Field Corn

[Penny_Plinker]

Plowed up about 1.5 acre in the bottom that we usually just mow. Gonna plant it in field corn. We don't have any animals, but usually buy corn for the deer and it's getting "DEAR" Besides, i just want to have some since it is getting to be so valuable.

The ag calendar says to plant it 25 April for our area.

Any farmer types know if it's okay to plant just the feed corn out of the sack?

Penny

[Drawbar]

I don't think you can. I remember hearing once that if the seed companies went out of business all the corn produced would stop within a year or so. Corn no longer naturally reproduces, and hasn't for years.

Of course I was told this about oats too, but I know from experience you can grow oats from feed. So I could be wrong, but I honestly don't think you can.

[sbemt456]

No you wont be able to plant and grow the corn you use for feed as it is usually died with heat and treated to prevent sprouting. You will need to purchase seed corn. Why no try growing something like Country Gentleman or Boone County White so you can feed the deer and grind some for cornmeal for you as well. So it would be a win win situation.

stella

[elh]

You might think about Ried's Yellow Dent. It is a yellow corn, can be used for cornmeal, feed, save seed, and we use it for roastring ears, as well as caned corn.

[Penny_Plinker]

Thanks all for the good advice. Sounds like it would have been wasting time and corn to plant the feed corn. I'll check and see if i can find any of those other types of corn locally.

Penny

[Drawbar]

Do you have any dairy farmers near you? Around here we take the whole stalk, ears and leafs and chop them up fine to make feed. We average about 15 tons to the acre, so your 1.5 acres would yield about 20 tons or so. That is about a dump truckload worth of feed, not a lot granted, but it might be worth the time for a dairy farmer to harvest it. Of course you would have gleaned the ears off before he comes in so you can feed your deer.

Myself, I think a better alternative to planting corn is to plant winter rye. Winter rye is unique in that it will grow in cold temps as long as the ground is not froze, even when it does, it stops growing, but is not killed In the spring it pops right back up and is green long before anything else. I plant winter rye for my deer, then about this time of year till under the rye which makes what they call a "green manure". This is really good for the soil. (unlike corn that depletes the soil as it grows)

During the winter the deer root for the green winter rye and eat it, but come this time of year when everything else is still brown, that winter rye is green and growing and the deer just eat it up like its a smorgish board. I have even had moose come up and gnaw on the stuff.

In the summer I plant oats for the same reasons. The deer love it come the middle of summer, and it too creates a "green manure" when its tilled under and I plant the winter rye again.

And in the mean time,I use the soil in that area for flower gardens, gardens and just plain loam for my lawn. Its really healthy and has lots of nitrogen and humus.

[Penny_Plinker]

Drawbar, i had planted that area in winter wheat last fall and the deer ate it down pretty close. Will try planting some rye for them after i pick all the corn (if it does well)

They don't sell seed field corn anywhere closeby, and that is puzzling since the farmers plant it. I asked the feed stores and they don't know where the farmers get their seed corn. Southern States feed store, 33 miles away had some, and it didn't seem worth burning the gas to go there, but hubby took me on the motorcycle and we had a good ride. We paid for 5 lbs of seed, which they weighed out on an old fashioned platform scale the kind that has balance weights hanging off it. It seemed light so i weighed it when we got home and it was only 4 1/4 lbs. I know my scale is right because if you weigh a 5 lb bag of sugar or flour it is dead on. So i called them and told them and they didn't seem surprised and quite okay with us coming back for the 3/4 lb. Even on the motorcycle it's at least a gallon of gas, but a nice ride when the weather's nice, so we'll probably go just for the ride. I'll hint about having to come back 33 miles with the high cost of gas and see if they throw in extra. They should.

Country Gentleman sounds like a good kind of sweet corn, but it's not to be found local, either. I may order some for next year.

Penny

[Deberosa]

Try www.fedcoseeds.com

Thats where the farmers around here buy vegetable seeds in bulk. There is of course shipping but they have reasonable prices also...

[DM]

Drawbar, i had planted that area in winter wheat last fall and the deer ate it down pretty close. *Will try planting some rye for them after i pick all the corn (if it does well)

They don't sell seed *field corn anywhere closeby, and that is puzzling since the farmers plant it. *I asked the feed stores and they don't know where the farmers get their seed corn. *Southern States feed store, 33 miles away had some, and it didn't seem worth burning the gas to go there, but hubby took me on the motorcycle and we had a good ride. * We paid for 5 lbs of seed, which they weighed out on an old fashioned platform scale the kind that has balance weights hanging off it. *It seemed light so i weighed it when we got home and it was only 4 1/4 lbs. *I know my scale is right because if you weigh a 5 lb bag of sugar or flour it is dead on. *So i called them and told them and they didn't seem surprised and quite okay with us coming back for the 3/4 lb. *Even on the motorcycle it's at least a gallon of gas, but a nice ride when the weather's nice, so we'll probably go just for the ride. *I'll hint about having to come back 33 miles with the high cost of gas and see if they throw in extra. *They should.

Country Gentleman sounds like a good kind of sweet corn, but it's not to be found local, either. *I may order some for next year.

Penny

Around here, most times one farmer will order in tons and tons of seed corn, and then sell it to the other farmers discounted... So one of the farmers is really a seed dealer and makes a little money on the seed too... This way the farmers are dealing wholesale, instead of retail like you have to...

DM

[elh]

You may check www.rhshumway.com they have several different varieties already mentioned. Can order in bulk, Ihave used them for several years with good results. good luck

[Penny_Plinker]

Deberosa, thanks for the Fedco seeds link. Looks like they have good prices.

DM, i'll check with the farmer across the creek. He plants a big field of seed, next time he's over there i'll ask him where he gets his seed, maybe he'll come over here and harvest my corn for halves or something. Sore and tired as i am after planting it i can't imagine picking and husking it, that'd be too much like work.

elh, will check out the rh shumway. I'd like to get some old fashioned varieties of corn.

Penny

[kawalekm]

Hi Penny
If you really want to know what you can do with your feed corn, then do a germination test. Take a glass or plastic tupperware dish and line the bottom with a paper towel. Arrange a good number of corn kernels down on the towel, say 50-100 seeds. Cover the kernels with another paper towel and saturate the whole thing with water. Keep the towels moist, but not wet to the point that you can pour off standing water. Stick the covered dish in a warm, sunny windowsill. In about a week the seeds will start to sprout if they are still viable.

An advantage of buying seed corn though is that it is treated with fungicides to prevent damping off. That will greatly improve survival out in the dirt. Fungicide treated seed is ALWAYS dyed an unnatural color like purple so people won't confuse it with edible corn.
Michael

[Penny_Plinker]

Hi Kawalekm,

You know, i'm already sure this corn will germinate, because...when the chipmunks carry it off and bury it it will pop up in different places. But i thought what Drawbar was saying was that it no longer naturally produces and that might mean that it would grow but not get good filled out ears. Because of being a hybrid it might cause misshapen ears that don't fill in. I'm going to find out because i didn't want to make the trip for more seed and so i planted 5 or 6 rows of the feed seed. Then i can let you all know.

Have a good one.

Penny

[HockeyFan]

Monsanto owns the world corn supply. Doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy feeling.

[Penny_Plinker]

o,k, so i had to make a trip to that town anyway so i stopped in for the corn seed they owed me and they were out of field corn seed. So i asked what i could get to make up the difference and ended up picking some pumpkin seeds. I'm gonna plant them in with the corn and then i guess just give the pumpkins free to kids this fall for halloween. I went someplace else and got some dent corn seed and that was only 1.79 a pound instead of 2.99 for the field corn so the dent corn is a lot better deal and so the field is mixed with different types of corn and pumpkins. The dent corn is called hickory king and it's used for hominy, but i'll use some of it for corn nuts and corn meal.

Penny

[idealist]

I had no problems at all germinating the King Dent heirloom corn. I use the 40-cell Park Seed Starter, which is basically a tiny miniature greenhouse (about the size of a shoebox) that comes with pre-formed peat inserts. The seeds usually sprout up about 10-days after I put them in. So far every single seed has sprouted, so no failures. I got them from Baker Creed Heirloom Seeds (http://rareseeds.com/). My biggest problem with corn is the deer and squirrels that ransack the planted seedlings.

The best part is that if you use heirloom/non-hybrid, you can harvest seeds from what you grow and save them for next year. Plus, they're non-GMO, so monsanto has no claim.

[DaleK]

There's no problem growing corn from feed corn. You just won't get any of the advantages of either hybrid (much more yield) or some of the other non-hybrid varieties. Also depending on your local market the feed corn you buy might have been brought in from somewhere with a longer growing area and then it won't mature in your area.

In future if you look up some of the seed companies (Pioneer, Dekalb, NK, Mycogen, Maizex, dozens of others) online they'll tell you if they have dealers in your area.

290 acres in the ground here as of tonight, should get the other 120 or so in this weekend.