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26 Comments
I have one corn stalk growing right now from the half dozen seeds I planted . I have been with some success growing corn for the past 8 years on my patio , but so far have not yielded any edible corn .
Sweet corn has never given me anything less than 3-5 ears per stalk.
And even if you get every other thing right, which I did last year, if you don’t know the exact right moment to harvest your corn, it’s either going to be unripe, or overripe, which makes it thoroughly inedible. You have like a 24 to 48 hour window to harvest at the exact right time, or it was all for nothing.
My dad raised the best sweet corn ever! We had 6 50" rows, and it was not a burden to grow. A home gardener who prepares the soil before they plant, like for any other crop, can enjoy a bounty of the best, sweetest corn ever put in your mouth! Not even a farmer's market corn will ever compare to the hour it spends from being picked, cleaned, cooked properly, and put on your plate as you raise it to your mouth and have your first bite! SO, home gardeners, do NOT be discouraged! Prep your soil by adding plenty of nitrogen. Choose a variety that fits your region. I have never seen corn that only produces a single ear, and mulch the emerging corn. Plant in blocks at least 4' x 4' since it is pollinated by wind or hand pollinate it, and enjoy a bounty of corn.
I wish you would record video footage of what happened to the corn field as it progressed so you would have B-roll footage to go along with your voiceover. It would make for a much more interesting video than just you speaking about it.
Funny enough, we grow corn not to get grain but to be a living stalk for a vast majority of our actual crops. Sure the corn can take a lot of nitrogen out of the ground as it grows, but i have seen it boost so many other plants once it hits 3 foot.
Many people do not know this, but corn has airial roots that secrete a mucous for anaerobic bacteria to live, this bacteria actually will fix the corns needed nitrogen from the air if it meets 2 conditions. 1) the root area is completely shaded from the sunlight, and 2) the humidity close to the soil is >70%.
This is why corn works best when planted with low growing, ground cover and vining crops.
Did you try three sisters?
Keep trying! Probably more a variety problem. I have had great success most years with sweet corn, but a couple of varieties did not do well at all. I plant a small patch of between 5-7 rows, and get 2 ears of corn from each. We keep it covered the until it germinates and is a few inches high, so the birds don't eat the seed. Then make sure it is weeded well. As it grows quickly, it will shade the soil, and very little weeds will arise. After that, it takes care of itself and tastes better than any farm-stand corn we have bought in the past. Tender, sweet, and we pick it for about 2-3 weeks, freeze the extra and make relish with any that is not perfect. Also, no pesticides used. Fence out the deer and other critters. Have healthy soil. We get really high winds! They will pop up again after they are laid down. It stands up again all the time around here. CORN is the easiest to grow – try try again.
I can grow enough corn for my labor day party every year on 2 6×3 plots. I learned this year that corn cobs can survive z6 winter and sprout the following year, it would help to thin though😅
good lord i don't know what yall do up there. in south ms, sweet corn is my favorite and easiest crop i grow i do a spring and fall patch. you gotta plow it regularly, hill it twice. i put down balanced preplant fertilizer then side dress twice with nitrogen during the grow out. a forty by forty plot will feed 2 families for a year if you plant it with 3 ft row spacing on double rows drip tape down the center. don't know why anybody would plant 2 acres of sweet corn thats way too much. youll never buy sweet corn or potataos that taste as good as you can grow yourself.
Save the seeds of those corn plants and replant them next year. They'll do much better.
I planted Peruvian flour corn a few years ago. The first year they got 2 feet tall with a few kernels. Replanted the second year and they doubled in size and yield. By the fourth year they grew 15 feet tall with three huge ears each. I never fertilized nor watered. They remember and adapt.
Agreed, corn is NOT on top of my growing list! But I do love growing baby corn! They're $2.79 a can in my store! I hope you start carrying baby corn seeds again! ❤
I feel your pain. I have the same struggles with onions and potatoes. I gave up on them. I live in the UAE so it's hot and our growing season in only about 6 months. This year my struggle has been with seed germination. I've bought from a half dozen brands, planted in potting mix, compost, direct sown, and some things, like even the usually easiest and quickest germinators like lettuces, kale and spinach just didn't germinate. I ordered seeds from you guys a few years ago and honestly, I had almost 100% germination. My only issue was that it came by snail mail and took two months to arrive but they were the best seeds I've ever used.
Sweet corn is about the easiest thing I've ever grown. You know how it is, if you are going to do it organically you need to go talk to someone who does it that way on a large scale and see how they do it. I hate to say it but you probably would have had about, not all, but about the same problems with any crop on 2 acres you would have planted. Organic gardening is fairly easy and you water it. On a larger scale it is a much different story. Good Luck always to you, you are one of the best!
My corn did pretty well in the garden this year, 2 crops. I tilled then immediately put down 6 inches of wood chips. Then I started my corn in 50-cell trays. Once the corn was a few inches tall i dragged 4 lines through the chips with a hoe, 1 foot apart going down the bed, fertilized the lines, and hand transplanted and pushed the chips back. All I did was water and side dress some organic nitrogen after that. Biggest issue was birds. At the end of the second crop the Stellar Jays started knocking down and ruining corn to steal a few bites off each ear. I had to pick a little premature. The Jays are year round residents and I will have to put bird netting over my corn next year now.
Home grown corn tastes better than anything you can buy from the grocery store. However, growing corn is super expensive in small quantities. Very small returns for the amount of effort required to reach harvest.
Thanks for the info brother, sorry about your yield. Try soybeans then corn a season later. See if that changes results.
Corn isn't worth my time or the real estate for the little bit of produce. I agree with you about planting something more productive. I'd rather get them from the store.
You didn't even get to the corn worms that show up when the ears form. Last year, I did Kandy Corn, it was great. This year, Kandy Corn again, we got 2 ears, because of the worms. Despite treating with oil . Since my patch was small, only 9 plants by 4 plants, I created a grid from wooden stakes and string to hold them up in storms. That actually worked well.
We have many, many corn fields here in Chilliwack BC. A fellow flew over a field in late August in his helicopter. It looked like Swiss cheese. He swooped down and there was a bear! …I am sure a family having a feast and had been for several weeks! Stuff happens.
Oh, I hear you, Luke! We have to keep trying, though, because if you don’t eat the sweet corn within 10 minutes of picking it, it just does not taste the same. Even corn from the farmers market can’t compare. This year I planted 64 kernels/seeds, and I was hoping to get that many ears of corn since I often get two ears per stalk. Well, I got a total of 4 ears😅, but it was the tastiest thing I grew in my garden all summer!
My two best tips after years of growing sweet corn: (1) Yes, you definitely need to keep the weeds under control, especially while the stalks are young, and (2) when the stalks begin to get about waist-high, occasionally put some strong-smelling aftershave on a pair of gardening gloves and walk thru the rows, lightly touching the stalks as you go (alternately, you can make a solution of a few drops of aftershave in water in a spray bottle)… both will effectively keep the deer and raccoons from bothering your corn all season long. Good luck! 🍀 🌽
Don't grow corn. Grows corn anyway. 😅
What did your soil test look like before you planted? Corn can handle pretty low pH but alkaline soil will really put a damper on nutrient availability.
Sweet corn is always one of our best sellers at our Farmer's Market. Weeds are a problem no matter crop you plan to grow. Just learn how to control them. Nothing tastes better than home grown sweet corn. A woven wire electric fence keeps the critters out. As for corn ear worm one vendor at our market said, "that is what a paring knife is for."
We grew Painted Hill and Buttergold in half a 10×4 raised bed, in straight rotted chicken and rabbit bedding. Worked great. You just have to own chickens and a rabbit