We tried out some White Nighting corn this year, a wonderful variety that reigns from Alabama. This corn variety was offered by Baker’s Creek, but they no longer have it available for sale. Thus, we shall save seed every year just in case we cannot find it again- because we enjoyed it!
For us, we grew a small amount as a trial in a Three Sister’s garden- we learned a lot about this corn, and we made two mistakes- one intentionally– that you should avoid when growing your own corn.
White Nighting Corn: What Is It?
White Nighting is a dent corn. This one is popular for milling, as a matter of fact. You can ground up this corn to make excellent corn bread, tortillas, grits, and more. This variety is incredibly tall, exceeding 10 feet in height. Some were much taller, reaching for the sky at nearly 12 feet! This is a common trait for dent, field, and milling corn; most people expect the shorter stalks that sweet corn offers. This corn will take much longer to reach harvest than sweet corn, at 110 days. Of course, this varies with your weather and how you intend to use the corn.
What Is Dent or Field Corn?
Dent corn, commonly referred to as field corn, is an unsweet variety of corn. “Dent” refers to the indentation of the mature kernels of unsweet corn varieties, as you’ll notice in the image above. Only a tiny fraction of the corn grown on a commercial scale is sweet corn; most of the sweet corn grown is for human consumption. Instead, dent corn dominates vast expanses of land. This type of corn includes milling corn; dent corn is grown for animal feed, ethanol production, and a wide variety of food, including cornmeal, corn flour, tortillas, chips, and much more. It is only edible for humans in the milk stage, but isn’t as appealing as sweet corn. This variety is usually harvested after the stalks have died and the ears have dried.
Growing Sweet Corn or Dent Corn: Why We Chose Both
On a homestead, you’re likely going to want both sweet and dent corn. You may even choose to grow 4 or more varieties, depending upon your level of self sufficiency. You may choose to grow a sweet corn variety for fresh eating, a popcorn variety for popping, a milling variety for making your own cornbread and tortillas, and a hardy dent variety for livestock feed during the cold winter months.
We decided to grow sweet corn and milling corn; we didn’t have the capability of growing enough corn for livestock use this year, and we’re not the biggest fans of popcorn (however, we will grow it at some point “just to say we did.”) We chose White Nighting because this variety was grown for generations in a climate identical to ours, and it seemed to be an excellent choice for our milling needs. You cannot use milling and sweet corn interchangeably, thus our decision for growing both.
Planting: Three Sisters Garden
I wanted to give this new (… to us) corn variety a try in a tiny Three Sisters Garden. At planting, I knew I was risking a few potential issues; since this was a small trial garden, I knew that pollination might not be satisfactory. It was planted at the same time as Butternut Squash, and they took off! We made roughly 3 foot mounds, and planted approximately 12 to 15 seeds in a circle around the perimeter; squash was planted in the middle. We had excellent growth, and adequate rainfall. There were no pest issues for a long time- not until they began to tassel….. you know, sometime around when the voles decided they were going to invade the sweet potato patch, and left us nothing but damaged tubers that *might* make it January to produce slips… Yes, I’m still holding a grudge against those little critters! Carrying on!
Care: What Kind of Care Did White Nighting Corn Need?
While we were lucky enough to not lose a single stalk, this corn is very tall and may not hold up to a severe storm. It held up in our storms, but this is likely due to all of the space that the wind had between the stalks, reducing resistance. You may need to stake your corn.
Our biggest issues came down to water, pest, and fungal infection- the first being accidental, the second being intentional, and the later unexpected and very interesting!
- Water: Around the time that the ears were beginning to form, we entered a 30 day drought. I was not bringing water to the corn, and I should have been. This resulted in some ears not filling out as they should- this may have appeared as a pollination issue, but all ears that had sufficient rainfall were filled out beautifully. Therefore, this drought we experienced definitely took a toll on the production of kernels. This taught us that, unlike other the plants we can avoid watering (tomatoes, many types of peppers, strawberry plants, squash, etc), this corn variety requires water during periods of drought. We get a lot of rain here, so this usually is not an issue. It’s also unheard of for us to go 30 days without rain- this caught me off guard.
- Pests: Corn Ear Worms: Oh, the ear worms. We had an ear or two of sweet corn last year that fell victim to ear worms- something I’d never seen before. We have many corn fields within a few miles of us now, so I began to wonder whether those ear worms would attack one variety over the other- I definitely got my answer. Corn ear worms invaded many of the White Nighting ears. I have an organic pesticide on hand that will treat ear worms, but this experiment was all in the name of science. Isn’t homesteading all about learning, failing, learning again, then succeeding? Anyways, the sweet corn definitely didn’t suffer the same fate. The ear worms also increased in severity as the season went on, leaving earlier ears spared.
- Fungal Infection: Corn Smut: Alright, now this one was fun! Corn smut destroys corn crops on a wide scale, as the ears are rendered unfit for sale when they become infected with this intimidating fungus. These giant nubs burst forth from the husks, giving the appearance of some alien spawn that has erupted from Chernobyl’s fields (you have to check this out if you haven’t seen it before). This was by far one of the coolest things I’ve seen- even if it ruined an ear or two, I was okay with that. As a matter of fact, this fungus is EDIBLE. If I can find a bit of courage and step out of my comfort zone next year, I will take an Aztec approach to encouraging the growth of Huitalacoche, and perhaps I’ll gather even more courage and cook it. I hear only good things- and, we love mushrooms here…
Pests & Disease: Susceptibility to Local Issues
Our biggest problem was the corn ear worm. This is a terribly annoying insect, and it can wreak havoc on your crop. Generally, it doesn’t destroy the whole harvest; just a percentage of the top of each ear, roughly 15% or less for us. In the image above, you’ll see “typical” damage for us. It tends to eat the silk and tip of the ear, and exits the ear once it has matured.
I purchased a special Safer Brand organic pesticide to solve this issue, which is to be sprayed on the silks of the ears at least once weekly. However, I really wanted to see what would happen if I left the corn to fend for itself, to see which variety was preferred by the corn ear worm. This will help us if we find the need to plant a corn “trap crop” in the future.
The huitlacoche though, that was a very intriguing situation. I only found one ear of the White Nighting that was infected with the fungus, whereas the sweet corn I had planted had a few more instances of it. This would tell me that the sweet corn is more susceptible, however, the sweet corn was planted in closer proximity to the patch where we planted corn last year. Therefore, there could have been some unnoticed smut that spawned last year- or, the spores could have floated in from the vast cornfields a few miles away. I can only assume we will find out next year, as the fields were not used for corn this growing season. If the spores did fly in on the wind, perhaps we’ll see less of it next year, as the corn will not be grown in the same spot.
How & When to Harvest White Nighting Dent Corn
Once the ears have developed, the silks will wither and turn brown, then the corn stalk will begin to die to turn brown. The ears will be at their driest after a majority of the plant has started to die back; this is the ideal time to pick them. Try to allow the stalks to dry out for as long as possible under the hot sun for a few days before picking, to allow any recent moisture (rainfall) to dry out.
Remove husks and allow the ears to dry for an even longer period in a dry room (or under cover outdoors) before removing the kernels from the ears. The kernels will be loose within the ears, and should not be too hard to remove; it’s just a struggle for your bare hands, especially when you’re doing multiple ears. You might want to order a cheap little hand shelling tool to save you some time; perhaps your wrists too, if you suffer from Carpal Tunnel like I do!
Saving Corn Seed for Next Year
For most of us homesteaders, saving seed is almost as important as preserving the harvest! Sure, you could go out and spend $50 to $100 on fresh seed every year…
Or, you could just save it from your existing crops! Or… you could become a seed hoarder like myself, and do both; I have no shame in my seed-hoarding game! I’m sure a few of you are out there thinking, “hey, this lady truly understands me. I’m not alone, there are others out there!” I have 10x (or, 100x) more seed of each crop than any sane person should. However, I’ve got a prepper’s spirit and the heart of a frugal peasant; I save every seed that I can.
With that being said, one or two large ears of corn should equal more than enough corn seed for most families- go for four ears if you want to be on the safe side, or if your family simply has a cornbread addiction. After they have dried on the stalk, remove the husks and leave the ears to dry in a warm area with plenty of air circulation; for at least 2 weeks. You could leave them to dry for a few months if you’d like, the goal being to avoid mold and dry the kernels out enough for storage. I like to carefully remove seed kernels by hand, rather than violently stripping them from the cob. I don’t want to crack or traumatize the seeds; after they’ve been removed, I like to lay them out on a plate with a paper towel, and allow them to rest for 24 hours. This lets them dry just a little more.
For the best results, place your seed into an air tight container and store in a dark, cool place. I usually toss my seed into a plastic baggy and call it a day- then I’ll give it a good freeze a few days before I plant it. I always recommend stratifying seeds before planting, because it helps the seeds to break dormancy thereby increasing your overall germination rate. Some seeds, not all, require a stratification period in order to germinate; if you visit the post I just linked to, you’ll find out more about that!
Seed Saving: Make Sure You Spaced Your Crops Properly!
One more word on seed saving: you are going to want to save pure seed! Well, perhaps you’re interesting in some interesting new crosses… for most homesteaders, this usually isn’t the case. Keep your corn varieties spaced by a couple hundred feet if possible, and try to stagger the plantings. If you can ensure that the separate varieties will tassel out and produce silks at different times, you will dramatically decrease the risk of cross pollination.
Another great way to eliminate cross pollination is by planting only one variety of corn. If you don’t have any neighboring field corn within 2,000 feet of your crop, you can expect 99% pure seed. I say 99% because nothing is impossible!
It is known that cross pollination can ruin the sweeter qualities of sweet corn, especially the super sweet varieties. Other corn varieties are dominant over the sweet varieties; this means that if a dent corn pollinates your sweet corn, your sweet corn stalk will not produce a super sweet ear. If you have multiple ears that are “off” and are not as sweet as they were expected to be, then you may have encountered a cross pollination problem. This is a great way to guesstimate the purity of the seed that you are saving.
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