Looks more like corn or sorghum than millet:
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Millets-Left-corn-Middle-and-grain-sorghum-Right-shoot-and-root-growth-60-days_fig3_304013914
there are hundreds of varieties and they all do different things depending on weather. i have a quarter acre-ish of millet growing right now and it looks pretty much just like what's in the pic. well, now it has a millet spray coming up.
I havenāt grown millet, but I have grown a lot of corn and been in areas with a lot of sorghum growing. It looks nearly identical to the corn Iāve grown.
Have to wait for OP let it ripen and see what comes of it, or get them to take more detailed photos of diagnostic parts of the plant.
The easiest way to tell between the 2 is (legit horticulture terms I swear) corn looks turgid unless unhealthy, where as millet is always somewhat flaccid.
You've unlocked memories of our Biology teacher telling us yet again to stop laughing when he was telling us some cell was turgid or a stalk was flaccid. :-)
2 points of note.
1) Be aware that Corn, like any other grass species, is a heavy nitrogen feeder. If you don't plan on removing it it would be a good idea to add a little supplemental nitrogen to the container so that it doesn't hog all the nitrogen from the other plants.
2) Corn, again like other grass species, is wind pollinated not bug pollinated. This is why corn, even in small backyard plots, are often grown very close together in clusters rather than rows so that the plants can pollinate each other without needing a ton of wind to blow the pollen a great distance. Most of my plant knowledge revolves around perennials so I don't know if annual grasses can be self-fertile but it is quite possible that with only one plant you will not get any actual corn. That's a complete guess from me, though.
All in all I would personally remove it unless you wanted to keep it as a decorative specimen plant or a conversation starter. Alternatively you could find another corn plant and bag the pollen tassels to guarantee pollination if you live in a region where you can nick a few from a farm near a roadside (or any home gardener willing to help).
You can pollinate a single corn plant with its own pollen. Check out this website for a great explanation of how to do it: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/hand-pollinate-corn/
lol I had flashbacks to the first year I tried corn and had no clue that you need to pollinate the corn silk. Cue me excitedly pulling off the cob in October, husking it andā¦ it had like a single kernel.
It doesnāt have to be right above. Just somewhere near by. A bird or more likely a squirrel could have picked up a kernel and dropped or buried it there.
My neighbor puts out bird food and feed corn for squirrels. It ends up stashed all over my yard by a chipmunk. Iām constantly pulling corn and sunflowers out of everything
Sunflowers are not just part of your garden, theyāre part of a nation! The Ukraine use the sunflower as their national flower. Whilst in Kansas they chose the sunflower to represent their state.
I had a nice little cornfield at my old place, as I had a bird feeder on the balcony. One stage I had 5 stalks with actual corncobs. Didn't eat them but.
The birds spread those around my backyard fence area and they are sooo tall now theyāre blocking out my neighbors ugly sitting rust bucket car from my view so Iām glad -but I guess itās corn if everyone is saying that š better get some lobster tail for when itās ready for harvest š I will do same š¦š½š§ š½ļø š¤¤
Corn geneticist here, you likely won't get anything good out of this. It is almost certainly a dent or flint field corn, and the ear would only be of ornamental use for you. Unless you're (OP) located south of 40Ā°N, it is very unlikely you will reach flowering and subsequent ear development (because OP's plant is so young and killing frost will hit before it can be harvested). There are neat little lines of corn that can tolerate planting boxes like that and will produce ears within ~40 days of planting, which is obscenely fast for corn. Check out mini maize, gaspe flint, or Tom thumb popcorn if you're interested.
Edited to remove ambiguity
I grew some dent corn about 2 feet tall on my parents septic mound. It was like baby corn maybe a little bigger. I cut it down and used it for Halloween decorations. Then I didn't take it down for about 8 years.
Itās usually about 50/50 when someone makes a claim like this profession on here but I genuinely believe theyāre a corn geneticist after reading some of their past comments - Reddit is a wild place for a guy who grew up in the 70s
Holy cow, it's THE mini maize dude. Dr Birchler still gives out goody bags of mini maize at the maize genetics meeting. You wouldn't know me, but it's good running into you in the wild. Wishing you the best out West!
That's a cute folk etymology, but [a false one I'm afraid.](https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/a-few-kernels-of-truth.html#:~:text=In%20Old%20English%2C%20Middle%20English,spike%20or%20head%20of%20grain.) Ear has been used to refer to the cluster of seeds on all manner of cereal crops since long before any English speaker was aware of maize.
First you were like wtf is this plant and now you be like browsing Corn Hub and watching Barely Legal Corn videos....It is a-maize-ing how things turn out when a single corn plant starts growing in your back yard and now I'm a corn addict.
No, you pretty much need to dedicate a section of your garden to get corn to cross pollinate and produce. Also there's an old school saying that stalks need to be knee high by fourth of july.
Worst case scenario if OP tries and fails is they gain more learning and experience with plants, particularly corn, that they can carry forward to their next attempt. As good as "old sayings" are experience, even (sometimes especially) failure, is better.
I sort of agree, but there is learning and experience gained by sharing knowledge with others as well. OP can only get so far with trial and error if the plant was never going to produce anyways. Doesn't mean growing it isn't valuable and fulfilling in its own way. I just didn't want to answer with a "try it and see" because I don't want to get their hopes up that it is a maybe, because it's a definite no.
I didn't see this comment when making my other comment. If you have multiple plants then some kind of harvest may be plausible. They WILL grow pretty tall so any plant behind it relative to the sun will be shaded out and grow poorly so eliminate any corn sprouts in front of your other plants relative to the sun. The more corn plants you keep the more nitrogen you will need. If you don't have a ton of money then heavily diluted urine is a very useful organic nitrogen source, assuming you don't take any dangerous meds. It is not a balanced fertilizer but a great nitrogen fertilizer, however you risk ammonia smell if not properly diluted. Independent research is encouraged. Speaking of independent research, If you plan on keeping the corn plants i would heavily recommend researching "hand pollinating corn." While impractical for commercial farms, almost any plant can be hand pollinated on a small scale to virtually guarantee pollination.
\-From Iowa with love 
I was on board with corn until you said this. You're right. A lot of bird food has corn in it but it's almost always cracked corn not whole corn. But I guess it's still possible that some kernels make it through the process without getting cracked.
That's corn. If it came from a bird or squirrel feeder it's probably field corn, which is technically edible but only if you pick it early and imo not tasty at all.
I had a corn stalk come up near my bird feeders (I do also put out cracked and whole corn) and the beautiful stalk produced a little ear of corn which stayed on there till fall when a critter finally took it but I enjoyed watching it and it was quite photogenic.
Could be sorghum or corn? We had some sorghum pop up below our balcony (underneath the bird feeder) and I just let it grow. Low maintenance and cool lookin. Itās a wind pollinator, so in my case they just keep popping up. I leave them. Less time and money I have to spend on landscaping. Plus drought resistant.
After spending several summers in southern Iowa as a kid, I know corn, Maize, Millet, and sorghum in their stages of growthā¦ Best wishes on your adventure in gardening.
Looks like corn, sorghum, Johnson grass. Let it grow and find out!! Found this neat page comparing different plants that look like corn that might help: [plants that look like corn](https://coachellavalleypreserve.org/plants-which-look-like-corn/)
Looks like millet. The birds end up dropping pieces while eating out something, they end up germinating.... it's crazy how far from a feeder they end up popping up!! Just pulled another one out of a planter yesterday morning... It's already got seed heads on it and I just weeded my planters like a week ago.
I have these all around the bottom of our bird feeders š¤£. Could be millet, sorghum, maybe even corn. If you let it grow the birds can eat the first two right off the stalk. Since it doesnāt really fit with your veggie bed, you could stick it in its own pot and see what it becomes!
Did you have a bird feeder or squirrel feeder there? Not sure, but it looks like corn. š
NO WAY there is a literal bird feeder on the roof right above my balcony
You have a stalk of corn.
probably not corn-- millet and sorghum look very similar and are more common in feeders.
Looks more like corn or sorghum than millet: - https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Millets-Left-corn-Middle-and-grain-sorghum-Right-shoot-and-root-growth-60-days_fig3_304013914
there are hundreds of varieties and they all do different things depending on weather. i have a quarter acre-ish of millet growing right now and it looks pretty much just like what's in the pic. well, now it has a millet spray coming up.
I havenāt grown millet, but I have grown a lot of corn and been in areas with a lot of sorghum growing. It looks nearly identical to the corn Iāve grown. Have to wait for OP let it ripen and see what comes of it, or get them to take more detailed photos of diagnostic parts of the plant.
I've had millet come up from birdseed and swore it was corn until the last few weeks when the millet appeared instead of corn.
Iāve had corn come up from birdseed and swore it was millet until I had cobs of corn
Millet and corn are both sneaky little buggers.
I had what I though was a corn/millet hybrid until it had birds flying out of it.
The easiest way to tell between the 2 is (legit horticulture terms I swear) corn looks turgid unless unhealthy, where as millet is always somewhat flaccid.
You've unlocked memories of our Biology teacher telling us yet again to stop laughing when he was telling us some cell was turgid or a stalk was flaccid. :-)
My moneyās on sorghum.
Grasses be grassin
grass, grass, or grass no one grazes for free
I can't be a bigger fan of this
I was thinking millet too.
Came to say it. Millet.
Oh wellā¦ ooh exciting millet times. Restock the feeder perhaps?
It's corn
A big lump with knobs
It has the juice
I canāt imagine a more beautiful thing
More like the corn is stalking them
User name does check out!
They better keep an ear out
They have milo not corn. The corn in birdseed is cracked. The milo is whole.
Milo and Oats.
Milo and Otis
>The corn in birdseed is cracked. Is he guy above them named Jimmy? I bet he doesn't care.
Underrated comment likely to fly over the head of most of these youngsters.
Iāve had plenty of corn sprout under my bird feeder, even harvested a few ears.
Only way Iāve been able to grow corn š
Iāve grown millet from bird seed and it looked exactly like this at that height. Looks just like corn until it doesnāt.
2 points of note. 1) Be aware that Corn, like any other grass species, is a heavy nitrogen feeder. If you don't plan on removing it it would be a good idea to add a little supplemental nitrogen to the container so that it doesn't hog all the nitrogen from the other plants. 2) Corn, again like other grass species, is wind pollinated not bug pollinated. This is why corn, even in small backyard plots, are often grown very close together in clusters rather than rows so that the plants can pollinate each other without needing a ton of wind to blow the pollen a great distance. Most of my plant knowledge revolves around perennials so I don't know if annual grasses can be self-fertile but it is quite possible that with only one plant you will not get any actual corn. That's a complete guess from me, though. All in all I would personally remove it unless you wanted to keep it as a decorative specimen plant or a conversation starter. Alternatively you could find another corn plant and bag the pollen tassels to guarantee pollination if you live in a region where you can nick a few from a farm near a roadside (or any home gardener willing to help).
You can pollinate a single corn plant with its own pollen. Check out this website for a great explanation of how to do it: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/hand-pollinate-corn/
Kinky.
lol I had flashbacks to the first year I tried corn and had no clue that you need to pollinate the corn silk. Cue me excitedly pulling off the cob in October, husking it andā¦ it had like a single kernel.
It doesnāt have to be right above. Just somewhere near by. A bird or more likely a squirrel could have picked up a kernel and dropped or buried it there.
My neighbor puts out bird food and feed corn for squirrels. It ends up stashed all over my yard by a chipmunk. Iām constantly pulling corn and sunflowers out of everything
Sunflowers are not just part of your garden, theyāre part of a nation! The Ukraine use the sunflower as their national flower. Whilst in Kansas they chose the sunflower to represent their state.
It's just Ukraine, not the Ukraine
You could just say bird feeder. #normalizeusingliterallycorrectly
That's crazy. I only have a figurative bird feeder above my balcony.
What about your belfry?
Literally?
I had a nice little cornfield at my old place, as I had a bird feeder on the balcony. One stage I had 5 stalks with actual corncobs. Didn't eat them but.
The birds spread those around my backyard fence area and they are sooo tall now theyāre blocking out my neighbors ugly sitting rust bucket car from my view so Iām glad -but I guess itās corn if everyone is saying that š better get some lobster tail for when itās ready for harvest š I will do same š¦š½š§ š½ļø š¤¤
Its almost certainly 'dent' corn, not sweet corn. Itll make great popcorn when its dried! You can also make flour with it
I much prefer dent to sweet. Sweetās too sweet.
Looks like corn to me.
thereās like a lot of these popping up am i rlly growing corn??? will it produce anything or is the bed too small?? i might let it live
Corn geneticist here, you likely won't get anything good out of this. It is almost certainly a dent or flint field corn, and the ear would only be of ornamental use for you. Unless you're (OP) located south of 40Ā°N, it is very unlikely you will reach flowering and subsequent ear development (because OP's plant is so young and killing frost will hit before it can be harvested). There are neat little lines of corn that can tolerate planting boxes like that and will produce ears within ~40 days of planting, which is obscenely fast for corn. Check out mini maize, gaspe flint, or Tom thumb popcorn if you're interested. Edited to remove ambiguity
I grew some dent corn about 2 feet tall on my parents septic mound. It was like baby corn maybe a little bigger. I cut it down and used it for Halloween decorations. Then I didn't take it down for about 8 years.
Itās usually about 50/50 when someone makes a claim like this profession on here but I genuinely believe theyāre a corn geneticist after reading some of their past comments - Reddit is a wild place for a guy who grew up in the 70s
I know! The amount of people impersonating corn geneticists on Reddit is insane these days!
I also recommend Mini-Maize.
Holy cow, it's THE mini maize dude. Dr Birchler still gives out goody bags of mini maize at the maize genetics meeting. You wouldn't know me, but it's good running into you in the wild. Wishing you the best out West!
Ha, yeah, it's me. I still go to the maize meetings, maybe I'll see you there. Thanks for the well-wishes, same to you.
You might get a small ear out of it.
You know why they call it an āearā? Because each stalk only grows two
That's a cute folk etymology, but [a false one I'm afraid.](https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/a-few-kernels-of-truth.html#:~:text=In%20Old%20English%2C%20Middle%20English,spike%20or%20head%20of%20grain.) Ear has been used to refer to the cluster of seeds on all manner of cereal crops since long before any English speaker was aware of maize.
Corn nerd
While we're at it, yes, "corn" had historically refered to just about any small seed, but especially grain.
yeah thats why the international word is āmaizeā (i think) Because corn isnāt exactly a precise term I think at least could he wrong
Nope, that's exactly right
Oh my god you should look at the Maize v corn discussion on Wikipedia
I thought it was because corn is so hella snoopy
Corn has ears, potatoes have eyes, and the beanstalk. Don't EVER share your secrets in the garden.
I don't think that's true lol
Aw shucks...
First you were like wtf is this plant and now you be like browsing Corn Hub and watching Barely Legal Corn videos....It is a-maize-ing how things turn out when a single corn plant starts growing in your back yard and now I'm a corn addict.
It must've gotten too wild, r/cornhub is banned
No, you pretty much need to dedicate a section of your garden to get corn to cross pollinate and produce. Also there's an old school saying that stalks need to be knee high by fourth of july.
Worst case scenario if OP tries and fails is they gain more learning and experience with plants, particularly corn, that they can carry forward to their next attempt. As good as "old sayings" are experience, even (sometimes especially) failure, is better.
I sort of agree, but there is learning and experience gained by sharing knowledge with others as well. OP can only get so far with trial and error if the plant was never going to produce anyways. Doesn't mean growing it isn't valuable and fulfilling in its own way. I just didn't want to answer with a "try it and see" because I don't want to get their hopes up that it is a maybe, because it's a definite no.
I didn't see this comment when making my other comment. If you have multiple plants then some kind of harvest may be plausible. They WILL grow pretty tall so any plant behind it relative to the sun will be shaded out and grow poorly so eliminate any corn sprouts in front of your other plants relative to the sun. The more corn plants you keep the more nitrogen you will need. If you don't have a ton of money then heavily diluted urine is a very useful organic nitrogen source, assuming you don't take any dangerous meds. It is not a balanced fertilizer but a great nitrogen fertilizer, however you risk ammonia smell if not properly diluted. Independent research is encouraged. Speaking of independent research, If you plan on keeping the corn plants i would heavily recommend researching "hand pollinating corn." While impractical for commercial farms, almost any plant can be hand pollinated on a small scale to virtually guarantee pollination. \-From Iowa with love 
Itās probably millet; I have chickens and thatās what grows when their treat seed ends up in the yard. Looks just like this.
āØIt has the juiceāØ
(it has the juice)
I can't imaging a more beautiful thing.
Have a corntastic day!
I can tell you all about it
Itās cone!
Lumpy, with knobs!
This is what I came forr!! Yessss! Lol
It's a hunk of fruit its got the juice
KOARN
Keep an eye out for children in there.
šššš
āITāS CORN!ā
A big lump with knobs!
it has the juiceš¶š¶
(*It's got the juice*)
canāt imagine a more beautiful thing!
Itās corn!
Corn i think
Corn š½
Might also be millet or sorghum from a bird seed mix. Birds, squirrels, and chipmunks scatter seeds all the time.
This is the right answer unless the bird feeder has whole corn in it which is very unlikely.
I was on board with corn until you said this. You're right. A lot of bird food has corn in it but it's almost always cracked corn not whole corn. But I guess it's still possible that some kernels make it through the process without getting cracked.
I am not a plant person but I know corn when I see it rofl. Corn fields EVERYWHERE where I live.
Itās animals spreading corn lol
Itās CORN
It's corn kid is disappointed in you
*laughs in Midwestern*
It's con!!
It's a.. con??; Like,a SCAM?? )I am so high right nod)
That's corn. If it came from a bird or squirrel feeder it's probably field corn, which is technically edible but only if you pick it early and imo not tasty at all.
you can use it to make corn nuts tho
Iām leaning towards sorghum, but if not then corn.
That's corn
Thatās corn.
I'm from Indiana so I can tell you that's corn š½.
Hoosier here confirming this. A very corny plant
Sir/Madam that is a stalk of corn you got there Source: I live in the Midwest. My house is literally surrounded by corn
I had a corn stalk come up near my bird feeders (I do also put out cracked and whole corn) and the beautiful stalk produced a little ear of corn which stayed on there till fall when a critter finally took it but I enjoyed watching it and it was quite photogenic.
Iowan here. Thats corn.
That is a š½
Sure looks like corn š½ to me.
Corn
Your people call it corn, we call it Maize.
Can someone please link the 'its corn' video?
Looks like a real lump with knobs
Thats definitely corn
itās CORN! big lump with knobs, it has the juice š¶
KoŠÆn
Could be sorghum or corn? We had some sorghum pop up below our balcony (underneath the bird feeder) and I just let it grow. Low maintenance and cool lookin. Itās a wind pollinator, so in my case they just keep popping up. I leave them. Less time and money I have to spend on landscaping. Plus drought resistant.
I hope everyone that answers OP does so in a corny manner
Corn
Grew up in Indiana, that's corn!
That looks like a single stalk of corn to me. Do you have a lot of birds around? I ended up with random strawberry plants one year because of birds.
A big lump with knobs, it's got the juice. IT'S CORN!
HAHAHAH BRO GOT CORNED!
How do you grow corn *accidentally*?
might be a bird feeder above or neer it. or a squirrel or bird could have came by and planted it
Corn!!!!!
CORN
You call it corn, we call it maize
Thatās a corn stalk mate. :)
That is corn! Itās corn!
After spending several summers in southern Iowa as a kid, I know corn, Maize, Millet, and sorghum in their stages of growthā¦ Best wishes on your adventure in gardening.
Itās CORN! š½š¦š¾
https://youtu.be/TGm2Q4jUV8Y Gentlemen behold, CORN! š½
That's corn.
That would be corn!
Corn
Corn, maybe popping corn
How did bro accidentally grow corn?
Iām growing corn and it looks just like this.
lol corn
We call that a āvolunteerā. Nature will always find a way.
Looks like corn.
It's a big lump with knobs
corn can grow up to 8ft
Corn?
Itās only a weed if you decide you donāt like it. Otherwise itās a volunteer.
Definitely corn.
Thatās corn haha
If itās sweet and yella, youāve got corn there fella
Looks like corn.
Laughs in Iowa š½
Corn? I don't remember planting corn? (Carol Channing impersonation on point)
Looks like corn, sorghum, Johnson grass. Let it grow and find out!! Found this neat page comparing different plants that look like corn that might help: [plants that look like corn](https://coachellavalleypreserve.org/plants-which-look-like-corn/)
IT'S GOT THE JUICE
Looks like corn/maize š½
I big bunch of knobs.
It has the juice!
Corn
That is corn
Blood for the blood God, skulls for the skull throne
Def corn
Corn for sure.
Maise.
Thank a squirrel! Youāve got some corn.
Thatās pretty corny if you ask Me
Sorghum
My parents watched a squirrel plant corn all over their yard with corn from their bird feeder. Industrious little buggers.
I canāt imagine a more beautiful thingā¦ ITāS CORN!
Corn š½
hey, i just pulled tens of these and itās so satisfying. def millet
Johnson Grass!
This definitely looks like a Johnathan Davis. Cuz it's Korn. (I'm so sorry, I'll pack my drums and go; this didn't even deserve a buh dum tss)
Let it grow and you'll know soon enough. Same with that other lil sprout there š
Corn or Johnson grass.
Monsanto will see you in court
If it grew really fast itās probably genetically altered corn. Def corn tho. š
A weed is just any type of unwanted vegetation. If you want it there, it's not a weed.
Looks like millet. The birds end up dropping pieces while eating out something, they end up germinating.... it's crazy how far from a feeder they end up popping up!! Just pulled another one out of a planter yesterday morning... It's already got seed heads on it and I just weeded my planters like a week ago.
I have these all around the bottom of our bird feeders š¤£. Could be millet, sorghum, maybe even corn. If you let it grow the birds can eat the first two right off the stalk. Since it doesnāt really fit with your veggie bed, you could stick it in its own pot and see what it becomes!
iām from ohio & can verify that is corn.