some "varmint" is eating my corn....

I'm pretty sure it is crows though I havent seen them. It seems that something of the "birdie" persuasion is pecking the stalk into about a foot up the plant.

No...its not corn borers because the plant material clearly looks pecked and there are no prints in the MUD around the stalk.

I've put out my owl and some red streamers....Darn varmits !!!

Have you tried mylar streamers? I have heard that keeps the birds away, but haven't tried it. You can just cut up saved old ballons, or get some from the dollar store without the helium, or buy sheets of mylar at the craft store, cut into streamers, and tie to a stake. The reflection supposedly resembles fire to birds and rabbits...

Use the mylar type windmill thingies...what are those things called...Pinwheels!

I've put some out. Maybe that will help. thanks :)

Usually you can tell if the culprit is crows at least Northwestern Crows usually go along the row and pull up the plant and just eat the attached corn seed snd leave the plant lay beside the row just to taunt you. Ernie

Well, I have just about decide that it is crows. However, this corn is waist high !!

Whatever, is pecking the stalks into ! no its not corn stalk borers its something with a beak !! no footprints in the mud around the stalk.

Never seen the crows bother waist high corn. Ernie

Me neither, and crows are big birds that would leave footprints where you have mud.

Exactly.....whatever is doing it...has to be hanging onto the stalk, the debris looks shredded like a bird pecking. then I'm thinking maybe it is some kind of chewing big bug...but I cant keep sevin on it as it rains every day. I'm loosing about 6 stalks a day, in a while it wont be a problem any longer...all the corn will be gone.

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another

Rabbit, dog? Get a gun? You poor thing, I though mine looked bad (rabbits I think)

Not a bunny....I dont think they can reach that high. The damage area is too small to be a dog and there are no footprints in the mud ! I keep the 410 beside the back door but I havent yet seen anything to shoot at ! :)

Those naughty things! Must be more than one of them. This is when you wish you had a hidden camera setup! Can you tape that one stalk up, so it can make some ears for you?

Maybe some lovebirds desperate for some nesting materials? No, they wouldn't leave debris behind. Maybe they were eating the corn borers? Sure isn't grasshoppers.

I don't know what to tell you, can't imagine if that were to happen to me and my corn!

Don't woodpeckers like cracked corn?

most woodpeckers eat bugs

True, and they're going after the stalks, not the cobs... so maybe woodpeckers are going after corn borers or something buggy?

That's funny Donna, that is what I kept picturing, but it sounded so stupid in my head, I was actually afraid to say it. Now I confess I was thinking that too. Weird as it may seem, those marks on that corn is just as weird!

Could it be a woodpecker named Jimmy? (Jimmy cracked corn, and i don't care!)

Sorry Charlotteda, not trying to poke fun at your troubles, it is just late, and I am too silly. Still wish you had a camera, maybe if it is a woodpecker, you could win a lot of money on AFV ;-)

Smile

Well, I'm totally aggravated but it has become a mystery.
I had about 3 rows 50 ft long. Seem to loose about 6 stalks a day.
I dont think any moth is big enough to do that, no other evidence of corn borers...we've had so much rain almost any land animal would have left some tracks in the mud..still convinced it is something of the birdie persuasion.

I've got almost the same thing but they are only eating the smaller tenderer stalks so I'm thinking rabbits or grasshoppers.
-Juli

A sa l;at resort, you might get an old metal bucket (or several) to put around the bed, then fill with bloodmeal, water, and male urine. It will keep mammals away, and narrow down who the culprit is...

thanks for the advice Tamara but I think it would keep me away too :0 :) and my husbands Great Dane lab mix would probably turn it over and roll in it ..LOL

no kidding.... :-)

So how is the corn? Did it repair itself? I had one stalk lying on the ground last week, only to see that a new shoot was coming up the middle. So I had hoped that your corn could recover, and, of course, that you had caught the varmit and rid the world of him!

Thanks for asking Tamara...no it cant repair itself and I am too disgusted to wait and see if a new shoot ever shows up. I spayed it with Sevin but that didnt help. I loose about 4 stalks each day/night. Soon it will be gone and no longer a problem but I would love to know what is doing the damage.

Well, we fenced ours in but now I'm thinking it's got to be mice or those so cute kangaroo rats. It has to be something small enough to fit through chicken wire. Hubby put out mice traps to catch whatever it is.
Maybe we've got really slow aliens trying to do the cornfield crop circle thing???? Hmmm....(theme from x-files plays in the background)
-Juli(ducking her head as she walks away)

Could it be 'el bandito tha masked coon?

Charlotteda~
Shall I just send you some of my corn when it is ripe? Still feeling your pain, and beginning to take it personally!
~Tamara

Tamara...thank you so much for your interest...no..there will be some corn around..I grow it as much for the stalks for the goats..as the ears for me !

regarding coons,...would a coon be after the stalk only ? and no footprints ever in the mud around the base of the plants..would have to be a flying coon...LOL...but you never know ..... :)

I wondered that too, then thought maybe he was referring to Juli's mystery critters, not yours...

If I were a racoon, I would learn to fly if it got me corn, but not stalks...

What kind of goats do you have?

Nubians
they love to get all dusty...

Well, at least the red clay matches their coats LOL My friend has nubians and la manchas. I am looking forward to getting chickens, guineas, turkeys, and horses, but will probably never have goats... I love to look at them though :-)

We've had chickens and horses but have now turn to goats !

Wow, what did you feed your chicks and horses to turn them into goats? LMHO...

oh... thats too funny ..isnt it !!!

Hey, you said it, not me :-P

I had a wood chuck other wise known as a whistle hound or ground hog that stood nearly three feet tall on it's hind legs and it was a night time feaster. Shot him with a 1250 f.s.p pellet rifle after losing aprox. 14 ears from different plants. Pesky critter was hard to judge when he'd be around. He happened to be feeding one early morning when the sun had just come up when I got him. Sure looks like ground hog chews to me....

thank you so much....we do have some of those in the area... seems that he would have left footprints but I do appreciate your input...