Corn questions

[shaefins]

I have space in my raised bed that's meant to hold tall plants/trellises (tomatoes, cukes and snap peas, so far). I'm trying to plot everything out in an Excel file to make sure I have enough space to do what I'd like. Looks like I have a space left open - 2'x3'. Is it possible for me to get sweet corn in there? This is my first garden, and I've read you have to have certain spacing for the corn to pollinate - blocks are preferred vs. a long row.

Any suggestions on how many seeds I could/should plant in that space, and how I should do them?

[RyanDe680]

The only thing (since I am row planting) that I have read regarding corn planting is to plant them 10-12" apart and separate rows by 26-30"

[jal_ut]

Plant 8 seeds in that space. Spread them out. Not all together.

[rainbowgardener]

Check out the book Square Foot Gardening in the recommended gardening books at the bottom of the page. It is a system of very intensive planting in very enriched soil. He would plant 4 corn plants in each square foot, which would be 24 in your 2x3' space. But note that this is way more crowded than would traditionally be recommended. It is based on growing in a raised bed with soil that is 1/3 blended compost (that is compost from several different sources like mushroom compost, composted manure and composted yard waste), 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite.

Even so corn is a heavy feeder and needs a lot of nitrogen. For it to thrive that closely spaced, you would probably need to keep adding more sources of nitrogen through the season. If your soil isn't that enriched and loose, try 2/ sq ft instead.

I can't speak from personal experience. When I used to grow corn in the past, I hadn't yet heard of this. I gave up on corn because though easy to grow it was not easy to protect from the critters. Where I was we had deer, birds, squirrels, raccoons, possums, groundhogs, and a variety of other small rodents and EVERY ONE of them LOVES corn. It was hard to get any for myself. I may try again sometime if I can get electric fence.

[BrPanthers99]

I used the square foot garden with massive success last year. I did not use it for corn however. 2x3 I would say 8-12 seeds will definitely work. I had my corn to 4 1/2-5ft high last year, then I had to go on vacation and it burned out. I will not make that mistake again.

Corn if fun to grow and I will definitely do it again this year.

[Rob_NZ]

Check out the book Square Foot Gardening in the recommended gardening books at the bottom of the page. It is a system of very intensive planting in very enriched soil. He would plant 4 corn plants in each square foot, which would be 24 in your 2x3' space.

I'd go with Rainbowgardener. I'm just about done harvesting corn now and I planted several blocks, with different spacings. Two blocks I planted about 8 inches apart but one block I really crammed them in about 4 inches apart, and they grew fine.

Although the plant grew fine, and although the cobs came good, the cobs were slightly smaller. Just my experience

EDIT - I did not add any feed at all to the tighter block, which probably accounts for the smaller cobs.

[shaefins]

Thank you all for the responses. I'm actually doing SFG - will end up w/ approx. 10 inches of leaf/mushroom compost, topped off w/ approx. 4 inches of a mix of: peat, vermiculite and compost (chicken poo and two other things I forget). This is my first attempt, so I'll have to watch the plants and address issues as they arise (I.e. more fertilizer, etc.).

The squirrels are deterring me a bit from planting the corn. Seems like 16 ears of corn (assuming 2 per plant) might not be worth the trouble of trying to keep them out of the planter. Chicken wire is expensive, lol!