favorite kind of sweet corn to grow

[joed2323]

so far ive only grown bodacious sweet corn, i grew 7 20 foot long rows, and i must say i did great. It was my first year as growing vegetables.

This year i went bigger with my garden, from 25x25 to about 25x50

I had a blast growing and learning how to grow corn. I live in upper michigan so my grow season is shorter then most.

I want to stick with a (se) corn

So im probably going to grow bodacious again, and was thinking of growing ambrosious and maybe could nine.

What do you guys/gals like to grow as in favorite sweet corn

[jal_ut]

I really like Ambrosia. I have grown Bodacious too. That is a hard one to beat for a yellow corn.

[digitS']

I've grown "SE" corn just about as long as it has been available. Most of the varieties in this class have good cold soil tolerance. That is probably why you are interested in staying in that class, Joed .

Not all of the SE varieties are real short-season types, however. It is just that they can get started early. Bodacious and Ambrosia must be in this group. I can grow them but there aren't too many weeks that I can enjoy them. Staggering the sowings may not be possible for you either.

Sugar Buns may be on its way to becoming my very favorite sweet corn. It matures a little earlier than those other 2 but is not supposed to have such good cold tolerance . I don't know. I've grown it for 2 years and never had a problem with germination.

Spring Snow is one that I've grown and it lives up to its name, as best as one could hope, anyway. I've had another "Snow" (Sugar Snow) for years and will grow it again this year but the seed is old and I can't find it easily anymore!

One that I grew for more years than I care to admit is Fleet. Somewhere it says that this is the earliest of the SE varieties. I'm almost embarrassed to have it out there!! This is one tiny corn plant - but early, oh yeah! I can sow the seed about 4 times, if'n I want to, and harvest every crop! The ears are a little short but not ridiculously so. However, most anyone could probably stand in his or her corn patch and look right over the top of the plants .

Steve

[Yellowsnow]

We grow a 2 acre patch of Bread and Butter sweet corn. We pick and eat as well as cream and freeze and cut and freeze. Works well and tastes good.

We grow a little bit of different varieties in our garden. This year will be golden bantam.

[joed2323]

thanks for the quick replies.

if you guys grew bodacious and ambrosia before which of the two do you prefer and why? yes i know one is yellow and the other is bi color

Im new to the corn growing, but im hooked. I like yellow, bi color, whatever tastes good yum yum....

Ive only grown bodacious but i liked it very much. Alot of people told me (ah corn is hard to grow, you cant grow corn) And that gave me motivation to prove them wrong, and luckly bodacious worked good for me to say (hey look what i grew)

I must say that the husks on the bodacious seemed very tightly wrapped, i might have had 1 worm, and i was very happy with the results all the way around with bodacious

basically im just looking for ideas on if i should stick with bodacious for a second year and see what i can do since ive learned alot of things i didnt know last year.

Or adventure off to a second variety? i wonder maybe if i grow a second variety, if i should keep a spot in my garden for bodacious and a spot for the second variety that im looking to try out

I gotta keep in mind that not all sweet corn grows good up north in the upper peninsula on michigan

[jal_ut]

A word of warning. If you plant a standard corn and an SE (sugar enhanced) corn together and they tassel at the same time, you may be disappointed with the flavor of the SE corn. Corn is unique in that the type of pollen that fertilizes the ear, actually affects the flavor. If you stay with all SE types, you won't have any problem that way.

I prefer the Ambrosia over Bodacious. It is just a hard variety to beat for flavor, and holding on the stalk. I will plant a bit of both this year. Both are excellent.

[digitS']

For me, Bodacious is big and burly. Ambrosia is a bit on the skinny side and sometimes doesn't completely fill to the tip. They are supposed to be closely related, the seed catalogs say. Certainly, they grow and produce in a similar way.

Nothing but SE varieties in my garden with only 1 exception in about 20 years. As you say, the Bodacious is yellow & the Ambrosia is bi-color. I'm ready to go with the Sugar Buns again (a yellow) and hope that the Sugar Snow seed is still viable (a white). I make the joke that all my corn ends the season as bi-color .

It isn't really so. The corn area is fairly large and it is just on the fringes and kind of irregularly that there is cross-pollination. Sugar Snow & Buns are earlier than the other 2. They are all SE's and hybrids so I can't save the seed anyway. It is fun to have a selection even if they tend to come on in separate weeks of the season.

Howsomeever . . . I'm a risk-averse gardener. I may try something new if room is available but I am loathe to give up anything I've had success with . . . It's like candy from a baby for me .

Steve

[rkunsaw]

We tried 'Honey Select' several years ago and it has become our favorite. It is a yellow "triple sweet".

[joed2323]

great advice.

sounds like i cannot go wrong with growing bodacious again and if i have room grow ambrosia also.

I did enjoy the size of the bodacious ears, and i like that size ear. If ambrosia is a little smaller, i can live with it as long as taste makes up for size.

to be honest, last year i couldnt decide if i should buy ambrosia or bodacious, but this year my garden is bigger so it allows me to grow 2 varieties if i choose.

Unless i just try ambrosia and and stay with one variety and hope for the best.

I guess for me its hard to try something new with not growing bodacious at all since ive gotten good results.

I guess i wont know how good other kinds are versus bodacious unless i try new kinds right?

[DoubleDogFarm]

You may want to trySugar Dots another short season, high sugar corn.

Eric

[jal_ut]

Another SE corn I have tried is Incredible. It is an 85 day corn and turned out great. It is yellow. I may plant a bit of this again this year too.

If you decide to plant both Bodacious and Ambrosia, since they are both 75 day varieties, space your plantings 3 weeks. This way you will have no cross pollination and get a better idea what the flavor and quality of both are. I find that corn planted early takes a little longer to mature than the same variety planted three weeks later. It is simply because of it being warmer later. Corn seems to need so many heat units, rather than X number of days.

[jal_ut]

My first planting of corn is around the 5th of May. I plant more every two weeks up until July 4. This way I get a prolonged harvest from about the third week of July up until October.

Here is some Ambrosia:

[joed2323]

wow that ambrosia looks delicious...

ive heard lots of diff reviews on corn like Kandy Korn, have you guys ever heard of cloud nine, or grown cloud nine? its a se type corn as well
What are your thoughts on the Kandy korn???
I also heard incredible was a good one.

Why do they make so many different varieties?? i think they do this to drive us crazy with all the choices we have to make before we plant seeds....

[jal_ut]

You have grown Bodacious so you know its good. Ambrosia and Incredible are both good too. OK, stop there and quit torturing yourself.

Yes, I did try Kandy Korn. I was not impressed.

I have not tried Cloud Nine.

[joed2323]

jal_ut - thank you

fair enough.

i will grow bodacious then and narrow second choice down to ambrosia or incredible, makes the decision making alot easier.

With incredible is this a good variety to grow up north in upper peninsula of michigan? im assuming its not much different from bodacious so i should be ok.

Do you guys go as far as using a soil thermometer and testing soil temp before planting or just wing it by the way it feels and outside temp?

[jal_ut]

I plant by the calendar. May 5 is the day for the first corn. This is about two weeks before the average day of last frost.

The way this year is going, I may jump the gun a bit this year. I won't make a large planting early though. Try a couple of short rows.

I have never used a soil thermometer for anything.

[joed2323]

is it true that bi color corn is sweeter then yellow corn? im talking about both being se type corn...

so ambrosia must be sweeter then bodacious if this statement is true

[digitS']

I think the sweetness factor may have to do with something other than color but I could be wrong.

Wow, James! Those Ambrosia ears have certainly filled out nicely. Looks more like my Bodacious.

Kandy Korn really could not reach maturity here, Joed. The weather began too cool before it had really run thru its course. I avoid any warm-season variety that claims to be 80 days+. And, not all SE varieties can be planted in cold soil . . . at least, that is the claim. The whole class made a wonderful contribution to my corn growing .

Note the "Early maturing and capable of vigorously sprouting in cool soils" for Eric's Sugar Dots. Obviously, you will need enuf garden space next year for 4 to 6 varieties !

Steve

[TheWaterbug]

I can't really say it's a "favorite" because I've only really ever grown two varieties, but I was pretty happy with my Bi-Licious last year.

We had our first annual (?) Corn-U-Copia party on day 80, and everyone loved it.

I just planted a packet on 3/11, and it's up now:


That's my "bellwether" crop of ~30 plants. I'm going to plant 3 more packets this weekend, and as soon as my bellwether crop is ready to eat, I'll know to send out invitations for 3 weeks later