Any tips on growing super sweet corn

[ilex]

I'm with Joseph. Grow old fashioned sweets. They are very good and you won't have every living thing in a few miles killing to get their candy. You'll get more complex flavours not just sugar.

In fact, I grow seeds from him.

[dustdevil]

Bear and deer devour sweet corn also.

Crows pull up super young plants and eat the kernel on the bottom.

Consider electric fence if you're planting in a rural area.

At least 1" of water per week required.

Must fertilize well because corn is a heavy feeder.

Pick a variety that has real corn flavor...some are super sugary with next to no corn flavor.

Follow recommendation for soil temp required to plant.

[clkeiper]

Okay... seriously... I agree with all the others. Skunks, and 'coons, deer and any other animal out there will destroy your crop the day before it is ready for you to pick.

First... decide which corn you want to grow.
SU: the least amount of sweetnes, traditonal corn taste... but still a hybrid
SE: increased sweetnes and tenderness
SH2: supersweet (like eating candy) and the soil needs to be 60* for germination.

or oldfashioned (really old open pollinated varieties such as country gentleman)...

SU and SE and SE-SH2 can be planted next to each other
SH2 varieties must be isolated to avoid cross pollination which would result in tough starch kernels. Leave 600 ft between varieties and/or space plantings 2-3 weeks apart

Keep colors separated if you want solid colored corn. It will cross pollinate and create a bi-color but not effect the flavor

Plant in blocks of four rows not long single rows.

fence the planting with an electric fence either the deer will come through and nip the tops or the night before it is ready the skunks and raccoons from within 5 miles will shred the field of every ear. you will be lucky to find anything left without damage. keep the wire weed free so it doesn't short out. We place two strands low... about 4" off the ground and then another strand about 8 " up.

We spray spinosad as soon as the silks emerge on each ear. We grow an acres worth of corn in succession plantings for farmers markets so this is a bit of work but worth it. this prevents the army ear worms from ruining the tips of the corn.

Fertilize at the 3 leaf stage. We (once again by hand and walking) walk the plot that is at 3 leaf stage and pour a thin band of 10-10-10 about 4-6" away from the row. you don't want to burn the plants.

Here are some that we have tried or do grow

early sunglow... tiny ear, not worth the time/space it takes to grow. no one wants to buy a 6" ear of corn.

Temptation... germinates in cold soil. nice ear good flavor

gold nugget.. nice ear of corn. dependable plain yellow. good flavor. We grow it regularly

honey select. I really liked this one.

Silver King (not Silver Queen).. this is our best seller, also the lastest to mature and almost the hardest to get to the market. Never have any left.

Ambrosia. Nice corn. bi-color

But we grow whatever looks like it would be a "winner" when we find it on sale in the Fall for clearance.

does this answer your question or did I/we miss it?

[Greatgardens]

I grew corn for 30+ years, but the "critters" have gotten worse. Raccoons are the worst pest here. Put the dog out all night... the dog slept and the raccoons fed. I read that a portable radio put in the garden would scare them off... I flipped on the lights and saw them dancing to the music.
Since (finally) most large grocery chains carry super sweet corn, I've given up and buy it. Most of the time it is pretty good -- not like "perfect" corn that I have raised, but a lot less aggravation and trouble.

-GG

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Aside from squirrels digging and eating the seeds, I don't have free space for corn. You have to have a minimum, in order to get pollination.
Then after all the work, when it is time to harvest your, they are sold in stores 25 Cents an ear., which are better than mine. hehe
Gardeneer

Our squirrels don't dig the seeds. They wait till the corn is semi mature and nibble on the ears. But I digress, when its 10 cents a ear... in the dead of summer, then you really start to second guess your choice of planting corn instead of something else.

Of course, if you're down wind of a huge patch of corn, you can grow a few stalks and be fine (minus the critters).

Originally Posted by Greatgardens

I grew corn for 30+ years, but the "critters" have gotten worse. Raccoons are the worst pest here. Put the dog out all night... the dog slept and the raccoons fed. I read that a portable radio put in the garden would scare them off... I flipped on the lights and saw them dancing to the music.

Our dogs have no interest in the 'coons either. Skunks yes. I wish it was the other way around. Would have saved a few baths.

[Gerardo]

I'm looking forward to my corn in 30 gal rootpots this year. Planted all the se, waiting another two weeks to plant the se/sh2 (northern xtra sweet and Honey Select).

I'll be adding an additional rootpot every 2 wks or so, goal is to be eating fresh all summer long.

[Stvrob]

All the talk of artificial intelligence and robots has me thinking about a sweet corn protector robot which roams the garden perimeter throughout the growing season with various sensors and small caliber gatling guns.

[joseph]

I expect no less than 2 cobs per plant from corn. 6 cobs if fairly common if enough space is provided that the tillers can also make cobs. Sometimes I have harvested up to 15 cobs per plant.

Here's an example of a plant with 5 cobs, but one of them didn't get pollinated, so call it 4 cobs.

[Anthony_Toronto]

I see lots of corn growing in my area (north of Toronto, zone 5), any suggestions on a variety that might do well in our shorter growing season? Summers here do tend to get hot and humid. I like corn that is sweet and tender, when buying cobs I tend to go for those with the smallest kernels.

As for growing, again given the shorter season up here, would you ever suggest transplanting seedlings (instead of direct sowing)? That is all that I have tried up here, and they have never worked, which I suppose answers my own question.

[clkingtx]

I have had good success with planting purchased corn seedlings. I believe it was snow queen, or something like that, an all white variety, and they just thrived, and produced great. So maybe it was something else that caused yours to fail?
I wouldn't know about a shorter season corn, maybe someone else from a similar zone to yours can chime in with one.

Carrie

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Aside from squirrels digging and eating the seeds, I don't have free space for corn. You have to have a minimum, in order to get pollination.
Then after all the work, when it is time to harvest your, they are sold in stores 25 Cents an ear., which are better than mine. hehe
Gardeneer

No @#$% I can buy it by the boat load when it is in season for really cheap something like 12 ears for a dollar.
At that time of the year I will cook up 12 ears and eat it for supper along with sliced fresh garden tomatoes and no meat.
Corn is a grass treat it as such and try to kill it with high nitrogen fertilizer.
It will reward you.
I blanketed the ground with 13-13-13 and it didn't kill it and the cucumbers growing next to it ended up 40 feet away and way up in a tree loaded with cucumbers.

Worth

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Anthony_Toronto

I see lots of corn growing in my area (north of Toronto, zone 5), any suggestions on a variety that might do well in our shorter growing season? Summers here do tend to get hot and humid. I like corn that is sweet and tender, when buying cobs I tend to go for those with the smallest kernels.

As for growing, again given the shorter season up here, would you ever suggest transplanting seedlings (instead of direct sowing)? That is all that I have tried up here, and they have never worked, which I suppose answers my own question.

Depends on how opposed you are to hybrid and GMO corn. Some of those are really bred to grow fast, especially in northern ontario. We have friends in Toronto area that grow tomatoes and such. I don't believe they've bothered with corn because season is too short and they rather grow other veggiess. But if you insist on heirloom then it'd probably have to be something like a very early var like Orchard Baby or Yukon Chief.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/corn_orchard-baby.html

Of course, you'll still need a decent plot of space for proper spacing and to achieve pollination. Though, if there's corn in your area and you're not hell bent on saving seed, you probably could grow a lot less and still come out with a decent crop.

[Cole_Robbie]

I bought a bag of GMO sweet corn, 12 pounds was almost $200. It was supposed to have the BT gene to kill the worms that ate it. But that didn't work. Later that year, the University of Illinois publishes a bulletin confirming my experience. My corn was only immune to European worms, not the American ones. Whoops. The seed company said the answer was to buy their new product that was even more expensive.

It was very sweet. It tasted good. And then the raccoons ate it all. They like to do the limbo under the electric fence. Then they climb up the corn stalk to collapse it.

Corn is a losing proposition for most market growers I know. There are mechanical combines to pick sweet corn. It's a crop that is best grown by the acre and harvested mechanically.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I bought a bag of GMO sweet corn, 12 pounds was almost $200. It was supposed to have the BT gene to kill the worms that ate it. But that didn't work. Later that year, the University of Illinois publishes a bulletin confirming my experience. My corn was only immune to European worms, not the American ones. Whoops. The seed company said the answer was to buy their new product that was even more expensive.

It was very sweet. It tasted good. And then the raccoons ate it all. They like to do the limbo under the electric fence. Then they climb up the corn stalk to collapse it.

Corn is a losing proposition for most market growers I know. There are mechanical combines to pick sweet corn. It's a crop that is best grown by the acre and harvested mechanically.

Coons aren't a herd animal but it seems they are when they find your corn.
There can be dozens of them in a field at night and they know just at the right stage to invade.
Worth

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I bought a bag of GMO sweet corn, 12 pounds was almost $200. It was supposed to have the BT gene to kill the worms that ate it. But that didn't work. Later that year, the University of Illinois publishes a bulletin confirming my experience. My corn was only immune to European worms, not the American ones. Whoops. The seed company said the answer was to buy their new product that was even more expensive.

It was very sweet. It tasted good. And then the raccoons ate it all. They like to do the limbo under the electric fence. Then they climb up the corn stalk to collapse it.

Corn is a losing proposition for most market growers I know. There are mechanical combines to pick sweet corn. It's a crop that is best grown by the acre and harvested mechanically.

We should just modify roombas and quad-copters with cattle pods and have them roam the corn fields.

Originally Posted by Worth1

Coons aren't a herd animal but it seems they are when they find your corn.
There can be dozens of them in a field at night and they know just at the right stage to invade.
Worth

No kidding.... It's certainly something to wake up and see every stalk bent and ears strewn everywhere. When the dogs start barking in the middle of the night... you know something is up.... usually nothing good.