There is a saying in corn country: “Knee-deep by the Fourth of July.” The proverb refers to a farmer's goal for his harvest if he hopes to harvest the October harvest. And while most Midwesterners are familiar with this axiom, Tim Fitzgerald knows that the folk refrain fell out of favor decades ago.
“That hasn't really been the case since modern fertilizers came along. Nowadays, corn is about six feet or taller by the Fourth of July,” says Fitzgerald, a farmer from Lafayette, Indiana. Popular Science.
However, Fitzgerald still adheres to the classical timeline. This is because his farm is no longer solely an agricultural business. After a 22-year career designing industrial exhibits, Fitzgerald has since spent nearly as much time overseeing “the largest corn maze in northwest Indiana.” Exploration acres.
Commercial farmers often finish planting by mid-May, but Fitzgerald's team begins planting in the first week of June. By the time the Fourth of July fireworks twinkle overhead, Exploration Acres corn is slowly creeping toward your waistline. However, this strategy is not based on respect for tradition.
“We plant later because we want the corn to be as green as possible for as long as possible. We also use really late-maturing corn, which matures in about 113 days,” he explains.
When Fitzgerald opens the labyrinth in September, its winding walls are well over the heads of the estimated 45,000 seasonal visitors who walk miles along its paths. But ensuring the right height is just one component of the months-long effort to create the maze, a process that combines logistics, agricultural science, technological coordination and artistry in equal measure.
Old times
Fitzgerald was already well suited to the labyrinthine business when he switched careers in 2008 and turned his family's dilapidated farm into a regional attraction. However, during his absence, much of the nearly century-old property began to crumble.
“Everything was literally falling apart,” he recalls.
As the agricultural industry continued its transition from small farms to corporate mega-facilities, places like Exploration Acres moved into the agritourism business. These repurposed farms provided schools with seasonal educational opportunities as well as the opportunity to transform the fields into a symbolic celebration of America's favorite cash crop.
Leading up to the fall of 2008, Fitzgerald reached out to Sean Stolworthy by phone. LabyrinthPlayan Idaho-based corn maze company to plan its first maze. Exploration Acres' labyrinths today range in size from 18 to 23 acres depending on the season, but Fitzgerald settled on a relatively modest 15-acre site the first year.
Just as agriculture has modernized over time, so has the process of preparing a corn maze. As Fitzgerald explains, the early strategy was based on a subtractive approach. The first step was to plant and grow the corn at the right time. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald himself decided and created an artistic theme. After the paths were finalized, the question arose of creating vector files for the maze in Adobe Illustrator. No, really.
“MazePlay developed its own software that allows you to build mazes using GPS. At the time, it was all a vector solution,” he says. “Essentially, you created a centerline where the tracks would go, and then you used steered track technology on the tractors, which allowed the tractors to autonomously follow the vectors. You set the travel speed and off you go.”
At the time, the turning radius of the tractor and other factors limited the complexity of the maze. In an ideal world, Fitzgerald would simply plant corn where it was needed and leave the rest barren for visitors. It took technology almost a decade to catch up with this idea. Enter: High-speed pipes.
“Print” of paths
SpeedTubes are designed to allow farmers to adjust crop spacing to maximize growth and minimize the risk of disease. But Fitzgerald and his staff saw another use for them.
“We won't have to use as much corn because we won't have to plant the whole field. We'll just plant the corn where we need it,” he says. “Basically, they have this little vacuum servo that will hold the little kernel of corn until you want to drop it exactly.”
Exploration Acres began experimenting with a new strategy in 2017. The results were noticeable immediately. Instead of ten bags of seeds, the SpeedTube design required only seven. (One bag of seed will plant about two and a quarter acres of corn.)
Gone are the days when tractors plowed the fields, laying paths. Now they simply roll from one side of the field to the other, turn around and repeat the process. Since the design was programmed in firmware, the speed tubes did the rest, dropping seeds only where needed.
“Every time any of these lines intersect with [maze] path, the high-speed seeder will turn off until it reaches the other side and then turn on again. There are actually little LED lights on the back of the bins that go from red to blue to red to blue,” Fitzgerald says.
He compares the new approach to the moment when everyone replaced dot matrix printers with inkjet printers. Not that the first year passed without complications.
Trial and error
“It's really quite simple technology, but in 2017 we were faced with the fact that every time the tractor made a turn, it would change direction,” he recalls.
This meant that everything was off by a few feet on the way back.
“We had a blurry image,” Fitzgerald says.
Of course, when the seeds were planted underground, the workers did not immediately realize the problem. It was only a few weeks later, when the first shoots of corn appeared, that they noticed something was wrong.
“It caused a huge headache,” he recalls.
They eventually corrected the misalignment by planting additional seeds at an offset distance. They then returned with their trusty cultivator and removed the extra stems they didn't need.
“You Popular Science. Part of science is trial and error. You have a hypothesis and you are trying to prove and disprove it. So you learn something,” he says with a laugh.
Having learned a valuable lesson, Fitzgerald tried out the new system the following year and made national news. Remember Netflix Approved Stranger Things corn maze in 2018? It was Exploration Acres.
“I actually had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and they told me what the season was going to be about, so we originally developed a whole maze for the next season,” he says.
Other mazes celebrated the Apollo moon landing, dinosaurs, zombies, pirates and other items. This year marks Lafayette's bicentennial, so Exploration Acres collaborated with city officials to develop an ode to the city. Visitors this season will see portraits of the city's founder, William Digby, as well as his Revolutionary War namesake, the Marquis de Lafayette. While the 2025 theme requires a little more external guidance, there are some general rules that Fitzgerald keeps in mind when planning his next creation.
“I always try to create a good composition—to make good use of positive and negative spaces,” he says.
It is also important to rotate the maze between fields. Fitzgerald Farm includes four maze locations, always adjacent to the annual pumpkin patch. When not being used to grow orange pumpkins, workers also plant soybeans for the free nitrogen they produce, thereby minimizing the need for fertilizer.
Displaying the route ahead
After nearly two decades in operation, Exploration Acres has down to a science the process of navigating a maze. But its owner knows that there will always be a need to experiment with new approaches. This is inevitable because climate crisis continues to make itself felt. Normally, the farm's trees already litter the area with walnuts, hickory nuts and acorns, but this year's long drought has dried out the land and turned it into a haven for pests.
“I have rodent pressure,” Fitzgerald says. “I have voles, moles, chipmunks, and squirrels. They all dig up and eat my tulip bulbs. They have nothing else to eat, it's so dry.”
Then there's the heat. In the first few weeks of the 2025 season, visitor numbers plummeted due to record temperatures.
“This is a major change since we started in 2008,” he explains. “Back then people would go out and drink hot cocoa. They would wear mittens and gloves and a winter jacket – it was 38 or 40 degrees outside and windy.”
Fitzgerald even threw away the hay bales that usually line their wagons. While straw is easy to sit on if you're wearing long pants, it's much more itchy if you're wearing shorts.
“The price of straw has gone up, and hardly anyone plants wheat here anymore. So I just said, 'Damn it!' and put benches in the cars. A lot of things had to change with time,” he says.
However, there is at least one detail you can count on in Exploration Acres' giant corn mazes. No matter how difficult the trails may seem, do not be afraid if you find yourself among the paths.
“We rarely get lost there. We have an emergency route that goes around the perimeter with several exits,” says Fitzgerald.
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