If they have snapped, it leaves room for disease. I believe defrost49 may be correct. But hey it's a garden and gardens of any type are experiments. Does your son like science? Perhaps, they will off shoot at the tops. I had a lab that ate the tops of some of my corn one time, some grew, some died. They were only about two feet tall. Also, I'm with Jim, I always wait three days. I like the number 3 such as 3 strikes your out- easy to remember. Plants will usually tell you what they are going to do in 3 days. What zone do you live in? The United States Department of Agriculture has set up plant hardiness zones nationwide. For instance where I live in NC, our county has two zones, 7A and 7B. We have about 200 possible days of growing most things. Zones are determined by lowest average temperature. So in our neck of the woods, that's about 0 to 5 F. You can find out your zone by googling "what zone is...in" Corn takes 60-100 days to mature, depends on the type. October here is a funny month, sometimes frost, sometimes not. I am planting cool season things now, but most others are finishing up, doing their canning, etc. Don't let him give up on growing things! Barnes and Noble had Square Foot Gardening 1st Edition by Mel Bartholomew on sale for about $7.00 a couple weeks ago. There is a new edition out. There is also Strawbale Gardening by Joel Karsten. I started one set of great nieces and nephews on SFG, got them some miracle grow potting soil when it was on sale and added some peat moss. This stopped us from having to scour the countryside for vermiculite which was not at the big box stores. Another set, we started straw bales because they were easy to get in their area of the country, and their parents didn't want to give up a 4x4 area so we took a 3x10 due to yard layout, it worked great. The straw bales also gave them a great start on composting. They grew top crops and when those things were spent, planted root crops. They started in fall so they were able to get straw bales free or really cheap, planted spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and then in spring potatoes. Now that set has gone on to take another part of the yard over-they got the bug. They are experimenting with traditional gardening, raised beds and something else with logs -I don't remember the name. If the corn is not growing, teach him about composting. Besides this website, there are many, many more that can help. Though I prefer gardenweb, I would suggest starting with your agricultural extension officer for your county. Elaine

Pardon my ignorance. It was listed as a wildflower in one of the books I read. I can understand how you feel though. I lived in Hawaii for 3 years, and there were quite a few native animals(and I believe plants as well) who were made extinct or almost extinct from alien animals, insects, etc. Their laws as to what can come onto the islands now, as such as animals(no snakes allowed, for example) is very understandable. However, I found out recently that this Cleome(ironically, a native of Hawaii) was born from seeds my one neighbor gave to my other neighbor(who lives right behind the mailbox), who gave them to her kids to plant in the yard, and they must have scattered the seeds there. It's a beautiful flower, and it supposedly attracts hummingbirds, from what I have read. I've seen more in other people's gardens here and there, and I recently spotted a garden center selling them. I think they're annuals, so I really am not sure how much of a threat they could be.

agree with shiso (perilla). Here in zone 5 it usually self sows. I don't think the leaves are fleshy enough for Plectranthus amboinicus. Actually, from the size of the leaves (just noticed the person's thumb), we all might be wrong.

I'd agree about being watermelon or squash, but it's pretty hard to tell them apart from just seed leaves. If you can post another picture when they've grown a couple of true leaves, we can make a more educated guess!