Two weeks ago we planted sweet corn and "indian corn". It is just geting up and something is cutting the indian corn off. There are little holes about 1/2 to an inch in diameter right up the row. They don't seem to be eating the stem just the seed. The stems are about 2 inches long and just lying on the ground. The sweet corn was treated with the pink stuff and the indian corn was just some open polinated corn that I kept from a couple of years ago. The sweet seems to be alright at this point. We have had a really wet, cool spring here in Eastern Idaho. I can't see any tracks or real sign of a critter. There are lots of ants in this country, so I'm wondering if that could be it, but there aren't alot of ants in the field. Any ideas poeple of the porch?

Birds. They're pullin it up to eat the seed off the bottom. Get out your shotgun and do'em in. Nothing else works. I've lost two acres of fieldcorn this year. Don't remember ever having lost so much before. Sweet corn got hammered too. I bought the neighborhood kids BBguns with lots of ammo and told'em if it flies, runs, crawls or scurries, kill it!

crows are my bet

wally

crows

I had problems with birds and squirrels doing the same thing to mine . Just checked it today , it is over my head . It will start to tossil this week . Can't even see where they even been in it .

Crows and Ravens at dawn.

Just put you some long strings of baling twine strung up over the patch in any random pattern and they will not light in the patch. They seem to think it is a trap. It is a standard preventative practice out in the country in gardens.

They always pull the first comers, which may delay that first meal of sweet corn for the farmer/grower. That is another good reason to plant as deep as the planter will go and plant later in the season. It also supports the old saying about planting thick, "one for the black bird, one for the crow, one for the cut worm and one to grow"....

Once the seedlings have four leaves they will stop, maybe the kernels aren't as tasty after that.

Much easier, cheaper and safer than shooting them....maybe not as much fun if you like the sound of a gun...

Now you know what to do with all that baling twine you saved.

On a related tangent, my uncle planted indian corn with his sweet corn and when the two cross-pollinated he got corn that tasted like plywood. I hope yours are far enough apart, or you'll WISH the birds had eaten the indian corn.
ed

Have seen this with striped gophers. Their holes are small and they eat the seed.

Pail of water to pour down the hole and a .22 is a lot of fun.