support portraiture

the maize in the community garden is getting fairly tall ( three feet for some of the hopi blue which has a longer season and around five feet for the sweet corn ) and they are beginning to need additional support...the sweet corn plant in the center of the top photo has developed some sturdy support roots and is well into a second tier...the hopi blue n the third photo is still working with one tier but as it tillers they will expand into multiple tiers as well...the northern tepehuan teosinte in the fourth photo has a much longer season ( 155 days to flowering, much less developing seed heads )and is much shorter but its support roots are forming as well...i have grown teosinte with four or five tiers of support roots and expect to see that before the season ends...support roots are not limited to maize or its direct ancestors...last season i pulled a rather mature japanese bottle grass plant from one of my beds and was startled to find support roots...i suppose i shouldn't have been since they are all grasses...too focused on maize.