Planting Sweet Corn
How to sucessfully plant and grow sweet corn?
Depending on the cultivar, sweet corn needs 60-100 warm days to grow and requires 8 to 10 hours of full sun, good drainage and lots of room.
Planting corn
Once the soil warms up, plant seeds 1-2 inches deep, in groups or hills with 3-4 seeds in them. Space the hills about 1 1/2 ft apart. Seeds may also be sown in single rows of 9 inches apart, spacing 2 to 3 feet between rows, with a minimum of 4 rows to assure cross pollination. Corn is a heavy feeder and needs ample nutrients to produce, therefore, before planting, apply 10-10-10 fertilizer at the rate of 1 1/2 pounds per 100 square feet to the soil. When the corn gets about 1 1/2 feet tall, again side-dress with 10-10-10. When the plants start tasseling and silking, make sure it gets at least one inch of water per week. Do not allow wilting at this time as it will affect pollination and kernel development.
Harvesting corn
Harvest when silks begin to turn brown and dry. Fresh and tender corn kernels will exude a milky liquid when split open. This occurs about 20 days after the first silk strands appear. Each cornstalk should produce one to two ears. Pick before the racoons and grackles find out that your corn is ready. They find it irresistible and so will you! The ears should be eaten as soon as possible, or refrigerated for a few days. Once picked, the sugars decrease rapidly and starch content increases. For best flavor, have a pot of boiling water ready and then pick your corn. Sweet corn is well worth the effort once you taste the fresh picked ears.
I planted corn around my yard last week & now that I wanted to see how the corns were, I was devastated. Most of the corn were lucked out or have been dug out, literally. What kind of pests are these? There are some rats around here, could they have been the culprit and the soil really looks like it as been dug out.
I have this fertilizer where you must must the corn with it before you plant it on the ground & I used it. However, the expiry date of the fertilizer was september 2011. Could I still use it? Or it could do more damage than good to my corns?
PLease advice me on this. Thanks. Need your help guys
Corn earworms
How do you keep the worms from eating the end of the ears .
Nice site, I was suprised to see the original post being from years ago and the comments section still active. I am doing corn for the first time this year as well. I too was watering just about every day, I noticed a little yellowing on my squash near my corn and though I should look into that… looks like I was probably over watering… I’ll cut back on the watering a bit, it’s just been so dry hear in SE Virginia. I did apply some plant “food” yesterday in case I was leaching out the nutrients from over watering. My other garden beds have been great so far, Asparagus was great in spring… we’ve also enjoyed arugula, lots of kohlrabi, a few cherry tomatoes, and some new potatoes. Looking forward to fresh corn as I grew up in Wisconsin! Also in the garden, I have several tomato plants, pepper plants, squash, cukes, jericho lettuce (heat tollerant), some chard.
Wish you all a successful growing season and bountiful harvest! This is only my third real gardening season and I am full 100% into it. I plan to continue to expand every year! Nothing beats fresh veggies and fruits of your labor!
Cheers!
Fertilizing the garden
This is my first time trying corn and I only planted 3 transplants I purchased at the farmer’s market. One died but the two left are still growing. I’m glad I found this because I was watering them every day. Hopefully I have not damaged them. I have only been gardening for 4 years now, starting with tomatoes, peppers, basil, lavender and parsley the first year. Then I added okra (didn’t plant enough to really get enough to eat but I seeded them), oregano, cabbage and collards (I got a few collards that year.) The 3rd year I added the okra seeds from previous year and watermelon (but too late). I got a lot of okra and several small melons grew but was to late in season for them to ripen. This year, a neighbor told me about the 3 sisters so I planted the corn, squash and beans near each other and I’ve planted the usual tomatoes, peppers, basil, okra, watermelon and lettuce (bibb).
I have a back disability so I have to do a little every day. I put some of the Miracle Grow Shake and Feed down when I planted everything and added garden soil (Jungle Growth) and composted manure too. How often do I need to do fertilize and will blood meal help? Also, I planted most of my tomatoes, thyme, a purple basil and mint in pots and sat them in the garden area. The cabbage from 2 years ago is still alive so I’m hoping it will give me a product but I had problems with it and collards last year because of the slugs and something else attacking them. I put out slug bait and used Sevin but wasn’t able to use any last year. I’m going to wait until August to plant collards this year and hopefully this will give me a better crop.
the earth has a lot of things that are pretty to look at, but as for me i think a green corn field it the winner when it comes to beauty, i recall as a small boy traveling to indiana when we went to visit our kin folks that live in that state, and seeing the long green corn patches growing alongside the highway, seeing the green tall corn in it prime, just makes you think of what a value corn has been to mankind and beast, corn bread is alway a winner at about any mean, its good with soup beans it good with potatoes, or about anything else in the food chain, and i have often thought how life would have been without corn’ i recall gathering corn with my father here in kentucky when i was just a young boy, Dad grew corn to feed our mules and cows, yes corn is a good crop to raise and a good thing to watch grow and to admire it natural beauty, so go out and plant you some sweet corn and enjoy the fruits of your labor”
Looks like there’s a lot of good advice on this site-
I planted sweet corn this year in my garden in Northern Indiana and we had a couple of HUGE windstorms early this summer that blew the 1-2 ft stalks flat on the ground. We picked it up and mounded dirt around it and then it kept growing and looked okay. However, it looks to be nearly fully tassled now, and there is not an ear in sight anywere!!!! I am concerned that all the pollen will be gone before my corn has ears, much less silks!
Does anybody know if I can save the pollen off the tassles and then hand-polinate the silks? I have hand-pollinated ornamental corn in the past with good success, but never tried to save pollen. Any tips on how I should attempt to save the pollen? I am thinking about cutting off the tassles and saving them all in the fridge in paper bags…
its been a while since i visited this site, and tonight i got and email from a man thanking me for my post, i just want to thank anyone who come across this site and read my comments and enjoys what i wrote, every word come from my heart, and thanking you all did too , bye all and happy garding . Stanley Mcqueen
My corn has received too much rain and is turning yellow. Is there anything I can do to save it or is it too late?
Hi there, can anybody tell me if we should plant corn in the furrows or the ridges up here in the great northwest ?
hello everyone , just dropped by to wish ever one a good growing year , times have gotten hard in the past several years and money is scare and jobs are few for people, i just want anyone that read this to know that if everone that has some extra ground, and a little will powers can grow a garden to help on the food Bills, my father and mother raised nine of us on a small kentucky tobacco farm , and as i have wrote before we grew almost everthing we eat, we worked hard and had plenty food, and along with food we have a good family relastionship working as a family for the same cause and that was to live and thrive. God bless everyone and may the lord help us in these trying uncertain times,
Short corn tasseling
my corn is only 1ft 2ft an it is tasseling is this normal.
I am planning on planting sweet corn this summer but my garden space is only 10*7 is this area large enough for corn? Plus is it best to plant corn seeds in a row or trench?
Growing gardens could help stimulus. Love that comment and something I think is very important for everyone in the community. Very few of us have truelly seen hard times. But, in many ways the signs are here that hard times are coming. My biggest suggestion is not only grow large gardens and share with our neighbors the bounty of harvest. But to encourage church groups. local community organizations and even local goverments to grow food in every available space. Excess food can be jarred and donated to the poor. There is no reason for anyone to be homeless in this country. But there is even less excuse for anyone to be hungry in this country. Would be a wonderful school program for our children. Would be a wonderful use of alot of land that is sitting idol.
with hard times in the united states why don’t folks go back to raising food on the land they have and this would help in these hard times to put some food on the tables, we would be surprise what it would do if everone that could and have enought land to grow some of the food the family eat. by doing this it would make the market food cheaper and then it would level out for good for the consumers over all… just some thoughts from and old kentucky hill billy.
what do you think about my idea? this would help the stimulus plan and make food prices go down , if they was less demand for foods from the market places
Corn smut
I plant my sweet corn in my garden and are still around a foot high. they are starting to get white stuff on them and nearby huge holes.There doesn’t seem to be any bugs or insects nearby.I already tried some insecstiside for plants but the holes keep coming.How do i get rid of them and where is it coming from?
I was told that when my corn starts to grow more than 4 leaves that I should pull the bottom 2 off. This is supposed to yield better ears. Is this something I should consider? I haven’t had much success in growing sweet corn lately.
I am planting three 1 acre fields
my father was a tobacco farmer and a good one..i was raised on a small twenty 26 acres tobacco farm , and my father and mother was such good people both hard working and they raised nine of us kids by the sweat of their brow..they are both dead now and i miss them so much, back when we was all at home and growing up we raised big gardens on the small farm and our table was always full of good food, we were poor and dad drove the county school bus and farmed tobacco, those were the good years back then, working together with a hoe in our hand and crops to tend it make us close together and formed a bond that is impossiable to describe..we were taught to work and to grow things and not to complain about a hard day in the fields, we hoed tobacco and our garden was our food. we put out large gardens because they were so many mouths to feed, mother canned large amount of beans and veg soups, she canned black berrys and made jellies and everything that would help our table have food on it..desides our family my great great grandma lived with is and also one of mom brother who name was Carl Dean , mom mother and dad both died early before all her brother and kids were completly grown and married off and what was old enought to be married took in the remainder of the younger one, which was a noble thing to do with mom folks dieing so young before all her brothers and sister was big enought to fend for themselves..i just wanted all you folks to know that back then folks put a lot of stock in the family garden ,because if you was poor folks like us raising a garden was our life line, and i just want to thank God for being taught and brought up on and american farm with good hardworking parents that learned us to work for our bread and to love one another , and to never be scared of a hard days work…if your would like to be a email pal of mine id be happy to hear from any old or young gardener..I am like i said and old kentucky clod that is disabled and now my wife does the garden stuff and i miss being in good health ..but bad health come with age and now im 57 and hoping to see some good looking gardens in the future in it be the lord God will. email me sometime i would be happy to be your friend …mcqueen@mail.com
one things i want to mention about growning gardens, useing a good tiller plow is the key to making a good garden, if your are lazy and don’t like a little work and dirt on you hands gardening is not for you..but those people with a little grit and has little willie will power as a first cousin to them , will not find a little work any problem, my dear pappy also said that lazy people grow weak crops .. and to note its’ the plain truth…i would suggest when you put out your garden this year fist off ask the good lord to help you grow it and bless the seeds that you plant.. lord help some of us who are not worthly to get blessed anyhow . and sometime we used the good lord like a spare tire, and lord forgive us all for that and help us plow our corn with your grace in our stepts. plowing and keeping the weeds out of our gardens is a sure way to raise a good garden..but as for me and old mountain plow boy God has help me with my crops all the while and you know what more that i would want to mention sometimes i never even look toward heaven to give my God thanks… lord help us all to believe and trust you even with our toils and labor in growing a graden. and remind us lord to look up at the end of the harvest and give you and earnest thanks for giving us rain and good growning season. if you like to get to know and old clod kentucky man email me at mcqueen@mail.com.i love farmers and all people .im simple as a jar of rain water, but have a heart and love for God big green earth
I have had a garden now for at least 35 years , and to me growing a good sweet corn is something that depends on the weather and the rain durning the seasons. it seem that working and plowing the corn after it come up help to make it grow better, try this when your sweet corn is about eight to six inches tall, get some ammonia , and sprinkle along side the corn row above the corn being careful not to get any ammomia on the young corn , after that go get your tiller plow and plow threw the rows that you have applied the ammonia, this works in the ammonia and then just set back and watch your young corn take heart and grow with that ammonia giving it that green lush healthy look, ammonia works for 90 days and it make the corn sweet and gives it that extra boost, try this this year and see if you dont have the best sweet corn on the bllock, note just put the ammonia about 6 inches above the plant and just don’t use so awful much it dont take a lot of ammonia to get corn off the growning into a beatiful patch of good old sweet corn….email me if you have futhers questions…mcqueen@mail.com
growing a good field of sweet corn is and art form it tastes so good for dinner and corn on the cob is so good, and it worth the work and trouble and gives much satifaction when you finely get it on the eating table
HI, I would like to know which comes first the Silk or Tassels. this year my tassels came first, and then the silk, the ears were half and small is this normal,. please help
I have tiny ants all over my sweet corn tassels, it is silking now the stalks are about 6 ft high and doing nicely here in so Ca. Im thinking there are aphids and the ants are after the secretions from the aphids, what can i spray with to get rid of both? Is Garlic Barrier a good choice?
My sweetcorn is about a foot high and is growing suckers at tthe base of the stalk .Should they be removed or left to grow. Carl.
Can you plant Corn and watermelon togther? I currently have a couple of plants that came that way, would I have to seperate them, or will one overtake and kill the other?
is there anything special about growing Indian corn in relation to sweet corn? i have tried growing Indian corn for the last 3 years and i have yet to get a full ear of kernels. (this year i did not even get any that produced half an ear of kernels) i also woundered if both indian corn and sweet corn could be grown in the same area, would cross polination make the sweet corn unediable? i have searched the net and have found no information about growing indian corn so i hoped you could help.
Have you done ‘three sisters’ with your corn? Would the pole beans fix enough nitrogen so that no additional fertilzer would be required? Do you think the squash is necessary, or just taking advantage of space?
can you provide any help in preventing my sweet corn from blowing down? I live in oklahoma and plant my corn seed according to the instructions.
how soon should you refrigerate sweet corn after picking
Quick question. I have a number of horse farms around me, but not very many cattle farms. Just wondering if horse manure and cow manure are equally effective for fertilzing a vegetable garden. Thanks, Ron
I live in Oklahoma, my corn is tassling at about two feet high, is this normal, If not what can I do about it. Chuck
I am growing okra for the first time and would like get some information on it. Thank-you
Bill Andrews