system. But in the end, they lowered prices of tags, issued a lot more of them, and we still have an overpopulation. They do the same thing with turkeys. They need an open season on turkeys for a few years. Maybe then the quail, pheasant and prarie chicken numbers would come back. But they issue special permits for turkeys. Again, that money thing.
Don Papen, what kind of precision units do they make for 7000's? Thats what I plant all my corn with and never heard of that. Also how do you re-arc the fingers? Sweet corn is so small and dried up seems like I never get the stands I want, always figured it had more to do with the seed.
Thanks, Pat
This is my first year using it Don but I was really happy with the seed spacing. Of course I planted slow because of the small acreage we put in so I'm sure that has some to do with it. This planter was built in 79, I paid 5K for it and the darn thing looked almost brand new. A pioneer seed dealer had used it to put in his test plots and kept it in his shed so not much use on it. My neighbor bought one new back in the day, he got out his receipt and paid just a hair under what I did.
Sandhills what part of NE are you in. My BIL farms just north of Duncan, NE. I love to visit his place to see how irrigated corn does, very interesting.
Well I think we'll grab some early ears today to see how this corn tastes. It's still a few days off of being ready but I'm hungry! :D
To keep the critters out of the corn, keep an active compost pile. Feed the bears and coyotes there and the little critters will stay out of the corn!! Just don't miss a day of putting something on the pile or Yogi will be in the corn *( no picknick basket makes for hungry P'oed Bear )* !!
sweet corn fields need to be more than 200 yards from a woodland edge in ian area where there is regular human activity or you will never stop the wild life!! lights and noise on motion detector also helps, but critters aren't stupid !
We keep a dead crow at the north side of the corn field. shot , slice down the breast and throw into the woods, works great keeping the crows out ! Can get awful noisy when a new crow flys into the neighborhood.... All his cousins start sqwaking --- don't go over there, you be history !!
Norm, I'm only about thirty miles NW of Duncan. My dad and I farm nw of Albion and run cow/calf pairs.
I'm sure someone must have a recipe involving corn and venison :D :D :D.
Quote from: Larry on July 17, 2010, 05:19:10 PM
How do you folks cook yours?
Call me crazy, but I like to cook mine in the microwave. I hate anything cooked in the microwave other then popcorn and sweetcorn. The sweetcorn retains every bit of its flavor, plus its ready in a few minutes with out heating up the house.
Cut off both ends of two ears but leave in husk.
Place in microwave for 3-4 minutes
Turn Ears. Microwave for an additional 3-4 minutes
Let cool for 3 minutes then remove. Remove ears from husk and remove any corn silk. Butter, salt and EAT!
I do it this way because its so quick and easy. If I'm up at the cabin by myself it gives me an instant hot meal with no clean up other then tossing the husks in the woods. :)
Sandhill. The unit I bought was from a company in Illinois that makes them It is called Precision Planting . I got my unit at Shoups in Kankakee Illinois . Some Deere dealers sell the units. They have a slight V shape to the belt paddles and a soft spot for the seed to hit as it passes the opening . I only bought one to try it .
I do not know yet how to recurve the fingers but I was thinking that a punch and die made just for that would be the way to go . It will be trial and error and error and error till I get it right or just screw up the whole works . I do think that my speculation is right though , If the finger has more of a curve it will not pick up as many seeds at a time and then be able to release the extras as it makes its way over the top.
Norm you got a good deal there . I paid a thousand for a 12 row that was never shedded and beat to heck and back . I took the" best" row units and made a 6 row 3PNT. planter .This year I took two of the best of the worst and made a 2row 3PNT. vac planter for green beans . I rebuilt the bushings and put on new disks and rotary scrapers and modified the 7000 row units for some 7200 vac seed units left over from the extras I bought on an auction years ago .
Don P. thanks for the info, Norm---so does it taste as good as it looks?
It's pretty darn good Sandhills. It was still just a bit immature but by this weekend we'll be picking at it's prime. 8)
Just think, you could bring a big box to the Pig Roast ;D.
First corn is ready here at the market, 2 weeks early. Everything in the woods even is ripening too soon. Snow will be early.
Kevin, there better not be snow at the Soo or I'm heading back to NB. :D :D
We stopped at a few farm stands today, looking for sweet corn.
Every one of the stands we stopped at had corn, but the ears were very small, about 1½ inches in diameter and only about 5-6 inches long, and $4.00 per dozen.
So, we passed on the deal(s). We'll wait a couple of weeks and then some good corn should be ready.
I like mine creamed, boiled, roasted on the grill or pan fried in a cast iron skillet. 8) 8) 8)
I smoked a chicken today and we had it with creamed corn, okra, zipper peas, squash, and stewed tomatoes. Also, we had a salad of tomatoes, vidalia onions, and cucumbers.
hi just did some cream style corn you husk 3 dozen ears cut off the kernals put in roasting pan preheat oven to 225 add 1lb butter 1pint heavy cream put in oven stir every 15 min for 1 hr let cool put in freezer bag and freeze enjooy
Boy does that sound good, gray!
We have had a sweet corn extravaganza this week....just a pickin' and a grinnin'! Today we picked a pick-up load and started handing it out to everybody we know. What fun! It is like Christmas in July, walking up to the door and handing them fresh picked yummy corn!
I love putting smiles on so many faces!
I'm Jonesing for some good sweet corn! That crap they have in Florida should be outlawed and I haven't seen anything that looks good here in Tenn yet either. I'm hopeing I'll find some between here and the Pig roast.
The sweet corn in the supper on Friday last year at the Pig Roast was excellent. Me, OKmulch, and Cedarman did a good job appreciating it ;D.
I hope ya had some this time to. I did. ;D Phish's catfish supper was mighty fine vitals to, I noticed you enjoying them also. :)
Patty and Norm, I was looking for ya's, but alas.
You all ate the catfish's vitals too ??? ??? ::) ::)
I don't know about that....... :o :o
Shrug.
We was hungry :).
Yeah, I was ready to eat. :D :D
Marcel found out that catfish was not whitefish :D.
Did he actually think it was? I need to speak with that guy. ;)
We have'm here, I only found them on one river system though. I hooked one about 6" or 8" inches long when I was about 14 years old. Was fishing for salmon.
Donk we would have loved to meet you in person but August is just about the busiest month of the year for us. I'd give you a list of things going on but why depress you and me! :D
Now I for one am bummed that no pictures of the catfish fry have shown up. I don't think there's many things I enjoy more than a deep fat fry of fish, chips and hush puppies.
We are down to the last two rows of corn :( We did well this year , only one plot completly abandoned and one almost complete the rest were all harvested in good time . No more farm markets this year . the corn made us enough to pay half the realestate taxes. plus a lot of good eating. We sold corn for $3.00 doz., a14ear dozen. Made a lot of people happy. I am thinking that next year I will only plant four rows to a plot . The best ears were on the outside two rows in every plot this year . the best of the best were on the south two rows.
Wow! $3 is cheap, they want at least $6 here and sometimes 5 for $4 off season.
Way to go Don, that's a good harvest.
We gave most of ours away but was asking $4 a dozen. Most roadside stands have gone up to $6 and most I bought this year had earworms bad. All of the reports I got back was very good on this variety which was brocade. Next year I'll plant in 2 different batches 2 weeks apart.
First sign of corn bore, ear worms ,and army worms...... ( organic ) corn is such a pain in the butt !! I think all my corn will be sprayed next year !! although everything before today was awsome !!
Quote from: Norm on August 13, 2010, 07:39:34 AM
Donk we would have loved to meet you in person but August is just about the busiest month of the year for us. I'd give you a list of things going on but why depress you and me! :D
Now I for one am bummed that no pictures of the catfish fry have shown up. I don't think there's many things I enjoy more than a deep fat fry of fish, chips and hush puppies.
Oh, there was some pictures. ;D
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We use liquid seven once a week or after every rain . I got a little lax towards the end and had a few with worms . DelMonte sprays every other day on their corn fields , they use harsher chemicals . I seems that the worms get tougher as the season winds down.
Everybody that sells around here has been asking $4 or more . We did a bit of figering and came up with the $3 price and it made us money . we sold all that we thought was up to our standards. At some markets the $3 price was the deal maker . People would come back after checking others corn. on occasion I have had to shuck the corn to get the sale .
I have heard some ads on radio out of Chicago Six ears ONLY $4.00 :(
We sell At .75 cents an ear $ 7.50 a dozen !!! about time folks respect the value of food and the time and effort we farmers put in to produce the best available local food !!
Bull do you live near a large metro area? I am in the middle of farm country with many people growing their own. I have had other farmer tell me that they are going to give up on trying to grow their own corn and buy from me . I have been converting so many people to the real sweet corn from the bicolor stuff many mistakenly call peaches and cream.
It makes a difference for us too living in a rural area. Most folks have a half acre patch out back they put in when planting field corn. I used to grow bodacious for sale but folks think if it's not "peaches and cream" it's not a good sweet corn.
Patty reminded me yesterday we were so busy with it we didn't get a chance to put up any ourselves....thank goodness! :D
Bodacious is a very good sweet corn. We planted that for several years. The last few years we have planted "Gotta have it" sweet corn from Gurneys. Thats an awesome sweet corn.
I probably shouldn't post this but can't help myself. Sweet corn is like sex. Its all great, some varieties are just a few degrees better.
:D :D
how many days does it takes to make sweet corn. i just planted my lower patch yesterday and trying to figgure the frost time out.
Ely,
If you keep making sexual innuendos like that, you are sure to end up in the Woodshed :D :D.
ely, in Nebraska we plant ours late April to early May for the first run and should get corn somewhere around mid July. Planted some one year after the fourth of July for some late corn but it didn't quite make it :-\
sandhills
Every variety if different but most are 75-80 day unless you went with a short season one.
this is g-90 sweetcorn i had left over from earlier in the season.
Not knowing much about corn, but a little bit about timothy grass, I would think the early stuff is better in that it's the peek of summer time. The season is on the last run down hill this late. ;)