Corn, raccoons, and crows

Courtesy University of Minnesota Extension

I love eating fresh, raw sweet corn immediately after I take the cobs off the stalk, when the kernels are full of sweet milk and contain the least amount of starch. For decades I’ve been growing some corn in my garden. The only serious problem I encountered over the years was with crows and raccoons. Raccoons were a serious problem in my community garden when I was living in Toronto, where their population is notoriously abundant.

Crows are smart. We all know that. They also love corn kernels. I didn’t know that, until six years ago when I planted my first corn patch here on the island. After a few days, I found out that the corn seed that had started sprouting had disappeared. I was seeing crows foraging and digging in the area, but since they’re also over other areas of the garden and neighbor’s lawns I didn’t pay attention to what they were doing. When I checked closer however, I saw that little holes had been dug out, and each of them was corresponding to the planted seed.

Photo by Shirley Gallant

So now I had four rows of little holes, and no more corn seed. All gone, without any exception. And there were no holes dug out in-between the rows. Some crow(s) figured out the seed arrangement in a row and just went from row to row. I’m not sure if these crows had previous ‘experience’ in other gardens or fields of planted corn, but they seemed to know exactly what to look for. I replanted the rows with new seed but this time I put some bird netting on top of the rows as a crow protection. It worked, and now every year when I plant corn I use this method. It’s worth the extra work for me.

Photo by Heidi Riley

The first time six years ago when I planted corn in my current garden, the raccoons discovered the patch towards the end of the harvest, so it was not a big problem.

For those who don’t know what type of damage a raccoon makes in a corn patch, here’s a description: raccoons tear out the cob layers in tiny stripes and eat the kernels, then throw the cobs on the ground. They don’t always eat all the kernels, so there’s a lot of waste. They also break the stalks when they climb over them to reach the cobs.

Then I found an effective protection against raccoons. It’s a Native American method of growing corn. (See my photo below) I now grow a cucurbit (such as pumpkin, squash, or cucumber) and let the trailing stems run all around the corn patch. This way if any raccoon wants to reach the cobs (they know when they’re ripe from the smell the cobs emit), they’ll have to cross a barrier of spiky stems and under-leaves first. They don’t like to do this, as it hurts their paws and muzzle, so they’ll stay away. Apparently they also don’t like the smell of cucumbers. This method works for me.

In order to do this you need to reserve some space around the corn patch for the cucurbit running around it. You need to plant a trailing variety, not a compact one. You want as much trailing as possible. Growing corn this way gives you two crops, keeps weeds at a minimum, and retains soil moisture.

I’ve also tried another Native American method of growing corn, by growing pole beans in-between. That didn’t work for me. Everything got too tangled, the beans were smothering the corn stalks and some broke down, and it was very difficult to harvest the beans.

Photo by Denise Motard