Arizona Chickens

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
I had great success with my sweet corn the first year with decreasing harvests in the three years following, even though I rotated the corn location and interplanted beans and squash. I have never gotten more than two ears per plant. My garden beds are 4' wide raised beds, and I usually plant a 4' x 4' or 4' x 8' block of corn. I plant seeds every 3-4" and thin them to 9-12" apart. My rows are usually 9-12" apart and when thinning I try to stagger the plants so they are all about a foot apart. Pollination was not an issue the first year, but in year two and following we had hot dry weather very early. Sweet corn likes heat but it also likes a bit of humidity. Even when I went out early in the morning to hand-pollinate I rarely found viable pollen. Usually I plant the corn late February-early March. Haven't tried a summer crop, planting at the start of the summer rains. That might work better. I think it is important to use a short-season variety, especially in the spring. That hot dry weather in June shrivels almost everything.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I had great success with my sweet corn the first year with decreasing harvests in the three years following, even though I rotated the corn location and interplanted beans and squash. I have never gotten more than two ears per plant. My garden beds are 4' wide raised beds, and I usually plant a 4' x 4' or 4' x 8' block of corn. I plant seeds every 3-4" and thin them to 9-12" apart. My rows are usually 9-12" apart and when thinning I try to stagger the plants so they are all about a foot apart. Pollination was not an issue the first year, but in year two and following we had hot dry weather very early. Sweet corn likes heat but it also likes a bit of humidity. Even when I went out early in the morning to hand-pollinate I rarely found viable pollen. Usually I plant the corn late February-early March. Haven't tried a summer crop, planting at the start of the summer rains. That might work better. I think it is important to use a short-season variety, especially in the spring. That hot dry weather in June shrivels almost everything.

Short season corn is definitely the way to go. I agree, the high and dry temps of June are brutal on them. I think that our problem here in AZ would generally be an issue of an imposed asynchrony in pollen and silk production, presenting the double whammy of low pollination with low fertilization when deprived of adequate moisture. With good humidity/moisture the onset of pollen and silk production is relatively synchronous. Under drought conditions silk production lags so that when it does appear, much of the pollen is gone. That, plus the speed of the natural degradation of the silk increases with drought conditions, making fertilization more difficult.

 

[kacklinkelly]

I grew sweet corn just once here in AZ. In the first year of my final garden expansion I had about a 10' X 10' space that was a mix of 50:50 native soil and semi-composted horse manure. Sweet corn does well in a high nitrogen soil, which was why I chose it to be the first crop in that section of garden--lots of other stuff would likely have burned in the soil conditions at the time. I planted the corn in rows 12" apart with each stalk of corn just a few inches apart and it was all on a drip system. As it grew I mulched it well. You'll need to treat it with Bt so the stalks survive the cutworms early on and then later again, as it flowers, to deal with the corn worms. It did spectacularly well, in fact, I have been forbidden from ever growing it again. There was about a three week period where we had so much corn we were having it with every meal. We froze a lot too. Now we just appreciate it as a seasonal treat.

Pollination was not an issue for me, nearly every ear was sufficiently fertilized, even the corn in the corners. So, I think you can get away with much fewer plants in a smaller area if they are sufficiently dense enough. While it seems like the sweet corn from a plant is endless, most stalks will produce only one or two ears. Some hybrids will produce three if sufficient resources are available.

What is Bt? I attempted to grow sweet corn for the first time last year. I had very poor pollination so I attempted to help it along. However I also experienced the silks showing up with very little pollen available at that time. All the stalks produced at least 2 ears struggling to grow. I will give it another shot this year and will amend the soil with the new "rabbit pellets" I have to add this year.

 

[LaGeniaLoca]

I don't actually live in Arizona, but my flock does and I'm trying to locate their whereabouts. The only info I have is the name Greg and a cell number that originates in Holbrook. He has a farm that's off the beaten path and requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle to reach it. My birds would have arrived there around November 20, 2013. I know it's a long shot, but does anyone know of this person? I'm trying to arrange a pick-up this weekend, while I'm on vacation, but haven't heard from him for over a week.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I don't actually live in Arizona, but my flock does and I'm trying to locate their whereabouts. The only info I have is the name Greg and a cell number that originates in Holbrook. He has a farm that's off the beaten path and requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle to reach it. My birds would have arrived there around November 20, 2013. I know it's a long shot, but does anyone know of this person? I'm trying to arrange a pick-up this weekend, while I'm on vacation, but haven't heard from him for over a week.

I don't know him, but I hope you can track him down. I don't think we've had anyone from the Holbrook area on the thread in some time.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

What is Bt? I attempted to grow sweet corn for the first time last year. I had very poor pollination so I attempted to help it along. However I also experienced the silks showing up with very little pollen available at that time. All the stalks produced at least 2 ears struggling to grow. I will give it another shot this year and will amend the soil with the new "rabbit pellets" I have to add this year.

It's a bacterial extract that is lethal to a variety of moth caterpillars, but harmless to most everything else. You spray it on the foliage in the evening and the caterpillars eat it and die over a few days. It's great for a variety of pests that we have here (cutworms, cabbage loopers, corn borers, grape leaf skeletonizers, tomato hornworms, etc.). Rabbit pellets would be excellent for amending the soil.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Thanks Gallo I'll pick some up.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: I am in the middle of suburbia in Tempe; MILES from truly open land, and there are coyotes here ALL THE TIME. Coyotes have no idea that they are supposed to be only out in the wild. To them, this CITY is their home.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Here's a question for anyone. While I've had chickens in the past when I was on the farm in Indiana, I never interacted with any of them because there were so many and they were for meat and eggs. We raised White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds so no pets or anything like that. My dad frowned on me making pets of the farm animals - cows, chickens, pigs, goats, etc.

Anyway, noticed something interesting yesterday. I had a friend from Washington visit with me yesterday and we went out to see the chickens. Normally when I or my husband go out they all come running toward us and gather around our feet and talk to us. Yesterday they saw us and came running but stopped short when they saw my friend and never did come really close. So, not being a total expert on chicken behavior, the question is did they smelll another person they didn't recognize or did they see another person they didn't recognize? Quite an interesting observation.

Chickens have almost no sense of smell; however, their vision is SIGNIFICANTLY better than human vision at its best.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Yes, omg, my chickens are LOUD. Over the weekend, I saw some people walking their dog in the wash, and they yelled over and said,"WE LOVE TO HEAR YOUR CHICKENS!" I went out to talk to them to see if they were being sarcastic or they really did like the sound of my chickens. Turns out theyy live across the wash and quite a few houses down (in the fancy-pants neighborhood), and they explained that they really do enjoy the sounds of my chickens. But, if they can hear way down there, that means quite a few houses around me can hear the chickens. I hope they aren't too annoyed.

I've never had good luck with 3-sisters. The corn has always been a failure. Of course, I try year after year. Maybe this will be the year I do not attempt corn.

The five goats behind me are MUCH, MUCH, MUCH louder than my MANY roosters!