Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Tommie overload is under control for now.
The freezer is full of a very yummy tomato base.
Whilst the Tom's continue to thrive, my sweetcorn is not going so well.
Cobs are not filling out and leaves are dying.
I opened one up and found........

Could be ?
a) Fertilization problem, planted too far apart?
b) Casualty of the heat wave a few weeks ago?
c) Low nutes. Nitrate measured zero today (Tomatoes suck?)
d) None (or all) of the above ?

Any idea's

I'll take A) Eddie for $1000.

Chatty

+ 1

yep, that's my vote too.

Thanks guys,
Looks like the chooks get fresh corn for breakfast.
Might even read the packet before planting next year!

Same thing happened to my corn in the dirt. Bugger grew to fast and missed out on most of the pollination. My fault because I didn't plant enough. FF said something about planting them in 6's I think. Problem is I don't remember planting the 2 that came up.

we been through this before Duff, didn't the dog crap or throw up the corn into the bamboo

I hope he can't get to the bamboo. Theres an 8foot fence between them. He does like to jump a lot.

Corns pollen will fall basically vertically (hence why the pollen is released at the top of the plant and the silks are below) so it is necessary to plant in blocks but also plant relatively closely. My dirt garden was planted at 30 cm row spacings with ~ 20cm between between plants. Pollination was perfect and the only cobs that missed were those that formed from the secondary tillers that come late. I'd pulled them all off earlier in the season but missed a couple and noticed that their cobs were like the photo above.

It's one of those plants that you can plant bloody densely and as long as the nutrient is kept up to it it won't matter (good for stripping massive amounts of N from the system )

Chatty

And don't overhead water... you'll wash a lot of the pollen off, and/or those pollens that haven't fully matured...

I planted about 150mm = 6" apart
I'd say most if not all were well pollenated
most plants had 2 ears...
It may have been wrong to overhead water but I did.

1 bed was about 10 deep and 30 or more long
the other bed had much fewer and didn't do so well
it was more protected from the sun by the massive cherry tom

System has been going great. SP's and Brra and plants doing well.
However, I have had two SP deaths in two days.
Water parameters appear fine.

Ammonia .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Water temp 27
Salt 1ppt

Both of the deaths are smaller than average.
Only recent change is from Grobest floating pellets to Lauke sinking.

The photo below shows a very red dorsal fin, tail looks OK.
No sign of any fungus.
Not sure sure what this symptom indicates????

I'm not to concerned at this stage, but I would be interested in comments regarding the bloodied fin?

Hey Scott,
Mmm. Are the barra and the silver perch in the same tank?
Just before we left work today Carl noticed what we thoght was a small dead barra in one of the tanks.
It appears that it wasn't yet dead, but on its side. Holding it steady was another similar sized barra with the now sick/ distressed one firmly between its jaws. I ran for the camera and when I returned the bully barra had taken its prey and was hiding behind the pump and air stones. Visibility was not very good from my point of view and Carl and I justled for poll position to get a better look. Only minutes later the sick fish was swimming around, albeit it minus a few scales and looking a little worse for wear. We could not quite believe what we were seeing, the barra with way more than a mouthful, it now explains the dead one the other day. Tomorrow I expect it will be floating or eaten.
Could explain the blood on your perch fin!

Barra and Silvers are in seperate tanks.
No chance of Barra brutality.

Even Silvers can bully the runts... and they can be damaged just by the frantic scattering that Silvers like to do every now and then...