Shelley, I won't comment much on soil temperature since you already noted some information about it. I doubt if any corn will germinate with temperatures down around 40F and it will take up to 3 weeks (if it doesn't rot :o( with temps at 50°F. In my area, the soil doesn't warm up above that until we are well into the growing season. Regarding cross-pollination: I often grow a little ornamental corn. It is always as isolated from the sweet corn as I can get it but they are in the same garden. Maturing at different times, cross-pollination isn't much of a problem but it does occur. The result is a few brightly colored seeds in a few ears of the sweet corn. Think of it this way, if we crossed a white-faced Hereford with a Black Angus - we'd expect white-faced black calves. There'd be a subtle difference in the taste of the beef from the meat of the 2 parent breeds. With corn, one parent plant grows the ear the other parent plant is growing the pollen laden tassel. And, we are -gasp- eating their babies!! Steve

I assume you are concerned with saving your crop, and you will deal with soil issues later. Yellowing leaves on corn stalks is almost always a sign of a nitrogen deficiency, of which corn is a very heavy feeded. Foliar sprays, like fish emulsion do not contain enough nitrogen to correct a deficiency, let alone quickly, as the situtition seems to indicate. They are a great "pick-me-up" during the growing season. I would quickly side dress with blood meal or feather meal, work it into the top inch or so of soil, and water well. You should see a difference in a week or two. Ron The Garden Guy http://www.TheGardenGuy.org ( a FREE Website ) May Article: Sucession Planting, plus ongoing garden journal and interactive message boards.

To apply any source of nitrogen at the proper rate involves knowing the percentage of nitrogen (as it appears you are aware) and the amount of nitrogen recommended per feeding. Typically 1 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. is recommended per feeding on lawns. If a product is listed as 10-0-0 that means 10% of it's weight is nitrogen. So, one pound per 1,000 sq. ft would be 10 lbs of the material scattered over 1,000 sq. ft. With that in mind here are some common organic sources of nitrogen: blood meal Hideously expensive source of nitrogen. Around 12% nitrogen by weight making it very attractive, but way over priced per unit of nitrogen. Typical analysis 12-0-0 Poultry manure If you have access to a free source of this it is the organic nitrogen source to have, but it isn't only nitrogen making it easy to overload the soil with other nutrients when used exclusively for a lawn fert. Typical analysis 3-4-3. soybean meal almost impossible to score for free, but great stuff. Typical analysis 6-1.5-2. Ideal ratio for lawns. Try to find at feed stores and the like in bulk. fish products If you are a commercial fisherperson or know someone who is, this is great, otherwise terribly expensive. Typical analysis 9-7-0. Should be enough to make anyone stop tossing fish leftovers into the trash. alfalfa meal Can be found overpriced as rabbit food at pet stores or in bulk at farm/grain stores more reasonably. Typical analysis 3-.5-3. corn gluten This is not to be confused with cracked corn or ground corn. Gluten is an isolated portion of the kernel and is not available everywhere. Where it is available prices vary dramatically depending on how it is packaged. Typical analysis 9-0-0 Brewers grains Certainly not easy to come by for everyone, but if you are buddies with a person running a microbrew, then big score time. Typical analysis of 'spent' grains 1-.5-0 cottonseed meal Not available in my neck of the woods, but for those who can get it inexpensively the typical analysis is 6-1.5-2.5. The waste from cotton mills is typically 1.3-.4-.4 so much lower, but around the same levels. egg shells Typical analysis 1.4-.4-.2 Pretty much impossible to find commercially, but should be reason enough to not send them to a landfill. Very high in calcium, a minor plant nutrient as well. feathers Doesn't much matter what creature the feathers come from. Typical analysis 15-0-0 making them a super source of nitrogen. Good luck finding them in bulk, but yet another source that shouldn't be sent to the landfill if you have them. hair, human or otherwise 12-0-0. Breaks down very slowly, but a rich source of nitrogen. Again, good luck finding it commerically, but if you are friendly with a barbershop and don't mind running it through a blender to make it break down faster and not blow away, a terrific source of N. If you are a parent cutting your kid's hair at home, you know what to do ;-) Now let's discuss manures. Typically manures are available in two forms. Fresh and composted. Here it is really, really important to remember one all encompassing, unavoidable fact. Composted anything is very low in nutrients. They get used up/leeched out in the composting process. Compost is great, just not as fertilizer for the big 3 N-P-K. Composted manure regardless of whether it comes from horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep or something else has a typical analysis of 1-1-1. Not coincidentally compost made from all plant ingredients has a typical analysis of 1-1-1 as well. Also not surprisingly the pH of compost is nearly always neutral regardless of what went into the compost. In other words, compost is compost is compost regardless of what ingredients went into it. Please keep this in mind or you will get ripped off. Now, lets take a look at some controversial sources of nitrogen you are almost certainly producing in quantity and throwing away. WARNING, the following is not for the faint of heart. Dog and human manure are rich in nutrients. They also carry the potential for disease causing organisms. Nevertheless if you have a dog you might want to consider smashing the poop with a shovel to spread it out and speed decomposition rather than sending it to a land fill. It is terrific fertilizer and the round worms, if present in the poop, are already in your soil so don't give it another thought. urine Golly gee wizz (pun intended) if there is a higher nitrogen source than urine I don't know what it is. According to some sources urine is 45% nitrogen. Think about that. 45-?-?. That is a super high nitrogen source. So high that dogs peeing in the same spot can fert/salt burn the turf. Imagine how great it could be if highly dilluted and used over the entire lawn as a nitrogen fert. Well, imagine no longer. For those willing to stomach it, you can quite literally fertilize your entire lawn at no cost. Buy one of those containers you attach to your hose to fertilize with and fill it with urine, your own or from whatever source. Water the lawn. All done. ;-) Gross? I guess. Highly efficient and cost effective? You bet. Quite literally humans flush away one of the best sources of clean nitrogen available to us several times per day. I understand it is kind of gross, but think about it.

Hey, sounds familiar - we were in the same boat a few years ago. The builder left us with lousy subsoil/fill to start a lawn on. Sometimes I almost (not quite, but almost) want to thank him, because with all that lousy soil all over the place, it has given me opportunities to try different experiments and methods of soil building. I enjoy the learning process, and tinkering with soils and plants is fun and educational. But the rest of the time I generally think of our builder as an amoral, stingy, greedy, smarmy, narcissist with the landscaping know-how of a penthouse poodle. Anyhoo.... a few words of advice: Understand that adding high-carbon organic materials will increase soil fertility and boost the nitrogen holding capacity of your recovering soils. Conversely, adding nitrogen will increase soil organic matter and humus, as plants use nitrogen to build biomass which then adds to the organic fraction in the soil. It's a chicken and egg thing. But of these two, I believe the system is better jump started with a steady supply of nitrogen. To put it another way - compost is great, but don't forget to keep the organic nitrogen fertilizers coming. Make regular applications of things like corn meal, blood meal, urine, alfalfa meal, or even commercial organic fertilizer if you prefer. -Diggity