Corn Plants are Amazing

Monday afternoon I was out in my corn fields with the crop adjuster. A couple of weeks ago a severe thunderstorm moved through with some high winds. I have the wind endorsement on my crop insurance policy so I turned in a claim. You can see in the picture that the corn was pushed over but not flattened. We call this "goose necking," where there is a curve in the stalk from the base and then the stalk goes straight up again. The impact on yields in this case will be very minimal.

Notice the brace roots just above ground level. They develop on the stalk a couple of inches above ground level to help support the plant. When the wind blew the corn over, the stalk at the first node was now on the ground. The corn plant developed another set of brace roots for support and the stalk went straight up again. I am always amazed at how vibrant the corn plant can be when Mother Nature does not cooperate!