Corn shades the squash fruit from sunscald at the end of summer
As recorded: Late in the season, when squash plants lose leaves and their fruit lies uncovered, corn grown with them shades the fruit from strong summer sun.
A good hunch A person has checked it against its sources. If you skip this, it still grows, just less well. The planner suggests it.
How it works
Sun scald. As a squash plant ages its leaves die back and leave the fruit uncovered, and strong summer sun burns the exposed rind. Corn standing in the same bed casts shade over that fruit.
What to do about it
Grow your squash beside corn, so the corn's shade reaches the fruit late in the summer.
The evidence
Evidence: checked against 1 source in the research-based literature.
The source
Es común que sobre finales del cultivo las plantas pierdan hojas y los zapallos queden descubiertos pudiendo ser quemados por el sol fuerte del verano, la inclusión de plantas de maíz en policultivo por lo general es una buena fuente de sombra
Plant teams that rest on it
How this rule has changed
Every change is dated, newest first. The full record, with each reason, is in the data download.
- A person read the sources and confirmed it
- Added to the rules
Cite this page
Milpa Gardens. "Corn shades the squash fruit from sunscald at the end of summer." Evidence grade: A good hunch. https://milpa.garden/rules/late-season-when-squash-plants-lose-leaves/
A garden planner built on graded evidence. Every claim states its evidence grade and links its sources on the page. Cite it with the grade, and add the date you read it.
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How we grade evidence
- Well established
- The rule names its mechanism and is settled, by sources a person has read and checked or by plain arithmetic and geometry.
- Promising
- The mechanism is named and the literature backs it. A few questions are still open.
- A good hunch
- Plausible by its mechanism, but field studies are thin, so treat it as a lean.
- Contested
- The evidence points both ways, or no study has tested it, so the planner does not enforce it.
- Refuted
- The claim did not survive its sources. It is kept so the folklore can be answered.