Anybody know why this is happening to the corn im growing could it be pests or diseases?
Any input would be helpful 🙏🏻 first time growing a garden, if it helps the only thing being grown in the box is 6 corns and 3 pea plants
by Far_Policy403
7 Comments
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i-steal-forks
Just in case you decide to pursue corn cultivation seriously, here is the Corn site from the Iowa State University Extension. Iowa is the leading producer of corn in the U.S., so this university knows something about it. There’s a learning curve to doing it well. Good luck!
It doesn’t look like anything serious to me, but I’m no expert. Probably some curious animal wanted a taste or bent a few leaves, but as long as you don’t see an increase in damage I wouldn’t worry.
Heysoosin
Welcome to gardening, its so rewarding. just be ok with making mistakes and learning from them. No first garden is ever highly functional.
It takes a long time to learn about all the different pests, what habitat each plant prefers, all the different ways you can help your plants.
In this case you’re noticing some damage on the leaves of your corn, which is amazing because that means you are making observations and noticing changes! Thats the best thing you can do!
Thankfully, I think you have nothing to worry about here. We dont see any bugs or bug poop present, we dont see any slime trails from slugs, we dont see major damage starting at the edge of the leaf, and we dont see any discoloration to the effected leaves (except for the brown around the perimeters of the damage holes; thats just callousing the plant does to keep itself from leaking juices and nutrients and stuff, totally normal.
So then what might be happening to the plant? Well its kinda hard to say. Ive seen this type of damage on corn too, and Im pretty sure it comes from wind. Corn is tall. When the leaves get ripped around in the wind, i think they can rip a little bit. This would explain why the damage is mostly vertical, running along the inside of the leaf. When insects eat leaves, they usually start at the edge of the leaf. Sap sucking insects like aphids can start in the middle of the leaf, but the damage they leave behind is not long rips like what you have, and they always leave behind poop and dead bodies. The wind whips the leaves back and forth, creating small tears, which are then pulled on and expanded by more wind.
You corn looks healthy, and the newest leaves seem unaffected by this problem, which adds more clues leaning towards wind damage (they grew after the last wind storm).
This amount of damage wont hurt your corn a bit, but there is one thing I want to tell you about corn, that you didnt ask about.
You said you only have 6 corn plants. Understand that corn is wind pollinated. In order to get cobs of corn kernels (seeds), which is the part that you eat, each plant will need pollen from another plant. Unfortunately, if theres only 6 corns, there will not be enough pollen to get good pollination on your corns and your cobs will not have much food on them (google Under Pollinated Corn). Bees do not pollinate corn because the female pollen collecting devices do not make nectar, so bees dont carry pollen to the tassels.
What youll need to do is hand pollinate them when the time comes. There are lots of tutorials available on the internet on how to do this, but basically put a bag over a stem of male corn flowers, and shake it to get pollen in the bag, which you can then apply to the female tassels by putting the bag over them and shaking, or by using a paintbrush to brush it on thickly.
Best wishes and happy gardening
erratic_bonsai
That’s just what large, mature corn leaves do sometimes. Nothing’s wrong with it.
SteveMartin32
Where do you live that you can grow corn in December? I try that in oklahoma and the plant will backhand me in 27 degree weather
Edit: I now see that next to the name is his location. New Zealand makes a lot more sense to me XD
7 Comments
[removed]
Just in case you decide to pursue corn cultivation seriously, here is the Corn site from the Iowa State University Extension. Iowa is the leading producer of corn in the U.S., so this university knows something about it. There’s a learning curve to doing it well. Good luck!
https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/crops/corn
I swear it looks like a cat was playing with it 🧐
It doesn’t look like anything serious to me, but I’m no expert. Probably some curious animal wanted a taste or bent a few leaves, but as long as you don’t see an increase in damage I wouldn’t worry.
Welcome to gardening, its so rewarding. just be ok with making mistakes and learning from them. No first garden is ever highly functional.
It takes a long time to learn about all the different pests, what habitat each plant prefers, all the different ways you can help your plants.
In this case you’re noticing some damage on the leaves of your corn, which is amazing because that means you are making observations and noticing changes! Thats the best thing you can do!
Thankfully, I think you have nothing to worry about here. We dont see any bugs or bug poop present, we dont see any slime trails from slugs, we dont see major damage starting at the edge of the leaf, and we dont see any discoloration to the effected leaves (except for the brown around the perimeters of the damage holes; thats just callousing the plant does to keep itself from leaking juices and nutrients and stuff, totally normal.
So then what might be happening to the plant? Well its kinda hard to say. Ive seen this type of damage on corn too, and Im pretty sure it comes from wind. Corn is tall. When the leaves get ripped around in the wind, i think they can rip a little bit. This would explain why the damage is mostly vertical, running along the inside of the leaf. When insects eat leaves, they usually start at the edge of the leaf. Sap sucking insects like aphids can start in the middle of the leaf, but the damage they leave behind is not long rips like what you have, and they always leave behind poop and dead bodies. The wind whips the leaves back and forth, creating small tears, which are then pulled on and expanded by more wind.
You corn looks healthy, and the newest leaves seem unaffected by this problem, which adds more clues leaning towards wind damage (they grew after the last wind storm).
This amount of damage wont hurt your corn a bit, but there is one thing I want to tell you about corn, that you didnt ask about.
You said you only have 6 corn plants. Understand that corn is wind pollinated. In order to get cobs of corn kernels (seeds), which is the part that you eat, each plant will need pollen from another plant. Unfortunately, if theres only 6 corns, there will not be enough pollen to get good pollination on your corns and your cobs will not have much food on them (google Under Pollinated Corn). Bees do not pollinate corn because the female pollen collecting devices do not make nectar, so bees dont carry pollen to the tassels.
What youll need to do is hand pollinate them when the time comes. There are lots of tutorials available on the internet on how to do this, but basically put a bag over a stem of male corn flowers, and shake it to get pollen in the bag, which you can then apply to the female tassels by putting the bag over them and shaking, or by using a paintbrush to brush it on thickly.
Best wishes and happy gardening
That’s just what large, mature corn leaves do sometimes. Nothing’s wrong with it.
Where do you live that you can grow corn in December? I try that in oklahoma and the plant will backhand me in 27 degree weather
Edit: I now see that next to the name is his location. New Zealand makes a lot more sense to me XD