Huitlacoche, or corn smut, is considered a delicacy in Mexican cuisine but it is also the bane of sweet corn aficionados everywhere. Corn smut is the result of a corn plant getting infected by the pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis. The fungus attacks all parts of the corn plant and causes the corn kernels to swell into mushroom-like galls and also stunts the growth of the plant and reduces its yield. We have been experimenting with different planting methods and seed varieties for sweet corn over the past couple of years to figure out the best way to get sweet corn into your CSA shares as often as possible. This year we tried a new seed variety (bi color corn instead of white corn) and we also put in several plantings of direct seeded corn instead of transplanting everything. Direct seeding corn helps us reduce the crop's carbon footprint because we do not need to use plastic mulch to cover the beds. We still transplanted the first field of the season since the plastic mulch helps warm the soil in the spring and give the plants a jump start on the season. The surprising issue we had this year was deer damage. The deer are typically a minor nuisance in sweet corn, but this year they were absolutely devastating. The biggest surprise was that the deer did not do too much damage to the transplanted field, but they destroyed nearly all of the direct seeded fields. In addition to eating actual ears of corn, the deer open the door to the fungus that causes corn smut. Corn plants are generally quite resistant to fungal infections, but if a deer bites off the top of the plant and leaves an open wound that is much more prone to a fungal infection. Unfortunately this year we have lost most of our sweet corn plantings to the deer, but we will learn from this year and will keep tweaking our planting strategies for next year.
On a happier note, we will slowly be reintroducing fall greens to the availability list over the next couple of weeks. Your shares will still focus heavily on peppers, tomatoes, and all of the other summer goodies, but if you have been craving a kale salad or a Swiss chard gratin we will have those available as well.
