Corn Variety: Bloody Butcher

As I delve into my adventures in growing corn, I figure I will provide a little research I have put together on a variety of corn known as 'Bloody Butcher"

Bloody Butcher

Name: Bloody Butcher
Origin: 1800s Virginia
Variety: Dent Corn
Pollination: Open Pollination
Grow Time: 90 - 110 Days

A potentially tall variety of heirloom corn reaching up to a staggering 10ft tall, Bloody Butcher has a long history in America. Cultivated originally in Appalachia, this cultivar of corn was utilized for a variety of uses including flour/meal, animal feed, and brewing. This cultivar of corn appears to be adaptable to a variety of climate conditions outside its 'home' region. My crop in the Northeast is a testament to this ability. This corn started to disappear with the onset of commercial varieties of corn in the 1900's but luckily for us has been preserved to the modern day. It may not reach the yields of those new varieties but it is still a strong producer.

Bloody Butcher—This is a hybrid between the Hackberry Dent and Red, and is considerably grown in the bottoms . It matures about the first of October in the norther portion of the State, and from ten days to two weeks earlier in the southern. Each stalk bears one ear with twelve to sixteen rows, and is of medium to large size, and dull yellow red and striped colors, and is a soft variety. - H. Klippert in the Thirteenth Annual Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture (1858)

This is my first year trying to grow Bloody Butcher. I have planted a test patch and I have some stalks already reaching nine to ten feet. I have been relatively hands-off letting the weeds grow underneath and the corn still has been doing great.

I have entered the tassel phase of growth and am excited to start seeing some cobs in the near future. I already plan to plant a larger space next year with this variety.

It's pretty, isn't it. If I wanted a soft flour corn this might be it. Hope you post more pics. I'd like to see the plants as it grows.

Behold, my little patch of chaos. It is a testament to the corn for it's ability to still thrive amongst competition. The planting was essentially tossing out corn and pushing it into the earth with a stick. I was not intending to succeed to tell you the truth.

Stalks of Bloody Butcher corn coming out of a polyculture.

I have been growing bloody butcher on the east coast of Australia, temperate climate, for the last 3 years. It grows well here.
If anyone in Aus wants seeds ask at
futureaters.com.au

I live in West Virginia, a region suited to dent corn, and have grown Bloody Butcher as well as Blue Clarage and Green Oaxacan and a couple of others. I've been told my corn is not really BB as it looks more like the image above, almost entirely that deep red color--BB, I was told, should be red-streaked white. Yields were decent but perhaps would have been better--more stalks with two ears--if I put my rows further apart. One thing I can tell you, which may apply to any corn--is that it isn't true that corn seed is only good for one year. It's good for at least two or three. But I think it's probably true that you need to save seed from at least a couple dozen different plants--corn is an obligate outbreeder. Bloody Butcher and Blue Clarage need over 100 days, so I grow the green Oaxacan in circumstances in which I don't have that long--or need shorter plants. It doesn't yield as well but can produce in 80 or 90 days. And it's a beautiful green, complementary to the deep red of BB and the dark blue of BC.

Bloody butcher is one of the varieties I'd like to grow. However,  I'm in an uphill battle to grow anything. Here's a portion of that story...

Having recently moved to western West Virginia from Southern California has been an eye-opener.  We are located at the top of the hills here, and it seems its all clay just below the surface up top. I've asked a few farmers in the hollars (bottoms) if they are on clay. Nope. I'm jealous but challenged.

In the pursuit of corn growing, I see many only planting a row or possibly 2. I've always been instructed that corn requires block planting; multiple rows close together (plants 6-8 inches and rows 12-18 inches) because it's a wind pollinated plant. With only 1-2 rows, the wind might only pollinate the row "downwind".

I'm working towards growing grain crops on my clay. I'm of the opinion that I need dump truck loads of wood chips, straw, & manure across even just 1 small field to achieve this. I've signed up with chip drop but nothing has come of it. I recently inquired of a hay farmer if the giant round bales I see sitting in the rain are trashed that I might get some for this endeavor. I was told they are still good for use. So I keep my eyes open for bulk materials.
Maybe one day before I die or become too decrepit ill get to grow corn.

I tried bloody butcher one year. It got at least 10ft tall... and the raccoons found it the night before I was going to harvest it. When I have a large enough garden again, I will be trying this again.

Deedee--where are you? I'm in Roane County. I am also on the ridge, and have clay soil, but my neighbor with a garden 700 feet away, on the highest point, has sandy soil. When I lived in the next county I was in the holler and had clay--but on the ridge there, was a sandy place. So maybe this isn't a matter of elevation. As for corn growing, i grow it in a flat field; most things do better in my raised beds but for corn and sorghum I prefer flat ground that can be tilled, and this garden has heavy soil. But corn grows well there anyway--it needs good anchoring and rich soil, and clay retains nutrients and moisture better than sand--even if it's harder to work and dries into concrete. Mulch is a must. I collect cardboard from local hardware stores that sell appliances, and lay that between the rows under the mulch--the mulch is always hay, which always is full of clover and grass seeds, and the cardboard slows their germination as well as allowing less hay to be used.

Mary Cook wrote:Deedee--where are you? I'm in Roane County. I am also on the ridge, and have clay soil, but my neighbor with a garden 700 feet away, on the highest point, has sandy soil.

Hi Mary- Cabell county nestled between 3 tall radio/TV towers above Huntington.  About the only truly flat ground is under the house or under a giant pile of firewood that is slowly getting used.

My tomatoes have suffered raccoon predation. I'll have to figure out how to keep them out of a corn field!

Dee dee--ha! Welcome to West Virginia. No flat ground here, no straight roads. Gardens and homesteads are usually either on the ridges or the bottoms, because that's where the only semi-level ground is. 95% of every farm I know is steep wooded hillside, which needs to remain wooded because it's steep. That's why WV is not a farm state. Although Cabell County is more flat... as for raccoons, you need a fence but maybe they climb those? I have not had a problem with them. Unless they're who got my sunflowers, when that patch had a crap fence...

Deedee Dezso wrote:Bloody butcher is one of the varieties I'd like to grow. However,  I'm in an uphill battle to grow anything. Here's a portion of that story...

Having recently moved to western West Virginia from Southern California has been an eye-opener.  We are located at the top of the hills here, and it seems its all clay just below the surface up top. I've asked a few farmers in the hollars (bottoms) if they are on clay. Nope. I'm jealous but challenged.

In the pursuit of corn growing, I see many only planting a row or possibly 2. I've always been instructed that corn requires block planting; multiple rows close together (plants 6-8 inches and rows 12-18 inches) because it's a wind pollinated plant. With only 1-2 rows, the wind might only pollinate the row "downwind".

I'm working towards growing grain crops on my clay. I'm of the opinion that I need dump truck loads of wood chips, straw, & manure across even just 1 small field to achieve this. I've signed up with chip drop but nothing has come of it. I recently inquired of a hay farmer if the giant round bales I see sitting in the rain are trashed that I might get some for this endeavor. I was told they are still good for use. So I keep my eyes open for bulk materials.
Maybe one day before I die or become too decrepit ill get to grow corn.

Apparently if you get the soil biology right it should break up the clay for you, but I think you’re on the right track with using organic matter. Have you tried hot compost or Johnson Sue?

Ryan Burkitt wrote:

Apparently if you get the soil biology right it should break up the clay for you, but I think you’re on the right track with using organic matter. Have you tried hot compost or Johnson Sue?

I've never heard of Johnson Sue.
If I could just get the volume I need to get 1 of the small fields to have good soil... it's going to take awhile with only 4 breeding does (rabbits) working to produce the manure part of this solution.

Deedee, one of my gardening goals is to avoid relying on outside inputs--which is partly pushed by my favorite gardening book, Cindy Connor's Grow a Sustainable Diet. But I think when you're establishing a new place, that's impractical, and you should feel free to import manure or compost or whatever good organic matter you can get. Then you can use cover crops and your own compost, leafmold, manure, to maintain the fertility and tilth. I also use sand, which is controversial--there is a thread here about that--but it has worked for me. You want coarse sand. And you don't want to rob your own woods of leaves, too much, but I rake up most of our mile-long gravel lane--we don't want good tilth in the road--and chop it, usually with the lawnmower, and keep it in wire bins--a year later I have lovely leafmold, which is especially good, they say, for carrots and cole crops (brassicas).

Mary - I just need to find free for the hauling materials. I don't know many locals, but the word is out that I'm in the market to relieve someone of a mountian of manure, hay/straw, etc.  I do mow my fallen leaves in a few areas that we keep clear, but I don't go down to the next bench to rake them off the forest floor. I've also put raked leaves into a trash can and used my weed whacker to pulverize them for immediate addition to my raised beds that will sleep until spring.
I think if I can create an inch of something resembling soil I might be able to plant cover crop seeds to grow and maybe they can start breaking up the top inch or two. Until I can get 4-6 inches of breakup, I really don't think I can grow much.

Deedee Dezso wrote:
Having recently moved to western West Virginia from Southern California has been an eye-opener.  We are located at the top of the hills here, and it seems its all clay just below the surface up top. I've asked a few farmers in the hollars (bottoms) if they are on clay.

Try planting in hills rather than rows. Use a hoe to scrape the top inch of the surrounding soil for a few feet around each hill, then plant 4-5 seeds in each hill, hills 3-5 feet apart. Corn does pretty well in clay if given half a chance.

Thanks Thom. I've considered that method because I want to try the 3 sisters at least once in my life!  To break up this clay to attempt an experimental patch of bio drilling and tilling plants, I used a sheet vinyl knife. I made many passes to break up that soil. I didn't get deep enough really for the radish seeds but there were radish sprouts verifiable. I used alfalfa, daikon radish, flax and crimson clover.  There were 4 or 5 short rows. Then in harshest permies fashion, it only got 1 watering by hand. I left them to the elements. I saw sprouts of most but it was dry and they failed.

I haven't made any progress since because I've been focused on my rabbits and getting space built for chickens to be added this year. I'll get around to a catch up post sometime. Bottom line here, I believe I will have to bring in a ton of materials to improve what I can, where I can, and while I have the energy and health to get my infrastructure in place. All while also keeping up on the maintenance aspect of keeping land.