No, seriously...it's all about corn!
This year, we got to plant about an acre of Seminis Roundup Ready sweet corn, which was supplied to us by Monsanto (all opinions/photos are my own!). That means the corn can be sprayed with Roundup, which means there will be less weeds in the corn patch! (And if you know me, that means, less fear of seeing a snake! ha)
Of course, I leave the planting to the experts.
This is what the seed looks like going into the planter hopper.
We put four rows of it in our garden, the rest was planted in a small field behind our house.
Here's the corn after two weeks...
After one month...
After two months...
Reed's saying, "look the corn will be ready soon!". No, actually, Reed is saying, "take a picture of me eating this."
At this point, the ears have formed and are filling out on the stalk. How does that happen, you ask? You were asking that, right?
When corn starts forming it's ears (usually one per stalk, sometimes two), it will start forming the cob inside the shuck.
The tassels (in above pic) form at the same time as the ears. This is the male part of the plant.
The pollen off the tassels fall onto the silks of the cob, which pollinates the corn kernels. Each silk has to be pollinated or a kernel won't form. After the kernels are pollinated, the silks go from a yellow color to a brown color. At this time, the corn can be checked to see if it is ready to eat. If this was field corn, it would still need to dry before combining.
Should be some good eating soon! And for the next decade, considering we planted an entire acre, haha.
Thanks for the explanation about how corn grows and develops. I know cattle no problem, but cereals and grains are a closed book to me. Me I'd suggest corn-relish as a good use for a big crop!
ReplyDeleteYum! I'm sure you'll have no problems getting rid of any excess you may have. :)
ReplyDeleteHey Steph.. Do you have concerns about Monsanto Roundup Ready corn? It being GMO.
ReplyDeleteI have no concerns at all. Just about everything we grow is GMO. It allows us to spray less chemicals on the crops, which in turn saves us money. It's better for the environment because we use less fuel and can no till, which keeps the land from eroding. I actually wish everything in our garden was Roundup Ready too, beats having to weed! :)
DeleteOh....I really hate to hear this. I hate to see young farmers fall victim to Monsanto. Pollen from roundup ready corn has been killing off the honeybees. This pollen cross contaminates other corn in your area and I hope you are not around any organic farms. Have y'all always planted GMO roundup ready corn?
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DeleteNo one falls victim to Monsanto. As a matter of fact, this one acre of sweet corn I have planted are the only Monsanto seeds I have planted. They are not the evil company some think they are. There are lots more companies the same as Monsanto. We only grow Phytogen cotton, which is a Dow product. There are programs being developed by cotton organizations in Alabama and other states to save the honey bee, which Lance's Uncle Jimmy is helping to work on. There are no organic farms in our area. They are not as wonderful as they look on paper. They still use chemicals on their crops too. Sometimes more than what we use. Organic cannot feed the world. It has a place, for those who can afford to buy it, but do you think those people starving in other countries care if the food is GMO or organic? There is no way organic alone can feed the world.
DeleteThis is Lance, Stephanie's husband. First off, hearing from honey bee keepers they are more concerned with a mite that infects the hives and kills the bees, than the dust from the use of treated seeds. Treated seed: corn, cotton, soybeans are usually coated in an insecticide that will be taken up by the young plants to protect them primarily against thrips, this only stays active in the plants less than 21 days which is way before they ever bloom and is not breed in these plants, so it is not gmo. The bt gene in cotton and corn (ie GMO) is not in the pollen, it is only in the vegetative parts of the plants. The bt will not affect you, unless you are a worm. The bt gene is a normal organic bacteria found the soil all over the earth, that has been breed into crops to protect them from worms. I would think most people concerned with the environment would prefer us farmers not to use harsh pesticides that kill both good and bad insects, plus less pollution from our sprayers. We use to spray every two weeks for 3 months for insects, the bt gene saves us money and helps us farmers make better yields which creates more food and fiber on less acres for everyone, this is important because of fewer and fewer acres available to farm, due to the population increasing. The honey bees are of great concern to all us farmers, but we our selves apply insecticides infurrow at planting which Does Not Expose the air to the insecticides.
ReplyDeleteVeery nice post
ReplyDelete