Cornfield for wildlife.

Hi there! I'm looking for more ways to help wildlife in the short run while I wait for my native gardens to become more established and mature to provide a stronger and stable environment for all living beings. I love to draw birds such as crows, grackles, blue jays, sparrows, grackles, cardinals and others year in and year out to ensure greater survival. Could any type of dent corn or an ornamental type do the trick? And what about sorghums which grow similar to corn? How could I design my cornfields in a way I do my hedgerows? I'll welcome any ideas and stuff to help draw birds and other creatures quickly to my gardens. Thanks!

The last time we planted corn unfortunately we didn't get to eat any of it.  The deer decided we had planted it for them.

Do you have deer?

Do you plan to dry the corn and then give the wildlife the cobs or remove the kernels for them?

Some birds will eat the corn from the cobs though for smaller birds you might need to crack the corn kernels.

What about a sunflower/cover crop mix?

Deer also got the sunflower patch we planted for dove and quail.

I don't have deer, but I have birds and squirrels in an urban area. I heard raccoons like the Buhl sweet corn so much and anybody grew that kinda corn?

The thing about corn is the seed is selectively bred to remain fixed to the cob.  Makes harvest easier for humans, but tougher for birds.  A lot of the corn birds wind up eating in agricultural landscapes is the result of machinery (corn shattering in the combine, spilling from the grain truck, etc) and not birds plucking seeds from the ear.  

You might consider broomcorn- it's a sorghum, the seeds come free easier than a lot of corn or sorghum varieties, and birds like it.  As much as I hate it, birds also *love* ragweed- 40+ species of songbirds will glean the seed.  Sunflowers, and safflower, are two other options for annual seed-producing plants that get big and are attractive to birds.  

I plant many types of sunflowers and the bees, butterflies, birds, deer, and squirrels seem to love them. I also have a corn patch that the squirrels seem to like to harvest from. Sometimes I'll put some of the seed I collect in the fall back out on winter days when many birds are stopping by.

I leave the sunflower and cornstalks standing through winter and the birds often check them out. Part of leaving the stalks standing is for the over-wintering insect population, which I imagine the birds are happy to find some of them when the snow is a couple feet deep.

One winter there was a snowshoe-hare sitting in the snow in our small corn stand. I was a foot away with my daughter and it didn't try to move. We left it part of a store-bought carrot that it didn't eat it, and it was gone when we checked the next time. Soon after my neighbor told me that another neighbor had seen a lynx near the woods behind our house.

You planted some mammoth type sunflowers for larger seedheads to feed a lot of birds? And what about dent corn?

In addition to the excellent suggestions already given, you might try small grains such as wheat, rye, or millet. They can become self-seeding annuals.

If planting corn, sweet and flour are more accessible to wildlife than flint or pop.

Cushaw squash are eaten more by wildlife in my garden than any other species of squash.

Seeds of lettuce, lambsquarters, and amaranth attract a lot of birds to my garden. There may be species of wildflowers that attract wildlife. Anything with bright red flowers attracts hummingbirds.

A source of water can really draw in wildlife in arid climates, as can piles of brush.

How are cushaws more appealing to wildlife? I've grown some cushaws this year since they among the most common of all Native American squashes. How we make soups and stuff from them as long as they don't get too stringy?

I plant some mammoth and a mix of many different colored smaller ones. I also have some Helianthus tuberosus that don't flower often, but did this year. I also found a few seeds from them which I plan on planting in the spring. I imagine birds found some before I did, as I only thought to check a few weeks after they had dried.

We have been designing our space with a plan to eventually have chickens, so the sunflowers are part of that, as well as trellises for other plants, soil stabilization, pollinator habitat, to help attract wild birds which seem to help keep our diverse insect population in check, a possible oil/food source for the future, etc.

I plant a yellow sweet corn that seems to have been adapted to our short cool growing season. I often plant too densely which seems to result in many small/unfinished ears. I leave alot of those on the stalks, and find many of the cobs scattered around, along with empty sunflower heads. It's fun to watch the squirrels climb trees with them.

I haven't planted dent corn, but am hoping to try flint corn at some point. I will likely leave the stalks in the winter of those as well, and I imagine something will eat what I don't harvest, if not while standing, while becoming soil.

We have many robins and bluejays that hang around, sometimes bluebirds, goldfinch, some hummingbirds, chickadees and woodpeckers, an occasional flock of turkey, and others.

 

Could we plant sorghum and corn at the same time since they mature at different times? I'm looking to grow as many as I can next year to not only help birds, but save seed to grow again the next year. How I keep the remaining ears and leave the rest for wildlife?

I haven't planted any corn besides sweet corns but I tried the sorghum broom corns and loved them. They have multi purposes as poultry feed, bird seeds, materials for making brooms and brushes and also provide habitats for wildlife. They have strong root systems that go very deep and help to build up soil fertility in the long term. The broom corn stalks resemble bamboo and rot down much slower than corn stalks. I took advantage of that and kept a few strong ones standing as next year's bean trellis too.

Could we plant those with corn to help animals decide what to eat in the fall and winter? I've read one of the books about creating different garden designs for birds and it was cool to read. I was thinking of adding some buckwheat and stuff to complement the corn and stuff.

The most economical way for me is to buy a big bad of wild bird seed mix and broadcast around. Maybe cover with straws so they won't be all gone before germination. There is a good combination of corn, sorghum, sunflower, lentil and other kinds that birds like.

Capital idea! How does the plan work? Do I have to lay out a seed mat and something to cover up the seeds such as much or hay from other critters? I have native plants in my gardens and don't wanna harm them in their young stage.

If you are sowing into existing vegetation, just broadcast more seeds to compensate. Do that when weather is warm enough and there are days of soaking rain in the forecast, say some time in May or June. You may look up seed ball making, that will help to protect seeds and aid germination too.

May how you been? Is there a way to help grazing animals such as deer. I'm from an urban area and it's impossible to draw deer unless I'm close to a large wooded area. How can we help deer if we ever see them in urban areas?