Planting Corn

I plant corn in my Long Island garden every year.  About 25 small plants from the local nursery. Every year they are destroyed by the Evil Squirrel.  Breaks my heart.
 
This year I received a very colorful Burpee catalogue.  I chose a pak of Candy Korn(yellow) and Ruby Queen (RED!)  seeds. I've planted over 150 seeds. They are sprouting from their little peat pellet things, I hope to plant them in the garden within a week or two more.

Any Roadfood Members out there plant corn?  Which seeds are the best?  Any tips you can give me.  I think a garden with corn looks so beautiful, I just wish mine were a bit stronger to hold up against the Evil Squirrel. Thank you!
 

Sprinkle cayenne pepper on the plants, won't hurt them, will chase the squirrels to Dairy Queen!

We have been using cayenne for years, works pretty good until it rains and you need to reapply. You can get the big canisters at Sam's or a restaurant supply place. We also have good luck planting cayenne plants right along side plants we want the squirrel to stay out of.

Corn is one of the seeds I don't sprout early, I just plant it direct to the ground.  I hae some multi-color popcorn, and sweet corn going this year.

And I can vouch for the cayenne trick.  Re-apply post-rainfall.

I think Evil Squirrel needs a name.

"Stew" comes to mind.
Brad

I take cayenne pepper and bring a pot of water to boil. Turn it down to simmer and add a handfull of cayenne pepper and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Let it cool and filter it through a coffee filter and put it in spray bottles. Then use it on the plants. Garlic powder works well also. Just make sure you are up-wind when you spray either one...Russ

Our Scotties have pretty much eliminated the squirrels in the yard and orchard. Janet has 4 40 ft rows of Silver Queen in her veggie garden. We used to grow Kandy Korn, but over the years it seemed to 'dwarf' in our soil. It did very well in SoCal if we kept it watered.

Thanks Mayor for the seed info.

Don't underestimate the 'goodness' of Kandy Korn! It holds it's supersweet taste for several days after picking before going starchy. When I said it was dwarfy, I meant that over 5 or 6 years our clay soil here in Indiana coudn't support the 6 ft stalks. It would tassle at 3 to 4 ft and the ears would be small as well. We switched to Silver Queen and dumped a trailer load of manure on the garden before tilling and we hope it will return to full size this year.

Brad_Olson


I think Evil Squirrel needs a name.

"Stew" comes to mind.
Brad

 
Evil Squirrel, sounds like a heavy Metal group.

I have planted about 30 hills of peaches and cream.  So far the squirrels, geese and ducks have left them alone.  I planted about 5 hills a week so they would mature about a week apart.  I realize that my yield will not be so good but at least I can have the corn on the grill extremely fresh and sweet.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Paul, we missed you this weekend.  Say hi to your mother for me.