Corn

June 1, I planted a raised bed of corn.  Nothing sprouted.  I carefully sifted the soil.   There are no seeds.  I put exactly 96 seeds in the ground …32 mounds of 3 seeds each. Nearby beds of beans are doing well. Obviously I am being raided …by what?

And, how do I prevent being raided by whatever it is next year?

Moles? Nah, they eat bugs, don't they? What about voles? Rhymes with moles. Must have been something thorough, hungry, and possible working as a team to be that effective.

A mystery!

There are so many things that could chow down on corn kernels. Birds and small mammals are the usual suspects but depending on your location, there are bugs as well. I suspect a crow watched me plant mine because he was digging around my corn bed this year. I think I have some corn growing regardless but still have yet to see the total damage done.

Moles, as suggested, voles or harvester ants.  Moles leaves a mound tunnel, voles leave hole and well harvester ants make trails ...

If you have not seen any of those then maybe as Timothy suggests, crows ...

Chipmunks are another possibility. Something that has helped for me, at least to a degree is to not "properly" prepare the planting area. I just clear narrow rows between the existing weeds and leave the weeds in place until the corn seeds have sprouted and the plants are tall and strong enough not to be pulled up by birds. I think the weeds basically act as camouflage hiding the seeds and seedlings and or confusing the critters. The corn often takes off slow but once it's a foot or so tall I hoe or pull the weeds and leave them on the ground between the rows or around the hills. Once the corn, as weak as it may appear at the time is freed from the weed competition it explodes into growth, very quickly.

What signs of disturbance have been left around the missing corn?

Hi Christopher,

No sign of disturbance. BUT, up to this week, we have had lots of rain in June… Eight days of heavy rain between the 1st and today.  So, I doubt if I would be able to notice.

Though you have given me food for thought.  After it cools off some, I will explore more.  With the top layer disturbed from the weather, it may  pay to dig deeper.

So, I took a hoe and carefully moved the top inch or less of soil.  I wasn’t expecting to find seeds …and didn’t.  I did uncover three American 1/2 dollar sized holes along the edge of the raised bed.

The plot thickens...

I also planted my corn seeds on June 1st this year. I presoaked the seeds and it rained afterwards. Seedlings emerged in just three days and now are at V5 . If I plant dry seeds in colder or drier conditions, it is harder to predict when they will sprout. If something goes wrong, it can take a long time to find out.

Mark Reed wrote: I just clear narrow rows between the existing weeds and leave the weeds in place until the corn seeds have sprouted and the plants are tall and strong enough not to be pulled up by birds. I think the weeds basically act as camouflage hiding the seeds and seedlings and or confusing the critters. The corn often takes off slow but once it's a foot or so tall I hoe or pull the weeds and leave them on the ground between the rows or around the hills. Once the corn, as weak as it may appear at the time is freed from the weed competition it explodes into growth, very quickly.

Pretty much exactly what I did this year. I still had to replant a lot of corn, but fortunately the second planting mostly survived.

In my case we have birds, various mammals, a wide variety of worms and bugs that all love sprouting corn. Most years I replant at least 10% and some years a lot more than that.