Wordless Wednesday: Sweet corn and field corn

Here is a picture I took this morning comparing sweet corn to field corn. Sweet corn is what a person eats and field corn gets used for livestock feed, ethanol, plastic, and a few other things. Below you can see the difference between the two plants.

The sweet corn plants are on the left and the field corn plants are on the right. As a person can see, there is a major difference between the two plants. Field corn will usually get much bigger and won't produce an ear until July. However, with sweet corn, the plant will usually tassel in the middle to later part of June and then will have edible ears to pick come the first to middle part of July.

Wordless Wednesday: First Ear of Corn

I found the first ear of corn for 2012! It is pretty small and you almost have to use a microscope to see it. I also found the tassel in the cornstalk, which will eventually come out of the top of the plant. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

First ear of corn that is starting to develop for 2012!

The tassel will continue pushing up though the cornstalk and eventually come out the top and begin the pollination process.

From the Field to the Movie Theater- June Popcorn Update

It is hard to believe how fast May went, and I have a feeling that June is going to go by just as fast! As I mentioned in my last "popcorn" update, I will be giving a monthly update on the growth of my family's popcorn crop. Since the last update, the corn has grown and is over a foot tall! The month of May didn't present us with the best growing conditions. It has been very dry, and a lot farmers started to irrigate in the middle of May just to get the crops to grow. However, by the end of May we received a couple large amounts of rain. Although we were very appreciative of finally receiving some rain, many farmers in our area didn't appreciate the hail, which destroyed some fields and led to farmers having to replant their corn or soybeans. Unfortunately, we were also affected by the hail and some of our crops took a beating. Yet, that is all part of farming. That is why it is VERY important that Congress passes a Farm Bill that includes a feasible safety net to protect farmers when mother nature doesn't want to cooperate. Below are the pictures of what the popcorn looks like. Be sure to check back on July 5th for the next popcorn update!

A picture of the popcorn as the sun goes down for the day. As you can see, the popcorn isn't real tall yet.

Another picture of what the popcorn looks like. If you look closely, you can see some of the hail damage from the storm that went through the area at the end of May. The leaves are torn a little, which shouldn't hurt the plant too much since the leaves are still in tact.

This is what the popcorn plant looks like after digging it up. As the summer goes on, more roots will develop as the plant gets bigger.

Have you ever wondered what the inside of the a corn plant looks like? Here is a good glimpse of what is happening inside the corn stalk! There is actually a tassel developing inside the stalk, which will eventually come out the top of the corn plant during the first part of July. To learn more about the different parts of the inside of a corn plant, click here!