# Roadside Corn **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414 "2012-06-27T01:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/1 "2012-06-27T01:42:15Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/2 "2012-06-27T01:53:29Z")
“Roadside Corn” :dubious:⭕smack:😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/3 "2012-06-27T02:06:28Z")
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. > **[Sweet corn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_corn)** > > Sweet corn (Zea mays convar. saccharata var. rugosa), also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive mutation in the genes which control conversion of sugar to starch inside the endosperm of the corn kernel. Sweet corn is picked when still immature (the milk stage) and prepared and eaten as a vegetable, unlike field corn, which is harvested when the kernels It... > [@](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/4 "2012-06-27T02:22:37Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/5 "2012-06-27T02:39:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/6 "2012-06-27T02:50:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/7 "2012-06-27T03:00:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/8 "2012-06-27T03:06:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/9 "2012-06-27T04:17:59Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/10 "2012-06-27T04:51:22Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/11 "2012-06-27T04:53:48Z")
Ew, pesticides. Carbamate if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/12 "2012-06-27T07:12:55Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/13 "2012-06-27T17:18:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/14 "2012-06-27T17:40:32Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/15 "2012-06-27T19:07:06Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/16 "2012-06-27T20:00:40Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/17 "2012-06-27T20:03:06Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/18 "2012-06-27T20:31:16Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/19 "2012-06-27T22:58:42Z")
> [@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? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414/20 "2012-06-27T23:42:03Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roadside-corn/626414.md?page=2)