SWEET CORN update and growing conditions so far this season: Hey folks, many of you have commented on here, at the market, or sent emails about the SWEET CORN this year. What’s wrong is the main question. Well, all of the corn that we have picked, except for the week of July 4th and this week, grew all through the drought and the extreme heat. The corn that we picked at the end of June and first week of July grew and pollinated under normal growing conditions. The Sweet Corn that we are picking this week, grew under normal growing conditions as well. So what happened in between? All the other corn grew and pollinated during the drought and the extreme heat. We have irrigation, but we still couldn’t get enough water to it. The biggest problem though was the heat. Sweet corn pollination shuts down at temperatures over 90 degrees and much of the pollen that is available is sterile. Many days, the temp was 90 by 11 am. Each piece of silk at the end of the ear of corn must get fertile pollen from the tassel in order to form a kernel. So if the pollen is sterile, then the ears that form will have missing or deformed kernels. The high temps also cause the ears to not be filled to the tip and or have funny shapes. Usually when we pick the corn, it’s easy to tell which ears aren’t perfect, but it’s been very hard to tell. Feel free to shuck the corn down at the wagon before you buy it so that you can get the best ears. Help us keep all the shucks and corn trash in the baskets. This “Corn Trash” provides a tasty treat for our cows!
Thanks to everyone for being loyal SWEET CORN customers!
AND YES, WE ARE PICKING FRESH EVERYDAY FOR YOU!
We have 2 more patches of Kickoff, then 2 patches of Rosie, then we will pick KATE! See y’all at the corn wagon!