Peaches and Cream sweet corn question ?

[mater samich]

iam in south west TN . my corn is already 3 foot tall . when do you side dress it (fertilize) ? thanks .

[Gary350]

When I lived on the farm we use to fertilize when the corn was still short enough that we could still drive the tractor through the field and not break down the corn. 3 ft tall was just about as tall as the corn was allowed to get and the tractor could still drive over the plants and not damage them. We fertilized with ammonia = nitrogen.

In my garden I usually wait until the corn shows signs of making ears. I want the fertilizer to make larger fruit not larger plants. It is logical to assume larger plants will also make larger fruit. I have tried it both ways. Corn loves nitrogen but you do not want to fertilize with very much nitrogen in hot weather. When I fertilize my corn I mix 15/15/15 and Ammonium Nitrate about 1/2 cup of each for each 20 ft row of corn. Side dress and water with the garden hose.

If your corn is 3 ft tall I would fertilize now or soon don't wait for 90 deg weather.

[bcallaha]

I usually side dress my corn twice. The first time is when the corn is about 8"-12" tall, I hoe, thin if necessary, and side dress. I side dress once again when it's about 3'-4' tall. I use a good multi-purpose 12-12-12 granular fertilizer.

Brad

[farmerlon]

iam in south west TN . my corn is already 3 foot tall . when do you side dress it (fertilize) ? thanks .

I don't add any "chemical" fertilizer to my corn. I add a good amount of composted manure to the soil before planting corn. As the plants grow, I "hill" the rows (pile the soil up around the bottom of the plants).
That prevents the corn from lodging (blowing over) if we get a strong storm... and, I imagine it supplies a good amount of extra nutrition around the root zone of the plants.

My method is probably not for everyone; but it works great for me.

[rootsy]

band 46-0-0 about a foot to the side of the row just before a good soaking rain...

Put it on at about 300 lbs of fertilizer (140 lbs of N) / acre.

If you put it on without some rain the nitrogen will volatize into the atmosphere.

[garden5]

Well, since I'm not much of a fertilizer man, I like to just use compost. I think it's a good idea to top-dress with some compost perhaps once a month. Although, any corn I grow will be in a small plot, so I don't know how much this will help you.