How to Protect Just Emerged Corn Seed in a Garden
Corn is an easy vegetable to grow, but protecting seeds and newly emerged seedlings can be a challenge. One hazard is late frosts. Rabbits love young plants and will graze emerging shoots to the ground, while mice will dig up and eat newly emerging seeds. The Henry Doubleday Research Association's "Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" indicates that slugs prefer damp conditions and will be attracted to seeds and seedlings with moist surrounding soil, including corn.
Protecting emerging corn seed requires some planning and vigilance, but the effort will ensure young corn plants thrive.
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Things You'll Need
- Garden fleece
- Straw or hay
- Cloches, homemade or purchased
- Shallow containers of beer or juice
- Hoe
- Garden fence
- Fine mesh wire fencing
Instructions
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Frost Protection
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1
Drape lightweight garden fleece over the top of newly emerged corn plants. If wind is expected, weight down the edges of the fleece with stones or bricks.
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2
Pile straw or hay next to emerging corn seed to create "walls," and place a thin layer of hay over the walls to provide a "roof" to enclose the seedlings.
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3
Use a cloche, a transparent plant cover. The Royal Horticultural Society's "Essential Gardening Techniques" recommends using individual cloches made of plastic bottles that have been sliced in two. Remove the screw top for ventilation and place one bottle over each corn seedling. Cloches not only protect plants from frost, but on cooler days they also act as mini greenhouses, warming the air and soil around the plants they're protecting.
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4
Use larger cloches manufactured from plastic or, more rarely, glass to cover numerous corn plants if frost is expected.
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5
Consider using poly-tunnels for protecting large areas of newly emerging corn seed from frost.
Protection From Slugs and Insects
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6
Water the bottom of the drill when sowing corn seeds and cover with dry soil to avoid attracting slugs.
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7
Water young plants in the morning, allowing the plant and sun to absorb water during the day, leaving the just emerged corn seeds drier at night.
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8
Avoid using mulch around corn seed that is just emerging. Mulch helps surrounding soil retain moisture, making seedlings more attractive to slugs.
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9
Protect emerging plants from insects with individual cloches.
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10
Hoe regularly to disturb slime trails that may be used by other slugs and snails to locate edible plants.
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11
Set out small, shallow containers of beer or juice as traps.
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12
Scatter lettuce leaves as alternative food sources around emerging corn seeds.
Protection From Larger Pests
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13
Protect your garden from rabbits and other pests with a mesh fence 3 to 4 feet above ground and an additional 1 foot buried. Select mesh with small holes roughly 1 inch in diameter.
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14
Use individual cloches or lightweight netting to protect emerging corn seed from mice and other pests.
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15
Lay fine mesh wire fencing over the soil to protect seeds before they emerge. The mesh prevents mice from digging up newly sown seeds.
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16
Set out traps baited with apple, carrot or potato to catch mice.
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