I grew a small patch of yellow popcorn this year. 15 rows each 30 foot long. I picked it all yesterday and something I noticed was no stalk had more than one ear. Sweet corn often does so I thought maybe popcorn or at least this variety doesn't. Then when I got to the last row which was the east row there was a dozen or so stalks that had 2 ears each. A few had 2 really nice ears. The rows were planted north to south. What would make just the east most row do that??

Perhaps more sun? Or more fertilizer?

Prevailing winds and pollination?

Better pollination would be part of the reason if those ears in the east row are filled better than other rows. That is, less empty spots where kernels should be, but aren't. But your "small patch" of corn ought to be large enough for everyone to be pollinated sufficiently. And this would not account for the increase in number of ears. That is determined by the vigor o the plant.

Somehow, you just have better growing conditions where you have more, better ears. Less heat stress, more water, better soil, etc. Is this row next to the lawn?

That east row was at the east end of the garden and closest to the septic tank which is about 6 feet from the fence around the garden.

As for how well the ears were filled in, I didn't really notice any difference in ears from any spot in the garden. There would be stretches where all the ears were big and full and then a stretch of nubs.

The rest of the garden has been getting progressively worse every year. I've had it for about 30 years now. I don't do much fertilizing. I do mulch a lot with leaf mulch (oak and hickory mostly) then till that in in the fall. I need to get the soil analyzed. I'm thinking about tilling it all up this fall and covering it deep in leaf mulch and let it lay fallow for a year.
Think that will do it any good?

Corn and 'not much fertilizing' There's my answer.
A healthy septic tank should not leak anything. so disregard that as possible nutrient or water source.

Right. If it is a septic tank that is emptied periodically, it wouldn't matter. Sally is also right that corn is heavy feeder. In particular, a heavy nitrogen feeder. Mulching with leaves, and tilling later is always a good thing to encourage healthy soils, but nitrogen is a limiting factor in the mix. Spread some high nitrogen fertilizer, like lawn fertilizer (without weed killer or fungicide) before you till in the leaves. This will help keep a nutrient balance in the soil.

I mulch all my grass and leaves back into the lawn, but I collect my neighbors leaves for the garden. Even mulched up with their lawn mowers (volume reduced by at least a factor of 5), I get a 6ft high pile of leaves that I use for winter mulch and into the following summer. Unfortunately, my neighbors only have maples and ash leaves that degrade quickly. How I wish I had oak that would last the whole summer!

Letting soil lie fallow for a year does some good, but it's pretty old school and growing a cover crop (or multiple crops) that you till in, or even just mulching fallow soil is far better. Letting soil lie bare, dry and exposed is really hard on soil flora that do the major work of building a healthy soil. I am not sure what kinds of cover crops do well where you are, but buckwheat is probably the quickest and easiest. Up here in Minnesota I can easily get two crops in. And when you till in cover crops, there is no need to add nitrogen.

Another question. What causes some of these kernels to be white like they are?

If they are white, and otherwise normal, then they just got pollinated by some other corn (or it is just within the genetics of the that popcorn variety). Either way, nothing to worry about.

But they don't look normal...? They look to me like they are infected with a fungus. Maybe corn smut? Not a problem, though, just don't eat those parts. And then the ones that are white and look normal would be fungal infected also, just at an earlier stage of development. Don't eat those, either.

Leftwood said:
Letting soil lie fallow for a year does some good, but it's pretty old school and growing a cover crop (or multiple crops) that you till in, or even just mulching fallow soil is far better. Letting soil lie bare, dry and exposed is really hard on soil flora that do the major work of building a healthy soil. I am not sure what kinds of cover crops do well where you are, but buckwheat is probably the quickest and easiest. Up here in Minnesota I can easily get two crops in. And when you till in cover crops, there is no need to add nitrogen.

I grew up on a small farm until I was 13. I remember my dad planting alfalfa every so often then baling it and plowing the remainder under. If I tried that would I need to plow or can I use a rear tine tiller like I usually do? The garden is only abut 36 x 80 and fenced all around so getting a small plow in there is kinda hard.

I don't know how easy or hard it is to rototill in alfalfa. Perhaps someone else can give you an answer. But I can say buckwheat is very easy to turn in, even with a shovel. I take a scythe to it before I turn everything in.

If I was to do buckwheat, when would I sow it and when till it under?

Your first sowing can be after danger of frost has past. Most people till it in when it has been flowering, but before seed is produced. (You can actually produce your own buckwheat seed if you want, but I am not sure how to best harvest it.) It's not a problem if you till earlier, you just won't get the maximum benefit. It's not a problem if you till later, you just will have produced seed that will come up randomly in the garden where it falls. A very easy to pull "weed" and bees love the flowers!

How tall does it get? You say you cut it down with a scythe? Do you till in the cut stuff or remove it? I may give this a try although cutting that large a garden with a scythe doesn't sound fun Maybe I can cut it with the riding mower set as high as possible.

2-3ft, I think. It will vary depending on the growing conditions. Use a swing scythe. The old fashion kind takes skill. I have used buckwheat in small, 6x8ft areas, and I just used a machete to cut it. It's quite succulent and easy to cut. I cut it twice at two levels for ultimately shorter pieces that are easier to incorporate into the soil. In fact one time I couldn't find my machete, and I just used a large kitchen knife. Works fine, and whipping the knife or machete around is fun, too. You'll get the hang of it. It's not rocket science. A swing scythe will be a lot faster, but you could machete your whole garden if you wanted. Till in all parts. I suppose you could mow, but it would cut it up into tiny parts and the benefits would be less stable (and shorter lasting) due to the much more rapid change in the soil it would incur. Maybe if you side-discharged. Do not mow in the mulching mode.

I thought I'd update this old thread with what I decided to do. Last fall I covered the entire garden in mulched up leaves (about 6 inches deep). Then in the spring I tried to till that in but it was too much. I raked enough off to one side to plant lettuce and spinach early but we had a really bizarre spring with a week in the 90s in April so that didn't do much good. Then I moved enough of the leaves into the center in order to plant 6 30 foot rows of bush beans on one end and 8 30 foot rows of sweetcorn on the other. Once the beans were tall enough I used most of the leaves from the center pile to mulch the beans. Both beans and corn are looking great this year.
Once the leaves were off the center section I sowed Buckwheat 2 1/2 weeks ago. When it starts to flower I will cut it down using a weed eater. I plan to cut it at 1 foot then 2 foot and finally at the soil level. At that point if I think I have time to get another crop of buckwheat started such that it won't go to seed before frost I will till under the buckwheat I just cut down. If I think it's too late I will let the cut plants lay and till them under in the spring.
I plan to cut the bean plants off at the soil level, remove the dried plants, and till under the roots. I will try to plant a crop of buckwheat over that if it has time before frost.
I think the corn will come out too late to start a crop of buckwheat at that end of the garden so I will wait until spring to decide what to do with that section.

Thoughts?

Need some advice on buckwheat. Here it is at 23 days and it's just starting to flower. How much more should I let it grow before cutting it down to till under? How long should I let it lay on the soil before tilling it in?

turning it in anytime is OK, even before it flowers, but I do it when it has been flowering but before seed is viable. I think that would be the time when most nutrients and minerals have been extracted and able to be incorporated as compost material to replenish the soil. And the bees get the most benefit. It may also depend on if you need enough time for successive cropping.

I'm just not sure yet what it will look like when in full bloom. From what I've read 80% of it's nitrogen is in the nodules on the roots until it starts to produce seeds. Then the nitrogen is pulled up the stem and stored in the seed. I'm hoping I can cut it down soon enough to get a second crop 4-6 weeks before our first frost which is Oct 20. Then it can be left over the winter without producing seed and then tilled under in the spring.

https://youtu.be/XAFpAOJlDuA