Tuesday, August 2, 2011

2011 Iowa Corn Report IV

It keeps growing

I finally made it back to Iowa this weekend. It is fun to watch how the landscape around the Boy's house can changed. His house is only a few feet away from the cornfield. In the winter and then into the spring you can see for miles. Now it feels like we are in a jungle when I look out his window.

This was the corn field on July 4, 2011. 
And this is the corn field now. 


It's huge! And it still has time to grow taller because the corn won't be harvested until this fall. There are also a couple of other significant changes to the corn since I saw it last.


See those pokey things at the top? Those are tassels. The are the part of the plant that holds the pollen. It is then falls from there and is caught my the silks. See below. 


And there are corn cobs on the stalks right now. The silks are that hairy part you rip off. This progress has to happen so the corn can pollenate.

 All over Iowa this weekend people were selling Sweet Corn. The Boy said that many people will use the Sweet Corn crop as an indicator of how the other corn will do. It was a bumper year for them, so he is very excited about their crops. 

This weekend you could also hear the constant buzz of planes over the house. The crop duster planes were out this weekend spraying the corn with fungicide to protect the plants from disease. I wasn't able to get any photos, but Jent at From My Front Porch did. 

6 comments:

  1. The corn there is a lot higher than the corn here. Congratulations!

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  2. I love this post! I'm so glad somebody is having a bumper crop.. thanks to the drought here, my dad (who is a crop duster) isn't able to spray enough cotton so he is up in Illinois spraying corn right now. I don't know much about corn, so I really enjoy these posts.

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  3. I love the corn pictures. My grandma lived in Iowa and I loved driving by all the large fields of super tall corn! Thanks for the comment on my blog, I am now following yours! :)
    Danielle @ www.nddreamer.blogspot.com

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  4. Yes, the Boy's family is very lucky to have such a great crop. @Hallie I hope your dad can find lots of work up north.

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  5. Iowa corn is something I *really* miss about not living in the mid-west... Oregon corn is NO WHERE as good as Iowa, just like beef... UGH! They have no idea what good beef tastes like! ;)

    Just wish it wasn't so expensive to ship unhusked corn on the cob from Iowa to Oregon! :(

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  6. Hey... do a pollination check on the "elongated" silks... http://www.extension.iastate.edu/CropNews/2011/0729elmore.htm

    Interesting!

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