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Three Sisters Garden year 3, 2025

 
Thom Bri
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May, I took a second look at the bottom picture. I have a number of sprouts that look like that, with the leaves twisted. Is that Ca deficiency?
 
Thom Bri
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Suckering corn. The pic only shows three suckers, but there is a 4th behind the main stem.
Quite a lot this year. That may be because I planted fewer seeds per hill and also have rouged out a lot of the weaker ones due to the drought. I suspect the drought also increases suckering but am not sure.
PXL_20250704_140205760.jpg
suckering purple corn
suckering purple corn
PXL_20250704_140217001.jpg
suckering corn
suckering corn
 
May Lotito
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Thom Bri wrote:May, I took a second look at the bottom picture. I have a number of sprouts that look like that, with the leaves twisted. Is that Ca deficiency?



Here is the page from U Maryland about Ca deficiency and Dr Weil is the author of textbook "Nature and properties of soils". In my picture of that seedling (6/24/25), although the tips are not necrotic, the pattern of disorder in unfurling is the same. I carefully teased the leaves apart and now the plant is growing fine.

It's unlikely your soil is lacking calcium. Maybe you have pockets of high potassium that compete with calcium uptake, from too much wood ash.

Screenshot_20250706_100958_Chrome.jpg
Screenshot from UM page
Screenshot from UM page
IMG_20250704_081310.jpg
Repost pic of my seedling on 6/24
Repost pic of my seedling on 6/24
IMG_20250706_125032.jpg
Recovered
Recovered

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Thom Bri
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May Lotito wrote:

Thom Bri wrote:

It's unlikely your soil is lacking calcium. Maybe you have pockets of high potassium that compete with calcium uptake, from too much wood ash.


Thank you! I see a fair number of these twisted sprouts and always just yank them out. The ash idea has merit. 2 winters ago I heavily applied ash to quite a few hills. Not much last winter though.

 
Thom Bri
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After 1 inch and 2/10ths the garden looks much better. I am hoping for a lot of compensatory growth, but some of the corn is already tasseling at 3-5 feet tall, which is very short for this variety.
PXL_20250707_163758988.jpg
3 sisters garden
3 sisters garden
 
Thom Bri
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Random pics around the house, unrelated to the garden.
PXL_20250708_235209478.jpg
Bee balm (Monarda) with bees
Bee balm (Monarda) with bees
PXL_20250708_235254970.jpg
corn developing
corn developing
PXL_20250708_235319210.jpg
variable corn
variable corn
 
Thom Bri
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I trap gophers from around the house foundation. Their chirping drives my wife batty. Sometimes catch other things. This year a small bird, a rabbit, and...
PXL_20250707_163637240.jpg
trapped opossum
trapped opossum
 
Thom Bri
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More home pics
PXL_20250708_235459020.jpg
green peaches
green peaches
PXL_20250708_235716262.jpg
daylilies and hostas
daylilies and hostas
PXL_20250708_235813798.jpg
yellow legume flower
yellow legume flower
PXL_20250708_235826925.jpg
petunias and marigolds
petunias and marigolds
 
Thom Bri
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How it's supposed to look by this time:
PXL_20250709_174802518.jpg
[Thumbnail for PXL_20250709_174802518.jpg]
 
Thom Bri
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And...how a big chunk of it actually looks. Real poor germination probably due to the drought.
PXL_20250709_174509277.jpg
drought affected three sisters garden
drought affected three sisters garden
 
Thom Bri
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Some tools used today.
PXL_20250709_192708384.jpg
shovel, sickle, hoe
shovel, sickle, hoe
 
Christopher Weeks
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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
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We start later than y'all and also I've had some injuries that made things slow and late. But here's what my three sisters (plus sunflower) looked like two days ago. Instead of preparing the field, I just put down ~3-4 foot squares of cardboard, a couple slices of hay on top of that, and either a bag of "organic raised-bed soil" from the big box or half a cart of home compost on top of that. Plant corn and sunflowers. When something is three inches tall, plant beans nearby and squash down the sides of the mound. We'll see if I get anything!
3sisters20250710.jpg
four sisters
four sisters
 
Thom Bri
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Christopher Weeks wrote:We start later than y'all and also I've had some injuries that made things slow and late. But here's what my three sisters (plus sunflower) looked like two days ago. Instead of preparing the field, I just put down ~3-4 foot squares of cardboard, a couple slices of hay on top of that, and either a bag of "organic raised-bed soil" from the big box or half a cart of home compost on top of that. Plant corn and sunflowers. When something is three inches tall, plant beans nearby and squash down the sides of the mound. We'll see if I get anything!



Looks nice.
My only concern would be the sunflowers too close to the corn. Both are big competitors for sunlight. I don't actually plant sunflowers, just let them reseed themselves and they grow up wherever, but I cut out the ones too close to the corn hills.
 
Christopher Weeks
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At planting time, I convinced myself the corn wasn't going to thrive in that light airy dirt on top of hay and cardboard, so I was sort of covering my bases to get some kind of bean trellis in place. I might cut some stuff out if it seems problematic. Either way, I'll learn something.
 
Thom Bri
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Major squash bug infestation all the sudden. Yuck. Killed a few zillion eggs and nymphs today. Also lost two plants to vine borers this week.
 
Thom Bri
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Rain!
Real rain, not just a tenth or two. A few miles north it's flooding.
 
May Lotito
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Thom Bri wrote:After 1 inch and 2/10ths the garden looks much better. I am hoping for a lot of compensatory growth, but some of the corn is already tasseling at 3-5 feet tall, which is very short for this variety.



Is it due to lower leaf number or shorter nodes? I've never grown corns at the right time with optimal conditions so I don't know what really healthy corn plants should look like.  Another variety of my corns have tassels showing now, at 4 ft with 12-14 leaves. A kuri squash is setting fruits, without any pest issue.

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Thom Bri
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May Lotito wrote:

Thom Bri wrote:After 1 inch and 2/10ths the garden looks much better. I am hoping for a lot of compensatory growth, but some of the corn is already tasseling at 3-5 feet tall, which is very short for this variety.



Is it due to lower leaf number or shorter nodes?



It appears to be shorter length between the nodes. In those stalks now tasseling I am counting 10-12. The immature stalks I am waiting to see what they end up with. What I see with droughty corn is short, very thick stalks. But with 2 inches of rain this week things look very much improved.

I am losing a few squash vines every few days to boring worms. If I see the tell-tale signs I pull the vine out, even if it still looks Okay, and cut out the worm. Lots and lots of squash bugs too. Have spent over two hours going end to end of the field checking leaves and stems and removing eggs, nymphs and adults. But seeing some fruits forming so still hopeful. Picked a zucchini today.
 
Thom Bri
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Another nice rain today, lots of thunder! Things are looking good. The corn is stretching up as I had hoped, and most of it is tasseling. A lot of it is >6' tall (2 meters or so). Took some pics a few days ago.
 
Thom Bri
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A lot of squash bug activity this week. I charted 5.8 hours time spent dedicated to nothing but squash bug removal. Got maybe a dozen adults and many many egg clusters and nymphs.

As usual most of the eggs are on the lower surfaces of the leaves, but actually seeing them on all parts of the plant, upper leaf surface, stems, flowers. I even found egg clusters on other plants, beans and soybeans. Last year found some on sunflowers but so far not this year. I wonder how well those survive. The kabocha are more attractive, but they also attack the zucchini to a lessor extent.

One interesting observation, isolated plants, particularly those in more sunlight, seem to get attacked a lot more than plants growing densely together, and the outer leaves are attacked more than leaves at the center of the cluster. This hints at another reason for intercropping squash and corn.

And a nice pic of a new flower I found this year. I am guessing it was part of a mixed wild flower seed packet I spread out at some point in past years. My flower app says it is probably California poppy:
PXL_20250717_160437211.jpg
California poppy
California poppy
2025-07-17T11_04_01-05_00.JPEG
poppy
poppy
 
Thom Bri
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People seem really interested in two random topics, corn suckering and brace roots. I always seem to get a lot of reaction to pics of both these, and lots of questions. I am not sure why. Back in the early 1900s a lot of research was done at land-grant universities looking into these, and it was found that neither makes much difference to the plants.

Recently some studies suggest that brace roots may harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which the corn plant feeds with a sugar-rich mucous. I often see brace roots dripping mucous. I hope that theory is true.

The first pic is of a plant that looks to have a lot of hybrid corn in it's background. It is green, stalks, silk and tassel. The leaves are upward-pointing, not horizontal or down-drooping. Brace roots are covered in mucous. So I don't think this is a trait confined to Mexican land-races.

The second pic is of my purple corn, doing the same thing.

PXL_20250717_144930152.jpg
corn with brace roots dripping mucus
corn with brace roots dripping mucus
PXL_20250717_145949208.jpg
purple corn brace roots
purple corn brace roots
 
Thom Bri
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A nice pic showing the 3 sisters. That corn plant is about to be buried! I usually gently pull the squash vines off the corn plants, otherwise they will pull them down, or the first big wind will blow them down. One disadvantage to intercropping with vine beans is wind damage.
PXL_20250717_160513728.jpg
three sisters squash growing up the corn along with the beans
three sisters squash growing up the corn along with the beans
 
Thom Bri
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A kabocha squash. Planted 5/7/25.

PXL_20250717_150338189.jpg
Kabocha squash, dried flower still attached
Kabocha squash, dried flower still attached
 
Thom Bri
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Some corn plants. First pic is one that strongly resembles modern hybrid corn. Upright, vertical-aligned leaves, and no red or purple coloration. Plenty of hybrid corn has mixed in with my corn over the years and it shows up commonly. Another possible source is the glass gem seed I have been adding the last few years. Except for the ears, it looks exactly like hybrid corn. To the extent that I suspect they were deliberately crossed in to improve vigor and standability. The glass gem is very resilient, withstands strong winds very well and also insects and birds, which is why I am adding it in to my mix. But I wonder if it isn't just a hybrid mix.

The net two pics are my standard purple corn.
PXL_20250717_144910765.jpg
upright corn
upright corn
PXL_20250717_144611796.jpg
green and purple corn
green and purple corn
PXL_20250717_144712868.jpg
tasseled corn
tasseled corn
 
May Lotito
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All corns are silking and squashes are sprawling. Hopefully they will enjoy the intense heat in the next two weeks.
IMG_20250720_071720.jpg
3 sis garden 50 days
3 sis garden 50 days

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Cy Cobb
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Thom: For your comparison, I have zero tillering from your seed, & some are even showing 3 ears per plant. We've had some wicked storms & they are holding fast. A few lodged a little, but I blame myself for heavily watering before a storm. After 3 failed rain forecasts prior, I stopped believing the weather forecast during the drought.

Dirty hands + a sweaty handkerchief = hope for the future.

 
Thom Bri
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Cy Cobb wrote:Thom: For your comparison, I have zero tillering from your seed, & some are even showing 3 ears per plant. We've had some wicked storms & they are holding fast. A few lodged a little, but I blame myself for heavily watering before a storm. After 3 failed rain forecasts prior, I stopped believing the weather forecast during the drought.



Tillering is variable. Some plants don't at all, and others have several. Happy it is holding up for you.
 
Thom Bri
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Thom Bri wrote:

Cy Cobb wrote: some are even showing 3 ears per plant.




Prolificacy is a genetic trait that I want to breed for but have not gotten around to. But many of individual stalks will have several ears. Sometimes the second ear is nearly as good as the main ear.

In my sweet corn I do encourage prolificacy. I pick and eat the main ear and usually the second ear and save seed from remaining ears. So only plants with multiple ears pass on to the following year. I hope that over time I will get many eared corn. One variety I have is a very early miniature corn that generally produces ear after ear.
Some mini corn pics from 2023:
9-eared-sweet-corn.jpg
9 eared sweet corn
9 eared sweet corn
tiny-sweet-corn.png
[Thumbnail for tiny-sweet-corn.png]
tiny-sweetcorn.jpg
tiny sweet corn
tiny sweet corn
 
Thom Bri
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This hill has 3 stalks and seven ears forming, including on the tillers.

PXL_20250724_165932715.jpg
7 eared corn
7 eared corn
 
Thom Bri
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Just a general pic. Shows the width between the hills and some companion crops.
PXL_20250724_175054107.jpg
corn and beans
corn and beans
 
Thom Bri
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According to my notes I first found squash bugs on July 11th. Since then I have spent literally 8 hours cleaning bugs and eggs off the plants. A little crazy. I even dreamed about them last night, leaves covered with eggs.

I even found eggs on a corn plant today. I think the bugs are not too smart.

But looks like lots of squash this fall, and zucchinis now.
 
Riona Abhainn
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Oh man, those bugs sound like a pain in the ass.  Sorry they showed up.

I do Celtic, fantasy, folk and shanty singing at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals, pirate campouts, and other events in OR and WA, USA.
RionaTheSinger on youtube

 
Thom Bri
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Riona Abhainn wrote:Oh man, those bugs sound like a pain in the ass.  Sorry they showed up.



Here every year! Unfortunately the squash variety my wife likes is also very attractive. Other varieties do better, if you plan to plant squash.
 
Thom Bri
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First tomatoes seen this year. I don't plant them, all volunteers so they tend to get started later than if I bought them in pots. Not a lot this year, but a few scattered here and there across the field.
PXL_20250726_210042313.jpg
little green tomatoes
little green tomatoes
 
Thom Bri
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Not just squash. Actually having better luck this year with cantaloupes. I put in a lot of seeds and a fair number are growing, taking the place of squash in the understory. Planted a lot of watermelon too, but only one sprouted.
Cantaloupe, beans etc:
PXL_20250726_205159994.jpg
three sisters with corn, beans, cantaloupe
three sisters with corn, beans, cantaloupe
 
May Lotito
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Small maxima squashes have smaller leaves and they can be shaded out by more vigorous pepo and moschata when planted together. Plants are doing well in general.  However, it has been hot and dry and I find various sap suckers are moving in.
IMG_20250727_074652.jpg
Kabocha climbing onto pokeweed
Kabocha climbing onto pokeweed
IMG_20250727_074655.jpg
Kakai
Kakai

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Thom Bri
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May Lotito wrote:Small maxima squashes have smaller leaves and they can be shaded out by more vigorous pepo and moschata when planted together. Plants are doing well in general.  However, it has been hot and dry and I find various sap suckers are moving in.



I am not well-educated on the differences between different squash varieties. I grow 3 kinds. One is Kabocha which is a maxima. One is a viney summer squash which the seed packet called zucchini, but it's much fatter than any zucchini I ever saw. The last is a bush zucchini. All seem pretty vulnerable to vine borers. The zucchini slightly less sensitive to squash bugs.

I lost a lot of plants to vine borers. Wish I had a good way to prevent them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_vine_borer
 
Thom Bri
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A few days until first sweet corn! I am pretty excited. This garden is not part of my 3 sisters plot. It's part of an old corn field that got sprayed to clear weeds, so completely not organic in any way. But I planted sweet corn, squash and beans and cantaloupes here. As you can see, completely overrun with weeds. I am just ignoring them at this point. The squash pretty much overgrows the tops of the weeds and the cantaloupe doesn't do too bad. Already lots of squash and cantaloupes on the vines.
PXL_20250801_185642996.jpg
melon
melon
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lush diverse garden
lush diverse garden
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ripening melon
ripening melon
 
Thom Bri
pollinator
Posts: 765
Location: Illinois
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posted 2 months ago
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How weird. All the sudden all the pics have labels. How did that happen?
 
May Lotito
gardener
Posts: 2053
Location: Zone 6b
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forest garden fungi books chicken fiber arts ungarbage
posted 2 months ago
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A well intended staff member added captions to the pictures (not me). If a photo just have a file name, usually just numbers and no caption describing the content, it is not showing up well on internet search. Staff members will manually put captions on such photos if they think they are interesting and worth the time, because they will need to read the posts thoroughly first. If you would like to do it by yourself or prefer other wordings in the future, key in the info when you upload the pictures.

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
So it takes a day for light to pass through this glass? So this was yesterday's tiny ad?
montana community seeking 20 people who are gardeners or want to be gardeners
https://permies.com/t/359868/montana-community-seeking-people-gardeners
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