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What's eating my sweet corn seedlings?

D

David from Kansas

Well-known Member
Been growing sweet corn for years and have never seen this. As soon as the plants emerge and are from 1/2" to 1-1/2" tall, something comes along and digs out around the plant (little circle about 3/4" in diameter and goes down to where the sprout comes out of the seed, then chews the plant off, just leaving it lie there. Whatever it is it just goes right down the row and gets almost every plant, maybe misses one in about every 20 or so, or maybe misses two or three in a row. Any ideas?
 
Do you have crows? Last year I lost about 3 acres of field corn to crows and the discription sounds the same.
wayne
 
Don't have them things around here. Thought first might be bunnies, but I have a two wire hot wire around the corn, and the hole is very small where they dig. Looks like it has to be an insect of some kind. Would stink bugs do that? Don't see anything in the daytime so they must be working after hours. I'll go get some pics to post.
 
Ground squirrels will eat seed as you describe. They are worse in no till as their burrows are not disturbed. The burrows may be obvious, but are hard to see in heavy stubble. Unless you are really infested they are not much of a problem in tilled ground. Could also be birds, but they usually get the seed before the plant emerges.
 
Haven't seen a crow around here for months. Slugs.....hmmmm. What do they look like and are they nighttime critters? Here are some pics, maybe.
a16154.jpg

a16155.jpg
 
We have ground squirrels here, but this is in my garden and I haven't seen a ground squirrel ever in our yard. We have cats and dogs, maybe that is why. Central Kansas.
 
Most definitely looks like Crow pull. Lost a few acres of field corn to them last year. The holes looks the same, same exact description of what they do. A couple crows is all it would take to do a lot of damage. How many plants are pulled.
 
Did not see the holes before my first post. Those holes look exactly like the ones birds make-sparrows, etc and other local birds, as opposed to birds going cross-country -- never had a problem with crows. As to the ground squirrels mentioned above, they leave a similar hole, but sunflower seed is what they really like.
 
I had research plots in Garden City -- they destroyed most of my sunflowers every year -- see below.
 
This is crazy, I have the same problem in my field corn this year. I ve never seen it before either. If you find out please post it and i will do the same.
 
We raise corn in SE Minnesota and had the SAME problem.Made me so dang mad I laid low behind a hill and waited.Low and behold,the culprits came out. A pair of pheasants,rooster & hen.

Anyone who wanted to hunt our soil conservation filter strips that fall did and got their limit.

We keep the pheasants in check and haven't seen it happen again in 3 years.
 
birds of some sort, around here: usually blackbirds. by far the most challenging part of growing corn (for me). as far as i know, there is nothing labeled for use as a bird repellent (in terms of seed treatments). if you discover anything that works, tell us!
 
I have not had a problem this year, so far. Knock on wood. I got a different problem today. Wood ticks sure are out in force. Son of a gun, was out in the tall grass seprating the fields from the fence around the place today, and when took off my clothes to shower, 4 wood ticks burrowed in me. None in my hair, which would've made it a little harder to get them, but in my legs and back. Brushed one off my arm earlier in the day. I'm in nothern Indiana on the Michigan border. It aint the end of the world, but they sure are bothersome for me and the dogs.

Mark
 
on second thought that could be voles they did that to my cantolope on year i set out mouse traps only cought 2 but was fixed
 
I had the same exact problem last year for the first time. It looked exactly like yours. I still dont know what did it. Replanted and they ate that too. finally planted it about 1/4 mile away. We dont have ground squirell or gophers either and not many crows around. I was thinking maybe an armadillo or rat.
 
Here in western MN striped gophers do that, they dig for the kernel and eat that. this is in field corn, I am sure they like sweet corn too.
Brian(MN)
 
You say you do not see anything in daylight, must be happening after hours. Most likely field rats or voles or other small rodents. You will not see them in daylight as they stay hidden from predators. Look closely at a few of your pulled- up corn seedlings. If it was bird damage, the tiny plant will have a couple of pinch marks slanting diagonally downward where the bird clamped its beak on it to pull it from the ground . Rodent damage does not show the pinch marks, just severed/chewed from the seed and the small cone shaped hole with a little loose soil around it. Birds will peck at and move some soil but they always pull with their beak ,hence the marks on the seedling.
For those of us that have bird (crow, pheasant, crane, turkey , etc. ) damage every year, there is a bird repellent product that hopefully will be on the market nationwide in a couple of years. Called Avipel. Info from the makers website shows impressive photos of treated / untreated areas.
Avipel
 
Same problem with blackbirds here in W. Ky. An older gentlemen told me to douse the seed in turpentine. So, I got a ziplock bag, put the seed in and poured in a little turpentine, shook it around and headed to the garden. I did put up a scare crow also but it alone has had very little effect in the past. The conclusion, so far so good. The corn seedlings are about 3 inches tall, the blackbirds are around but they have not bothered the corn. First time in several years. The turpentine might just be it!
 
Thanks for all the replies. My conclusion is that it must be black birds, or other birds. See a few blackbirds around but not many. Maybe I'll get out there early tomorrow morning and see if I can catch them. Funny thing though. Some of the seed is still in the ground just below the surface in those holes. I might try running a wire above the row about a foot and tie a strip of cloth on it about ever foot or so. Sounds like a lot of work but man I sure love that sweet corn.
 
My brother had the same problem. He blamed it on the wild turkeys. Re planted the end rows twice. He finally took a couple bushel of corn and scattered it out around the end. I think he also tried the turpentine.
 
The holes are dug from one side and the soil is thrown one way so it's an animal digging. I'll betcha you'll find gopher holes nearby. They usually don't forage very far away from the safety of their burrow. Jim
 
Here's one of those chipmunks. They never touch our garden. Crows are bad for pulling corn out. Hal
344pk3k.jpg
 
Wayne from Texas is right....CROWS! I have watched 'em do it. They pull the plant up, eat the seed off of the bottom and move on to the next and right on down the row. Shoot one. Lay it out on the field and spread out the wings so the can see it well and the rest will never come back.Garenteed! I do this each year. I hate shootin' 'em but it is either them or the corn. The old neighbor farmer takes a partial bag of seed and spreads it out on between the rows in the field. By the time it is gone the corn is too tall and the crows are gone. He will not shoot "em.
Cal
 
I"ve found plastic snakes are great to keep birds away from your garden.

I used to hang them in my peach trees to keep the birds from pecking holes in the fruit. Worked great and re-usable year after year.

Funny story - forgot I put the plastic snakes in the garage cabinet over the washer/dryer. Went to get something out of the cab and they sure gave me a start.
 
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