K1953S
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Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2019 12:18 pm
Location: North west Indiana

tall corn

Look to buy seed for tall corn. Looking for anything that will grow 20+ feet. Looking for Tehua, uchima, olotillo, or Jula types of corn. what do you have?

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Contact Dekalb Corn Company. When I worked for them 1968 they had corn 20 ft tall. Kernels were the size of a quarter. You need to fertilize with lots of nitrogen other wise 20 ft corn will be 10 ft tall. 1 lbs of urea for every 30 ft of corn when corn is knee high then more nitrogen when ears start to grow silks.
Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Mar 18, 2020 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

How many ears do you get out of 20 ft corn?

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

imafan26 wrote:How many ears do you get out of 20 ft corn?
Most field corn like yellow dent corn is 9 ft tall and makes 2 ears per plant and are 95 day crops. Taller corn needs more time to grow tall about 120 to 130 days. Online says there is 35 ft and 45 ft tall corn. If plants are 6" apart that will = 100 ears every 50 ft. Each corn seed should come with planting recommendations. There is a science to profitable farming you don't want to under fertilize then you get a smaller harvest. You don't want to over fertilize profit is lost buying too much fertilizer. 1000 acre field profit can be $100,000. profit or $120,000. profit. more or less depending on how much fertilizer you use. But for home gardener I would much rather spend $3 too much for fertilizer than to have a small corn harvest.

Corn belt runs through central USA northern Illinois east & west both directions through several states. Iowa continues to be the largest corn producing state every year do to they have more rain at the perfect time for corn crops. Corn does not like temperatures above 95 degrees and seeds can be planted in 55 degree soil temperature. Corn likes lots of rain and lots of nitrogen. Ammonia is the best fertilizer for corn. Urea is a slow release fertilizer corn needs a very big dose of nitrogen 2 times and Urea is not a good choice for corn unless you over feed. When ears makes silks corns needs a very large feeding of nitrogen to produce very large ears with very large kernels very quick. Ammonium nitrate use to be a very good corn fertilizer but it is illegal now. Ammonium sulfate might be a good corn fertilizer but I have not tried it. This year I will experiment with laundry ammonia for corn fertilizer. Keep your eye on corn silks they will tell you when to fertilize the 2nd time.

If your planting tall sweet corn get specifications of each type seed. If you have lots of garden space don't crowd your corn. Old information use to say corn likes 85 degree temperatures but new information says corn likes 95 degree temperatures. Do not fertilize before planting corn seed too much nitrogen will prevent germination.

imafan26
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Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I grow UH #9 corn. It has grown 8-9 ft tall, short ones are 5 ft tall. I get 2 ears from 1/3 of the taller corn. There are sometimes third ears, but there usually isn't enough pollen to pollinate them. Ears are about 10 inches long. Shorter corn ears are also shorter around the 5-6 inch length. I agree, corn takes up a lot of space in my garden and is a heavy feeder. My garden is extra rich in nitrogen and I do side dress with sulfate of ammonia after the corn is about 4 inches tall. I till in the crop residues and plant a scavenger crop (usually Asian greens) after the last cycle of corn. (I can get up to 3 cycles of corn if I plant on March 1). The scavenger crop uses up any leftover nitrogen in the soil so it does not go to waste. I also add about 3-4 inches of compost between plantings. It works well for me and I don't actually end up using a lot of nitrogen. It is one of the few crops I plant where I actually eat all of it.



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