zea in july

i was deep in the more rural area of the suburban/rural nexus today picking up a truckload of hostas and so had an opportunity to view some industrial fields...king corn...

with this shot where the camera was at eye height you can get an idea of how tall these plants are...

acres of dense yellow #2 planted six inches apart in rows spaced ( probably, however i did not wade out to measure ) thirty inches apart...

with each plant producing one...

or, at most, two ears...a lot of plant work for high fructose corn syrup...although some will be used to produce ethanol and the shredded stalks and leaves will become feed at some cafo ( "the cattle just love it"...until it gives them acidosis )...closer to home (i.e. the back yard )...

some teosinte...

and some hopi turquoise maize are just begining to flower...

while some the teosinte that was planted earlier...

and some galss gem maize are further along...no sign of silks, much less ears yet...then again these are heirloom domesticate varieties ( actually the teosinte is wild ) that are not being goaded along by some genetic tinkering ( beyond the original domestication that is...all early farmers were genetic engineers )...give them a few more weeks.