confused about corn! please help!

aimeruni · June 7, 2012

I've never grown it before. I know sugar (standard corn) and sugar enhanced (se) have to be isolated OR planted 2-3 weeks apart w/harvest time; if you don't the corn is starchy and/or flavor of SE corn is worsened due to cross pollination from sugar corn.

If I plant the sugar variety and SE together, and plant the sugar variety 2-3 weeks after, will it still affect the flavor of the SE corn or not?

Am growing SE, cause it keeps better than standard corn. Varieties I have are quick to mature (60-65 days) germinate well in cool soil, and are about 4-'5' tall which allows for closer spacing. Varieties are early sunglow (sugar, normal corn), butterfruit, and quickie (both of these are sugar enhanced).

I've looked up different types of corn (sugar, sugar enhanced etc.); unfortunately there are so many different types, and ways of referring to them, I still don't get it. Could really use clarification w/this.

Doug9345 · June 7, 2012

Corn is one of the few plants where we eat the next generation and not the current one. This means what the male parent is influences how the corn will taste.
This site http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/...cts/90-126.htm has a bunch of detail.
Basically each of the Se or SH2 corns need to be pollinated by a variety that has the same sugar gene as the mother plant and not one of the others.

Now how can we accomplish this? We can keep them separated. How far, 500+ feet is the recommended distance, or you can do it by time. I think it's around 10 days.

Let me explain this in terms of a dog. How do you keep you prized poodle Fifi from getting pregnant by Killer the neighbor hood mutt. You can keep them separated, but it only matters when she is in heat. The rest of the time they can hang out and play together an she isn't going to get pregnant. It also doesn't matter if she is already pregnant.

Now back to the corn. It doesn't come into "heat", but it does have a fertile period. A time when the pollen is ripe and the silk is ready to be pollinated. As long as the time of fertility for the Se corn and the Su(normal) corn doesn't over lap then it doesn't matter that they are close.

I also assume that if the Se corn is ready a week before the normal corn then most of it will be pollinated before the normal corn pollen ripens.

raindrops27 · June 7, 2012

Great explanation Doug, I have a question as I've gotten conflicting answers, ( I am not a corn newbie, but having issues with this.) I planted both obsession and mirai corn, the same day in the same block. I should not have any issue' as they are both super sweets right?

Doug9345 · June 8, 2012

No you shouldn't. I've planted Trinity and Incredible and never had a problem. They are both Sugary enhanced varieties. I forgot the reasoning behind why I went that way and not the Sh2 direction, it had to do with either that fact that I can and freeze some or the fact that I wasn't comfortable that the neighbors might not plant field corn.

June 7, 2012	#1
aimeruni Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Brooksville FL, zone 9a Posts: 67	confused about corn! please help! I've never grown it before. I know sugar (standard corn) and sugar enhanced (se) have to be isolated OR planted 2-3 weeks apart w/harvest time; if you don't the corn is starchy and/or flavor of SE corn is worsened due to cross pollination from sugar corn. If I plant the sugar variety and SE together, and plant the sugar variety 2-3 weeks after, will it still affect the flavor of the SE corn or not? Am growing SE, cause it keeps better than standard corn. Varieties I have are quick to mature (60-65 days) germinate well in cool soil, and are about 4-'5' tall which allows for closer spacing. Varieties are early sunglow (sugar, normal corn), butterfruit, and quickie (both of these are sugar enhanced). I've looked up different types of corn (sugar, sugar enhanced etc.); unfortunately there are so many different types, and ways of referring to them, I still don't get it. Could really use clarification w/this.

June 7, 2012	#2
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	Corn is one of the few plants where we eat the next generation and not the current one. This means what the male parent is influences how the corn will taste. This site http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/...cts/90-126.htm has a bunch of detail. Basically each of the Se or SH2 corns need to be pollinated by a variety that has the same sugar gene as the mother plant and not one of the others. Now how can we accomplish this? We can keep them separated. How far, 500+ feet is the recommended distance, or you can do it by time. I think it's around 10 days. Let me explain this in terms of a dog. How do you keep you prized poodle Fifi from getting pregnant by Killer the neighbor hood mutt. You can keep them separated, but it only matters when she is in heat. The rest of the time they can hang out and play together an she isn't going to get pregnant. It also doesn't matter if she is already pregnant. Now back to the corn. It doesn't come into "heat", but it does have a fertile period. A time when the pollen is ripe and the silk is ready to be pollinated. As long as the time of fertility for the Se corn and the Su(normal) corn doesn't over lap then it doesn't matter that they are close. I also assume that if the Se corn is ready a week before the normal corn then most of it will be pollinated before the normal corn pollen ripens.

June 7, 2012	#3
raindrops27 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: long island Posts: 327	Great explanation Doug, I have a question as I've gotten conflicting answers, ( I am not a corn newbie, but having issues with this.) I planted both obsession and mirai corn, the same day in the same block. I should not have any issue' as they are both super sweets right?

June 8, 2012	#4
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	No you shouldn't. I've planted Trinity and Incredible and never had a problem. They are both Sugary enhanced varieties. I forgot the reasoning behind why I went that way and not the Sh2 direction, it had to do with either that fact that I can and freeze some or the fact that I wasn't comfortable that the neighbors might not plant field corn.