A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 question on morning glories/corn

My Mom gave me some morning glory starts bout 2 months ago and they are growing really well (about ten feet up a post) but I have yet to see any flowers on them. I live in Western Washington state. I was wondering if anyone can tell me when I might see flowers on them. I do not know what kind they are. They are in the sun for bout 8 hours or more a day until the shade comes around.

Also I am new here and I am glad I found this site.

I have another question.

I planted some corn and I have 3 stalks that survived the really hot weather. they are bout 2 1/2 feet high and are getting ears of corn on them already. Is that ok or what? I remember growing corn with my parents as a kid and never seeing ears on the stalks until they were at least 4 feet high.

I hope someone can answer my questions.

Thanks,
Angie

Welcome Angie, I can't answer your questions, but someone will soon I am sure!!

your morning glorys will bloom soon just give them a bit of patience and can keep eye out for buds forming and know will be soon then.when the buds dry and turn brown after blooming is where your seeds for next yr will be can save and sow in spring or toss on ground and will come up next year

now as to corn.i don't know much but this is what i know.ya have to plant it close together cause they pollenate that way guess the wind blows or what ever but it just happens and is why some times corn in huge fields will do better in inner rows than outter rows.the size has to do with the variety and growing conditions& think some corn is like sterile and if grew it and wanted the same seed from it to grow for next year may not do.
just hang out for a bit longer and someone will pop in that knows more bout corn...I just know love to eat sweet corn& prefer Indiana corn after eating it there for 10 yrs
welcome to the forum.it is a great place

Hello,
I just wanted to Welcome you to
The Garden Helpers Forum.............
We have a great bunch of gardeners, very nice and helpful people, and great to chat with. Hope you'll stick around to get to know the bunch!!
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/morningglory.htm

Here's some helpeful hints from this site.

Question??
Are you fertilizing your plant?
Or giving it too much "NICE" dirt?
That could be some factors, too much fertilization and nice dirt can cause alot of green growth and blooms.They like a less rich soil.

I'll bet there is one or two other's that can give you some more info on them. Alankhart grows them, so maybe he'll offer some insight!!!

Hope this info helps!!
Happy Gardening!
Weezie

I'm not sure about the corn,
many factors are there, they need constant waterings, they have shallow roots and weeds crowd them, crowding them in the growing area produces small or no corn, they don't take well to transplanting either, I had that problem one year, I got a six pack and each sell had 3 to the cell, and I thought they over planted to insure sprouting and never thinned them out and come to find out they sell them that way, put I pulled everyone of them apart and put them in single, that's what happened to mine, stunted growth and when the ears formed, I got I tassles, but when I opened the corn it was like connect the dots with the kernals, because only a few got pollinated. I guess why they plant them like that so, each one will pollinate the other as it falls down from the tassles on to the silk. I guess they are heavy feeders too.

BigBoy, one of our gardeners grows alot of corn, maybe he'll lend us some info????????

I'm no expert to corn growing, I grew it for a few years and sortof gave up on it as I had kids, and my dad was sick and just didn't grow alot and have left it off the growing list as it's so cheap and redily available right now,
I remember my parents growing it too!!!
I think they grew it from seed and it was healthier that way and I bought already started sets.
Need anymore info, let us know.

Hi Weezie,
Welcome, I'm new too. I also have corn growing and it is doing about the same as yours. I believe first that this is a rough year for corn as you can tell by the prices. August however is the month for growth and harvest so I'd be patient and give it about another 3 weeks to see what happens. I also have morning glories and they are not yet blooming. Again, I believe the weather is at fault. However, if we/you get a good heatwave you'll see many blooms.

do you know what kind of corn, and also when you planted it, i planted an early crop of sweet corn that got real tall (and yummy)and then i planted a second crop of the same kind and it is short and tasseling already. some plants go by how many hours of sunlight there are in a day and when the days start getting shorter it kinda thinks its time to reproduce.

Angie,
I live in Northwest Oregon, and my morning glories have just started to pop out buds, so have a little patience. I don't fertilize them and I don't water them more than once a week anymore, even though we've had the same dry hot weather here. I don't have an answere to the corn dilemma, and I can't remember my Grampa's garden journal entry when it happened to him. ( I think he said he planted to late that year but don't take my word for it) I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I have will come along soon. Welcome to the Forum
Where in western washington do you live?

ok cool bout the morning glories I hope I start seeing some buds soon.

We just went through 4 extremely hot weeks of no rain and I was watering my plants every other day because they were getting that wilted look to them.

Now we are back to our normal summer weather (rain at least once a week)

As for the corn I planted it right after the last frost like the directions told me to and they are planted in good soil. Maybe the heat had something to do with how they are turning out. Oh well if they don't turn out this year I have plenty of seeds left over for next year.

As for where I live. I live Just outside of Tacoma near the Fort Lewis Army Base.

here is what I planted in my garden that has survived this horrid weather. I have green beans (starting to get beans), carrots (not ready to pull yet), zuccinni squash (just got done flowering), bazil and one huge tomato plant that has bout 20 little green tomato's on it... Thank God I have friends there is no way I would be able to eat all of them. I also planted cabbage, broccoli, califlower and parsley that did not survive the heat. I am not too disappointed. I plan to totally tear out the garden and put all new dirt in and make it a raised garden so I can get lots of good soil and hopefully do better next year.

I was expecting some of the stuff not to make it and so I planted alot of everything it seems to me the one plant I thought wouldn't do so well was my zuccinni squash and all 8 seeds that I planted have lived and are growing well lol.

Well I need to go its late at night and my kids are fighting the great "sleep" and so I need to deal with that.

Thanks for all your help and hopefully someone will have some insight.

Later,
Angie

Angie,
Don't give up on your corn,
corn can be slightly tough to grow.
Also they are very heavy feeders.
You have to fertilize them alot!!!!
Watch out for weeds at the roots,
they have a shallow root system.
So when weeding do it carefully not
to disturb the roots.
(Sometimes companion planting is suggested, to cover the roots with like squash or something. That way the roots aren't
walked on or weeded wrong.)
And the way you plant them has ALOT
to do with how they get pollenated!!!!!!
They have to be relatively close so the tassles of one corn pollenates the other.
And they need lots of water,the most critical time they need water is between
the tassling and harvest!!!!
So, don't give up hope!!!!
When I get two more raised beds in this coming spring, I am looking forward to growing it again, because, I did alot of
those things in the beginning too!!
Hope this helps!!!
Weezie

Angie,

In the past I used to visit SeaTac area that include both the post and the base at Tacoma, Kent, and Auburn I still have friends and/or relatives in both (SeaTac) cities.

The vegetables you planted that did not survived the heat were cool season veggies (cabbage,broccoli, cauliflower). Parsley is sometimes treated as an annual, but they prefer partial shade and moderately rich, semi-moist soil. Squash, corn, beans and tomatoes are warm season vegetables. Carrots can be planted either as a warm or cool season veggie.

Corn like ample water, if they go thirsty, they won't produce, they also need fertilizer at least twice during the growing season. Fertilizer are usually applied first at 12" to 15" tall and again when they are 30" tall. Keep the soil moist (don't let soil dry out once the ears start to form silks).

Depending on the variety corn is ready to harvest 60-100 days after sowing seeds.

(Ref. Sunset Illustrated Vegetable Gardening)

also if you leave a few carrots in ground they will flower.....been dying to see what the flowering looks like.

green beans are a hot weather plant& i remeber my best friend counting the days from when should be ready and going over the calendar she kinda planned it for being hot the last 3 weeks.I just know they were blue lake and some KY thing.I also watched her try to grow french greenbeans and was always grumbleing bout them& she grew cover crops in her garden area durring the winters.that would be something you might check into.i know clover& barley are 2 used alot here in TX
have patience with them MG seems alot of stuff bloomed later this year.my 4 pms usually bloom in may and didn't bloom till july this year