Each of our compatriots saw and tasted corn. However, not everyone thinks how important culture it is. Therefore, tell us more about it. And also dwell briefly on the technology of cultivating corn - it will be very useful to learn about this for beginner farmers.
Economic value of corn
To begin with, the scope of this valuable cereal is simply huge. Of course, in the first place, many will remember the simplest boiled corn. Tasty, hearty, sweet, it will be a great addition to the diet. Alas, it is usually used for a relatively short time - during harvesting. Overripe corn becomes less tasty, harder. The problem can be solved by freezing - even after several months of storage in the freezer (if the ears were not thawed), the grains retain their original taste.
Corn is also actively used for canning - in this form, the product can be stored for several years.
One can not say about the preparation of corn flakes, as well as the use of corn flour - in many countries of the world it is actively used for baking the most common bread and flat cakes.
However, in our country, first of all, corn is a valuable crop used as a food supply for animals and birds. It is no coincidence that in Soviet times, the technology of cultivating corn for silage was actively developed - we will discuss this in more detail a little later.
Stems, leaves, young ears of corn - all this contains a large amount of carbohydrates, as well as proteins and important trace elements, including potassium and magnesium. Therefore, silage can be a great help in the cold season, when the diet of cows, pigs and other animals cannot be replenished with fresh grass.
Grains are actively used for fattening birds before slaughter. Several weeks of feeding corn instead of the usual wheat allow chickens, ducks and turkeys to gain extra weight, making their meat more refined and tender. That is why this culture began to be actively grown in the USSR. Modern corn cultivation technology is quite simple, which makes it relatively easy to harvest rich crops even in problem regions (low temperature, poor soils, droughts).
The stigmas are also used - they are actively used in folk medicine, allowing you to get rid (or at least reduce development) of dangerous diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and several others.
Therefore, to know more about corn is worth every person who is interested in agriculture.
Suitable predecessors
First of all, you need to choose a suitable place for growing corn. And this applies to both small summer cottages and vast agricultural fields with an area of tens of square kilometers.
Biological features of corn cultivation using grain technology include well-lit, but at the same time protected from the wind areas. The lack of sun leads to the fact that the process of photosynthesis is not too active. This means that less carbohydrates are deposited in grains and leaves. Therefore, the ears are less sweet, and the leaves and trunks themselves are not too nutritious. Well, wind protection is especially important in the first weeks of growth - strong gusts may well damage the growth. For grown stalks of corn, this is no longer so important.
The best precursors for corn are legumes, as well as most cereals.
Therefore, according to modern technology of cultivating corn for grain and silage, it is recommended to plant it in areas where winter cereal crops were grown in winter. A good choice may be a field where any legumes were grown - beans, beans, peas. Well, of course, you can get a wonderful crop on the site, which before this "rested" - was under steam.
In general, corn is not a very picky plant. It can be grown as a monoculture for three to four years in a row. However, this is permissible only in areas with intensive irrigation or regular rainfall in the warm season. In addition, in the third year and later it is very important to apply fertilizers - both mineral and organic. Longer use of monoculture depletes the soil, leading to a sharp decrease in yields.
Also, growing one crop on the site for several years, you should be prepared for possible problems. First of all, this is the possibility of accumulation with the subsequent spread of infections. Most often this is blistering smut, helminthosporiasis and a number of other diseases.
Unsuccessful predecessors include sunflower and sugar beets. These crops dry the soil very much. And when growing sugar beets, a large amount of nutrients, including zinc, are also absorbed. On the soil, poor in this trace element, corn does not grow too well. You can observe the deformation of the cobs, a sharp shortening of the internodes, as well as the appearance of pale yellow spots along the veins on the leaves. Of course, the yield is sharply reduced.
If we are talking about growing a small amount of corn, for example, in a garden, then a good combination would be the neighborhood with peas or beans. Often experienced gardeners drop seeds directly into one hole. This is by no means accidental. On the one hand, fast-growing corn acts as a support for legumes - they cling to the trunk, receiving the necessary support and without causing the slightest harm. On the other hand, legumes have a unique ability to bind atmospheric nitrogen and enrich it with soil. Therefore, corn receives additional recharge, and the soil is depleted much weaker.
Tillage
Now that the reader knows about the biological characteristics of corn, it is worth telling about soil cultivation technology.
It is aimed not so much at creating comfortable conditions for the cultivation of a valuable crop, but at the destruction of weeds - both annual and perennial.
In the most neglected areas, it is recommended to carry out double or even triple disking. On ordinary lands, plowing is first carried out - to a depth of about 30 centimeters. Loosening the earth facilitates the rooting and development of a powerful root system, which allows the plant to be provided with all the substances necessary for successful growth. If corn has been grown on one site for several years, then fertilizers are scattered on the ground before plowing - plowing allows you to mix the soil at the same time, enriching it with nutrients.
Preparation just before landing includes harrowing. It is produced two to three weeks after plowing. At a depth of about 10 centimeters, the earth is additionally turned over with a harrow. This additionally softens the soil, and at the same time destroys the grown weeds. It is very important to begin this stage when the likelihood of night frost is already excluded - otherwise young shoots may die.
Thanks to this preparation, the number of weeds is significantly reduced. About 30 percent of root-growing plants remain, as well as no more than half of the annuals. Of course, this allows you to get a richer corn crop - as long as the weeds pick up enough strength to grow again, a healthy crop will already be powerful enough and strong enough to crush them or at least drastically reduce the pace of development.
After plowing and harrowing the field should be as even as possible, there should be a minimum amount of large lumps of land.
Sowing
When growing corn in a small area - for example, in a country house or garden - there are no special problems when sowing. Usually they are simply sown one or two grains per well. It is much more difficult to carry out the correct calculations when sowing the fields.
In this case, the optimal figure is 10-25 kilograms per hectare. This largely depends on climatic conditions, when it is necessary to control the density of crops.
For example, if sowing is carried out in an arid region, then from 20 to 25 thousand plants per hectare are considered the optimal indicator. Steppe regions, where it rains infrequently but falls, allow you to grow almost twice as many plants - up to 40 thousand. Regions of central Russia with regular rainfall provide even better crops, making it possible to grow from 40 to 50 thousand plants per hectare. The best climate is warm, with heavy rains. For example, the technology of cultivating corn in the Krasnodar Territory provides for an even denser planting - from 50 to 55 thousand.
A standard landing depth is considered an indicator of 5-7 centimeters. However, in arid regions with rare rains, it makes sense to double it in order to avoid drying out.
In most regions, seeds that have not undergone cultivation are planted in open ground - this is not a necessary condition for obtaining a rich harvest.
Alas, in many regions of our country, characterized by a harsh climate, you can harvest only using seedlings. In this case, the seeds are first germinated in warm conditions - greenhouses or living quarters - and only after that they are planted in the ground. Of course, in this case we are not talking about growing corn on an industrial scale - only in small volumes, in a summer house or garden.
The optimum temperature is considered to be about 10-12 degrees Celsius. However, today you can find more frost-resistant varieties that can easily withstand lowering the temperature of the earth to +8 degrees. Low temperatures can cause serious harm and destroy most of the plants.
Crop Care
In the presence of regular rains falling at least once a week, you can do without watering. Otherwise, irrigation is mandatory - at least during the first 4-6 weeks, until the corn has a powerful root system and can not get moisture from the ground.
Also an important step in the care is the timely cleaning of corn from weeds. This is usually done by harrowing. Yes, in this case, some plants die - this must be taken into account when calculating before sowing. Dies up to 10% of the stems having two or three leaves. Older adults usually tolerate harrowing, while most weeds (up to 80 percent!) Die. Thanks to this, corn gets a serious head start and, thanks to its high height and density of planting, confidently chokes weeds, not allowing them to receive enough sunlight and moisture.
Some gardeners also recommend that, in order not to damage the main stem, carefully remove the lateral processes so that they do not pull part of the nutrients onto themselves. Then the number of ears and their size increases, which has a positive effect on productivity.
Fertilizer application
The use of fertilizers is especially important on weak and depleted soils. Therefore, special attention is paid to them by the technology of cultivating corn in Belarus. The importance of this culture is difficult to overestimate - the methods of application have already been mentioned above.
Manure is considered the best fertilizer - it is easily processed by microorganisms living in the soil, and provides the plant with all the necessary elements. However, its use often leads to a sharp increase in the number of weeds, the seeds of which are introduced into the soil along with manure. Because of this, many experts recommend using compost consisting of recycled manure and grass. It also contains most important components, but weed seeds are either damaged during decay or die due to high temperatures. This is especially important with the intensive technology of cultivating corn for grain.
If you intend to use the culture as a silo, then it is very important to use urea - this increases the amount of protein in grains and stems.
The use of mineral fertilizers is also important. About one kilogram of nitrogen, it is recommended to make about 24 kilograms of nitrogen, 25 potassium and 9 phosphorus. Thanks to these substances, plants get a good start - the root system develops faster, the green mass increases, as does the number of grains in the ears.
Harvesting
An important stage is the harvest. After all, the technology of cultivating and harvesting corn is a real science.
The optimal period is when about 70 percent of the cobs have reached waxy maturity. Further storage is possible both on the cob and in grain. In the first case, the optimum harvesting condition is about 40 percent humidity, and in the second - no more than 32.
For eating and preservation, slightly unripe, wetter grains are removed - they are the most soft, juicy and sweet. Overripe cobs become less soft, and part of the sugar turns into starch, due to which the shelf life is increased, but the taste is significantly reduced.
If it is planned to use not only cobs, but also stalks with foliage for subsequent silage, then they can be used immediately. It will be useful to talk about this complicated procedure in more detail.
Silage
Silo is an extremely important supplement to the diet of many herbivores. It not only contains a large amount of carbohydrates and proteins, but also a number of important vitamins, trace elements. Animals on this feed gain weight much faster than using ordinary hay, even the highest quality. Therefore, it will be useful to everyone who is interested in this issue to know about the technology of cultivating corn on silage and the intricacies of silage.
A suitable time to collect the stems along with the foliage is the end of milky-wax maturity. At this point, the moisture content of the corn is approximately 65-70 percent. This indicator is considered optimal.
The collected greens are carefully crushed using special equipment and put into special silos or large-volume plastic bags sold today. If necessary, greens are mixed with salt - for example, if you plan to add ready-made silage to the diet of cows. At the same time, salt acts as an excellent preservative, increasing the shelf life of a valuable product.
When using silos, greens are covered with earth, and the bags are simply tied to prevent air from entering. Thanks to this, the crushed corn does not dry out, and the fermentation process starts. This procurement procedure was practiced in the USSR. The modern technology of corn cultivation and silage has not changed at all.
Immediately it is worth considering that fermentation is accompanied by the release of an unpleasant odor, so it is clearly not worthwhile to carry out the process near the house.
In a month or two after harvesting, you can use the finished silo as an important food supplement for animals. It can either completely replace hay, due to its greater juiciness and calorie content, and become a successful addition to it.
Household storage of cobs
However, not all gardeners grow tens of square kilometers of corn, which they then harvest or use as silage. How to keep a valuable product in the household?
This is pretty easy to do. The ripened cobs are removed from the corn and exposed. Stigmas are thrown away or used for home treatment. In this case, the leaves are not removed, but left - thanks to them, you can easily tie several dozen cobs into a kind of pigtail or just tie the leaves around a cord or a horizontal stick. In this condition, they are suspended in a cool, well-ventilated place. The absence of moisture allows you to store the product for several years. Its taste cannot be called high, but it is quite possible to use such corn as a valuable fodder crop, for example, for fattening poultry.
Conclusion
On this our article comes to an end. Now you know the many subtleties of growing corn and harvesting. So, if necessary, you can easily translate all theoretical knowledge into practice.