How to Hand Pollinate Corn - Prevent Kernal Gap

The dreaded "kernal gap" on my unpollinated corn.

I got anxious enough to pick an ear of corn today. Not good. It appears I have unpollinated corn as indicated by the bare patches on the cob (kernal-gap.)  I've researched some hand pollination techniques. Some gardeners on GardenWeb say just to walk around and shake the stalks, allowing pollen to flow from the tassels down to the silks. They mention to do this when the plants are dry. If they are wet, the pollen may clump or the silks may stick together which might cause a problem.

Once the pollen gets on the silks, it travels down the hairs into the cob and completes the job. I won't get into all the specifics of cell biology. I will say though that you can self pollinate (tassel and silk on SAME plant) or cross pollinate (tassel on plant A pollinates silk on plant B). Either way works but some university papers I read said that you don't want to self pollinate too much (kinda like inbreeding.)

Cross pollinating courtesy of UofN.

One gardener named Chaman said the following: "You can hand pick tassels and gently rub on the silk.  Morning time around 10 A.M. is good for hand pollination. In half an hour or so you will see silk changing color to brown, sign of successful pollination.You may repeat the process for few days. Tassels remain usable for about 4 to 5 days.  In case if needed, you may pick up the tassels from any plant to use on the plant that has no tassels available.  This way corn-cobs get fully filled with kernels."

I'm not sure WHY my corn didn't self pollinate. It could be that we don't get much wind in my part of the Arizona desert. It could also be that I put a bird netting over my corn to keep critters out. I'm hypothesizing that the net keeps the stalks from swaying in whatever little wind we DO get. No swaying, no pollen sprinkling the silks.

Corn anatomy

So, what I haven't figured out yet is how long do I have to pollinate? Like the cob I imaged above with kernal gap. Could it have been saved if I had left it on the plant and pollinated it? Or can you only pollinate right when the silks emerge from the husk or what?

Wifey and I will be trying our skills at hand pollinating first thing in the morning. Wish us luck!

Oh, there's a chance of worm infestion. We saw a few last season. They lay their eggs on the silks and the little boogers travel down into the corn and feed there so you may not see them from outside the husk. There's a good article on using vegetable or mineral oil on the silks to rid your corn of worms. Sounds easy enough.

I keep telling myself this is a learning process. It is our second season at trying our hand at gardening. Last season we planted the corn too late and frost got our immature corn. This season we're learning to pollinate. By 2015, we might actually be able to grow some edible corn!

Have YOU had success growing corn?

Wallow Fire: What's YOUR Disaster Plan?

Image courtesy of hlswatch.com

Tornadoes are devastating Oklahoma, but I don't live there anymore. Riots are breaking out in some locations, but not where I live. Hurricanes hit the coasts annually, but I don't live by the water either. Actually, we're known for not having much water at all where I live...in Arizona.

So what natural disaster do I have to worry about? I thought it would be running out of water, due to a crazed city employee  trying to get some attention by blowing up the water treatment plant. Or a massive power outage, caused by any number of things, shutting off the public water system.

I never thought Arizona's soon-to-be largest wildfire would be raging two hours E/NE of my location. The Wallow fire has already consumed almost half a MILLION acres (443,989 as of 10pm, June 12th) with an ESTIMATED 10% CONTAINMENT. While I'm not in immediate danger, it does cause me to take pause. Am I prepared for a fire?

So it strikes me: What would I do? Water outage: I've stored over 600 gallons. No electricity: I have gas lanterns, stoves, etc.  Approaching fire? Uh....crap! Run? Geez, I don't know.  Images of frantically hosing the house down with my little garden hose fill my head.  Can you fireproof a house by soaking it? I don't think so.  Have NO trees, bushes, grass within 20 yards of the house?  That's not gonna happen. I planted grass for the kids to play on. I planted bushes outside their windows for security/privacy. The neighbor's wood-framed house (on both sides of me) is so close I could probably hear them snore at night, if I tried.

So, there it is: no location is completely safe. You must have a plan. Don't count on any help from the government either.  We're approaching Day 16 and not a word from POTUS about aid. We declared a STATE emergency back on Day 8.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Arizona is a RED state, passed SB 1070 (anti-ILLEGAL immigration) and is the home of John McCain. Yeah, Obama's probably just...busy.

So take the time to research your location. Look back at history and see what has happened in the past. Are you in the 100 year flood zone? Do you live on the New Madrid, or any other fault line? Figure out what HAS happened and what COULD happen (realistically) and start researching plans. Survivalblog has several articles on Flu Pandemics, Earthquakes, and Floods, just to mention a few. These are real stories from survivors that have lived through the disasters. Here's a list of the Top 10 Worst U.S. Natural Disasters.

Remember the old saying: People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go: check batteries in smoke alarms, practice fire drills with the kids, double check my BOBs, draw an inaccurate retreat map for my mother-in-law...oh wait, did I say that out loud?

OJD's Hero of the Month: Richard (Dick) Proenneke

Dick lived in this handmade cabin in Alaska for 30 years.

Survivalism, preparedness, self sufficiency...it's all over the internet today. There are scores of survival podcasts, youtube channels and blogs available at your fingertips 24 hours a day.

You wanna talk about self sufficiency and survival? Let me introduce you to Dick Proenneke. He was born in 1916 in Lee County Iowa. He served in the United States Navy as a carpenter during World War II and worked as a diesel mechanic most of his first 50 years.

What makes him a hero from my point of view?  Around age 52, he moved to a remote part of Alaska, Twin Lakes, and with only a handful of tools, built everything he needed to survive...for the next 30 years. He built a cabin by hand from local trees. He built his food storage on 20 foot stilts so animals couldn't get to it and used a removeable ladder for access. He either grew or caught everything he ate with  few exceptions. Alaskan winters came and went, but he handled it all by himself.

The unique dutch door on his cabin.

The best part of Dick's adventure is that he captured it all on his little 8mm video camera. He documented the whole experience in his personal journal. He took thousands upon thousands of photographs. You can read his writings from 1974-1980 thanks to a link from the National Park Service. He and a brother ended up donating over 90 pounds of journals to the Park Service for posterity. The cabin he lived in is now a popular tourist attraction and kept up by the National Park Service.

At the age of 82, he returned to California to live with his brother. The cold winter months in Alaska had been getting harder and harder for him to endure. He lived four more years and died of a stroke in 2003 at age 86.

A video documentary of his story can be read at IMDB and a copy shows up on youtube from time to time. I'd post a direct link but I'm sure it wouldn't last long due to copyright. I recommend you search youtube for Dick Proenneke and watch some of his life's work. If you like it, order a copy from Bob Swerer.  I recommend Alone in the Wilderness and Alaska, Silence and Solitude.

If you enjoy the outdoors, being self sufficient and prepared, or want to see how one man survived 30 years in the worst weather conditions with only a small amount of hand tools...do yourself a favor and watch Alone in the Wilderness.