Roadside Corn

[Jophiel]

Back when I was a youth growing up in the wilds of Illinois my parents told me that, when you saw all that corn planted along the road, the first few roads were feed corn to discourage people from pulling over and just grabbing a few ears. Thinking about it today as I was driving along past the fields, that seemed rather impractical to me in terms of harvesting since it's all mechanized and it would be very difficult to avoid mixing the two. Rather (I assume) most corn planted is feed corn and the odds are just against you should you decide to purloin some.

Were my parents even a little bit accurate? Any corn farmers want to restore my childhood faith?

[Lukeinva]

"Roadside Corn"

[The Tao's Revenge]

You can't grow feed corn and sweet corn together. The kernels will come out all nasty. The kernels grow from it's own genetics, not the parent plant's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_corn

All of the alleles responsible for sweet corn are recessive, so it must be isolated from any field corn varieties that release pollen at the same time; the endosperm develops from genes from both parents, and heterozygous kernels will be tough and starchy.

[Leaffan]

I wouldn't think the farmers would give a shit about a few dozen, or even tens of dozens of pilfered corn.

Lately I've noticed some farmers here (Ontario) have been leaving a few perimeter rows facing roadways uncut, as a natural snow fence. I wonder if they're compensated for that or if they are doing it on their own goodwill, as a public service?

[Mdcastle]

Minnesota pays farmers the fair market value of the crop to leave a few rows standing as a "living snow fence". The farmers can even go pick the corn by hand if they want as long as they leave the stalks.

[kunilou]

Feed corn plants grow tall and sturdy. Compared to them, sweet corn plants look positively puny. Scattered plants (not groing in neat rows) are most likely scattered kernels that against all odds actually germinated and grew.

[california jobcase]

Field corn's not bad when it's young enough. You can eat it like sweet corn then. Mature field corn picked when the husks are dry, makes for a good munchy if you parch it. Just carefully try to pop it in a little oil, being sure not to burn it. It's good with a little salt and black pepper. It has been marketed as CornNuts.

But, like others said, different types of maize will hybridize easily if they're close to each other. This property keeps lots of school kids in the fields corn detassleing in central Indiana in the summer.

[Philster]

Very often, when Americans pass corn fields, they are passing 'feed corn'. So much of what we pass goes to feed supplies. I'm sure some is for human consumption; most isn't.

So, your parents were full of chit.

[Pai325]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

Back when I was a youth growing up in the wilds of Illinois my parents told me that, when you saw all that corn planted along the road, the first few roads were feed corn to discourage people from pulling over and just grabbing a few ears.

Are we siblings? I also grew up in Illinois, and my parents said the same thing.

[The Tao's Revenge]

Originally Posted by Philster

Very often, when Americans pass corn fields, they are passing 'feed corn'. So much of what we pass goes to feed supplies. I'm sure some is for human consumption; most isn't.

So, your parents were full of chit.

There's feed corn, that goes to animals, it gets to keep its tassels. There's seed corn. That comes in male and female varieties. The male corn is allowed to keep its tassel, the female corn gets its tassel ripped right off. The tassel has the pollen, its therefore the corn's genitals. Every year thousands of children innocently get bussed out to fields to practice this herbological genital mutilation, ripping the female tassels right off. It'd be very disturbing, if it wasn't a bunch of plants.

Oddly male seed corn ears are gigantic, it is an interesting experience to sort corn. To have a this cute Spanish girl you're working with, who's training you on your first day, pick up this gigantic piece of corn, of tremendous phallic girth, look you right in the eye and say "this is the male corn! It's waste, throw it out! It's bad. We don't want it in the female seed. Ruins it" *ker chunk* as it goes down the waste chute.

It wasn't meant to be, but I digress.

[johnpost]

Ew, pesticides. Carbamate if I'm not mistaken.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by Mdcastleman

Minnesota pays farmers the fair market value of the crop to leave a few rows standing as a "living snow fence". The farmers can even go pick the corn by hand if they want as long as they leave the stalks.

A lot of farmers also like this because it help maintain our population of ringneck pheasants, deer, and other wildlife.

[MikeF]

I didn't know until fairly recently that each stalk typically has only one ear. For some reason I always thought four or five per stalk. It seems like a lot of bio-mass to make just one ear.

[control-z]

Originally Posted by MikeF

I didn't know until fairly recently that each stalk typically has only one ear. For some reason I always thought four or five per stalk. It seems like a lot of bio-mass to make just one ear.

Is that true? If so we are going to have a lot less corn in the garden than I thought.

[AuntiePam]

Originally Posted by MikeF

I didn't know until fairly recently that each stalk typically has only one ear. For some reason I always thought four or five per stalk. It seems like a lot of bio-mass to make just one ear.

I didn't know that until recently either. Googling brings up some articles saying that if there's not a lot of competition for resources, a plant might produce more than one ear. Or that hybrids can be engineered to produce more than one.

I also didn't know that each silk thread makes a kernel.

We get our sweet corn from a farmer who plants five acres of it, right next to his feed/seed corn. The only way we can tell which is which is by the height of the plants. The sweet corn plants aren't as tall.

[Nars Glinley]

Originally Posted by MikeF

I didn't know until fairly recently that each stalk typically has only one ear. For some reason I always thought four or five per stalk. It seems like a lot of bio-mass to make just one ear.

The corn in my in-laws garden typically has several ears per stalk.

[ftg]

Originally Posted by MikeF

I didn't know until fairly recently that each stalk typically has only one ear. For some reason I always thought four or five per stalk. It seems like a lot of bio-mass to make just one ear.

It depends on the type. Many field corn varieties are 1/plant, but not all.

Sweet corn is usually 2/plant but some varieties can do 4 or 5.

It also depends on the spacing. Even the 1/plant types might produce 2 if spread out more and vice versa.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by MikeF

I didn't know until fairly recently that each stalk typically has only one ear. For some reason I always thought four or five per stalk. It seems like a lot of bio-mass to make just one ear.

No, that's not true in general. Certainly not for sweet corn, which has been bred to produce several ears per stalk. And many varieties of field corn also produce multiple ears per stalk.

The farmer will select a particular variety to plant based on his soil composition, planned fertilizer use, expected rainfall, and what his intended use is for the corn.

[snowthx]

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

I also didn't know that each silk thread makes a kernel.

Other corn trivia I heard (but not sure I accept):
- A mature ear of corn will have an odd number of rows, never an even number.
- Industrialized corn cannot replacate itself without the aid of humans - the husks seal in the kernals and they rot before they can germinate in the soil.
- There are two types of people in the world - those that eat corn on the cob across (like a typewriter), or around.

Again, I do not vouch for the accuracy of these tid-bits. Anyone else hear these?

[california jobcase]

The around-the-cob method is good for keeping the butter on the corn. If you gnaw and rotate fast enough, the butter can't drip off.

[thelabdude]

Originally Posted by kunilou

Feed corn plants grow tall and sturdy. Compared to them, sweet corn plants look positively puny. Scattered plants (not groing in neat rows) are most likely scattered kernels that against all odds actually germinated and grew.

Exactly! Unless the land is dead flat, you would be able to see the smaller corn on back. I do know some farmers used to plant a few rows of sweet corn at the edge of the field. I guess you could feed what was left of it to the animals.

[AuntiePam]

Originally Posted by snowthx

- Industrialized corn cannot replacate itself without the aid of humans - the husks seal in the kernals and they rot before they can germinate in the soil.

So the volunteer corn in soybean fields isn't last year's corn that germinated on its own, but seeds that waited a year to germinate?

[california jobcase]

It's not two-year old seed, it's corn left there by the corn picker from the previous season. One could argue it wouldn't have sprouted if the picker/combine hadn't shucked it and the fall tilling hadn't planted it.

[thelabdude]

About corn sex. All corn has male and female parts. The tassels are the male parts. Given a chance, they spread their pollen far and wide. The silk is the female part conveying the pollen to the grains.

To hybridize corn, you plant 2 verities and cut the tassles off the one you want to be fertilized by the other.

[NurseCarmen]

each piece of silk makes a kernel. If you pluck one strand of silk off the corn, when it's mature you'll see one missing kernel on the cob.

[nikonikosuru]

Originally Posted by snowthx

Other corn trivia I heard (but not sure I accept):
- There are two types of people in the world - those that eat corn on the cob across (like a typewriter), or around.

Isn't this one kind of a given? Unless there are lesser known ways such as diagonally or every other kernel...

[snowthx]

Originally Posted by nikonikosuru

Isn't this one kind of a given? Unless there are lesser known ways such as diagonally or every other kernel...

yes, but the way one eats corn can impart something about their personality.

[silenus]

Well, there are weirdos like me, I guess. I generally will do a row across like a typewriter, then do the rest of the ear in a rotary fashion. The clear row gives me a smooth starting place for each pass, without so much "butter in the moustache" mess.

[Jackmannii]

From an aficionado of field corn:

"Field corn has more starch and is drier and less sweet than the other types, often with very large, flat, broad kernels. They are used after drying for meal, flour, hominy and fodder. Harvested when the ears are fully mature and the husks are dry. Most of the maize varieties grown by the American Indians were of this type. I have come to like field corn for on-the-cob eating, preferring its robust, hearty qualities. It is especially good Central American style, roasted over an open fire, and rubbed with a lime dipped in chili powder and salt."

I would stay away from the field corn grown en masse by American farmers, as far as filching a few ears. Aside from not knowing what pesticides were used and how recently, the varieties they grow are probably not those that would make decent eating on the cob, no matter how you prepared it.

[HeyHomie]

I have nothing to add to the discussion, but I did get excited when I saw the thread title. "Roadside corn" is what Mrs. Homie and I call those ad hoc vegetable stands that pop up along the side of the road every year, selling (fucking delicious) sweet corn for human consumption.

"Ooh! The roadside corn stands are out! Let's get some and grill it!!! "

[thelabdude]

Originally Posted by Jackmannii

From an aficionado of field corn:

"Field corn has more starch and is drier and less sweet than the other types, often with very large, flat, broad kernels. They are used after drying for meal, flour, hominy and fodder. Harvested when the ears are fully mature and the husks are dry. Most of the maize varieties grown by the American Indians were of this type. I have come to like field corn for on-the-cob eating, preferring its robust, hearty qualities. It is especially good Central American style, roasted over an open fire, and rubbed with a lime dipped in chili powder and salt."

I would stay away from the field corn grown en masse by American farmers, as far as filching a few ears. Aside from not knowing what pesticides were used and how recently, the varieties they grow are probably not those that would make decent eating on the cob, no matter how you prepared it.

Ah, memories of the 50's. We would filch a few tender ears of field corn and sneak off to the woods and build a fire and roast them. I am not sure what we did for butter, pepper,and salt. Maybe the corn itself was enough.

[Jamicat]

I eat my corn on the cob with a fork and knife.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by nikonikosuru

Isn't this one kind of a given? Unless there are lesser known ways such as diagonally or every other kernel...

You can eat an ear of corn nonstop, going in a spiral fashion from one end until you reach the other.

That's kind of fun as a kid, but eventually you realize that you are missing out on savoring the good taste by doing that.

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

Originally Posted by HeyHomie

I have nothing to add to the discussion, but I did get excited when I saw the thread title. "Roadside corn" is what Mrs. Homie and I call those ad hoc vegetable stands that pop up along the side of the road every year, selling (fucking delicious) sweet corn for human consumption.

"Ooh! The roadside corn stands are out! Let's get some and grill it!!! "

Where I grew up (Nawth Ca'lina) they would have a truck off on the side of the road with a sign that said: 'Corn, Cukes, Melon'.

When I moved to Newfoundland I saw a truck like that off on the side of the road with a sign so I pulled over. I was so stoked that I was going to get some nice fresh vegetables. It was only after I'd come to a stop that I realized the sign said:'Carcass, Flipper.'