THREE SISTERS

[Chipper Chicken]

I always use 6 mil black plastic which I get from hardware stores or farm stores. 6 mil is strong enough to reuse without being stupid expensive. Comes in assorted widths, but sometimes it's hard to locate a good selection, so I buy what I can find. Happy 4th!

 

[Arielle]

Happy 4th to you too!!

Thanks for the info on the 6mil. I struggle mentally with even using plastic so I'm trying to find my way to using it. FIgure to get what works than deal with several that fail at the job.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

I know, I don't like plastic either, but ground cover cloth just doesn't do the trick.

 

[Arielle]

Maybe use black heavy duty trash bags, and then reuse them as trash bags???

 

[Chipper Chicken]

Yes, you could, and I have tried it and didn't like it. They're not cost effective IMO, but mostly because it's so much more work to weight them down so the wind doesn't blow them away. With the sheet plastic I can roll it out, weight down the sides and corners, then slice an X or 3" cut down the row however far apart I want them. I'll do 5-10 cuts, poke the seed in and move down to the next section. It's very fast. This year the only Bantam that came up good was in the plastic, which I had pre installed and ready to go. DH had rototilled the Hopi bed so the plastic had been removed. And In the deer fenced (ha!) garden, where the Golden Bantam is, I had pine needles handy to give a thin mulch over the cuts, so I used it. If I'd had time I would have put some on the Blue Hopi too. (Which is 300 yards away from the deer fenced area, but the deer didn't bother it last year. Neither did the raccoons) Also, on the plastic there's the sturdiness factor, which is why I prefer 6 mil. I want to be able to walk on it without it tearing. This system was actually first recommended to me years ago by a old friend who's a retired fish and game biologist and farmer. He had secured some rare(?) Oaxaca Indian Mexican corn seed for me and wanted to make sure I didn't waste it! that corn grew 15' tall!!! Being a rather hardheaded sort, tho, I tried to do the next years crop WITHOUT using the plastic. Nada. Did I learn? Nope. Not right away....until I got the blue Hopi and I remembered...

 

[Arielle]

OK, will do as you suggest; the 6 mil or nothing. I wonder how the Native AMericans grew the corn with out plastic or maybe it is that the corn likes a warmer zone.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

I think it's native to Mexico....definitely warmer than W. Oregon, ..... Well...maybe not this year

 

[Fluffnpuff]

What is the rationale for using plastic? Is this just in reference to weed suppression or warming the soil? If it's for the later, you're using a corn variety that is either way off kilter for your zone or planted at the wrong time. Corn shouldn't require such preparation in most of America minus a few obvious exceptions like alaska.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

It's both actually. In our particular microclimate , corn seed either rots if it rains everyday, which lowers the soil temperature, which MIGHT have been perfect the day before...., (weather forecasting here is LOOK OUT THE WINDOW, if you want an ACCURATE forecast , ) gets eaten, or otherwise just doesn't germinate as well, unless you can wait until the conditions are nearly perfect. (Hopi blue is definitely not in its native zone here!) I also don't have the luxury of planting on the exact day that's right for the crop in my zone. My business takes me out of state constantly, and the plastic helps me "manipulate" the planting conditions. It also keeps the weeds at bay, which grow like, well, weeds here.
This system has made an hit or miss crop for me pretty sure-fire

 

[Arielle]

West Oregon is wonderful weather for many crops--- anything that needs rainy and cool I'd guess. Very creative to find a way to enjoy your own corn.