SLC
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Location: Central Connecticut

Can you grow corn successfully close together?

I have been searching on here and cannot find the answer, so I am just going to ask.

I have a small garden, and I would like to do blocks of corn. If I do a block of 9 corn plants, all spaced 1 foot apart, then in 2 weeks another block and 2 weeks later another block, do you think it will grow successfully?

I would like to "stretch out the season" by planting each block of 9 plants 2 weeks apart.

The package says 6 inches apart in rows of 2 feet, so 12 inches apart all the way around is kind of using the same space....what do you think?

Please help with any advice, thanx!

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jal_ut
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Give it a whirl. Not much to lose.

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Gary350
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A small crop of corn has to be grown close together other wise your wasting your time and valuable garden space.

Corn grows best in a large crop. You have to make a small crop think it is a large crop.

Corn takes up a lot of space that I don't have in a small garden. So I plant corn in 20 ft long rows, 8 rows are 1 ft apart, seeds are about 10" or so apart. This gives me about 575 plants. It works excellent.

9 corn plants MIGHT work if you wrap the 9 plants with a bed sheet to contain all the pollen so it does not blow away.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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!potatoes!
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nine plants could be kinda small for each round, for pollination purposes. there'd only be one plant in the middle of each block...

worth a try, though, I suppose.

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rainbowgardener
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The square foot gardening folks do one or more corn plants per square foot (depending on variety, smaller plant varieties can be closer spaced). But the secret to square foot gardening is highly enriched soil. Corn is a heavy feeder and needs lots of nitrogen. If you are going to grow it closely spaced, you will have to be sure it gets enough nutrients.

It does pollinate better grown in blocks instead of rows. If you can manage it, a 4x4 block is likely to do better than the 3x3.

Have fun experimenting!

But if you have critters around (squirrels, raccoons, birds, groundhogs, etc) be sure to fence in your corn plots (deer netting works well). EVERYBODY loves corn!!

SLC
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Location: Central Connecticut

Does it help that I plan on helping it pollinate myself?

Last year I had 2 rows - plants 6 inches apart, row 2 feet apart - but all planted at the same time...then I helped it pollinate.

And ended up with this:


[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/SecretlyLovesClay/Garden/P1050498.jpg[/img]

Do you think I should stick to what I did last year? Plant it all at once? If I want to plant other veggies, I just don't have a lot of room for the corn to be planted "properly". :cry:

Also, as I did last year, I plan to plant a row of green beans in front of it, which I heard helps feed it nitrogen. Will that help? How close should I plant the beans?

RickRS
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How do you hand pollinate corn? It's normally wind pollinated, which is why a single row yields spotty results; wind blows pollen from one stalk onto the next and that doesn't happen when the wind blows across a single row.

You're talking about what referred to as intensive planting. It works, but you have to keep the water and nutri level high to get the plants at a good yield. Easier to do in a small garden than in large plots and fields, so you're in the zone.

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klevelyn
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Last year I planted my corn 12 inches apart. this year I am going to try them closer. 10 inches apart in a double row. Sounds like you did great last year. My son planted corn in threes along a single row. He watered and mulched heavily and the corn was great. If you have rich soil the plants do better as they don't compete for food.

SLC
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Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 9:18 pm
Location: Central Connecticut

klevelyn wrote:Last year I planted my corn 12 inches apart. this year I am going to try them closer. 10 inches apart in a double row. Sounds like you did great last year. My son planted corn in threes along a single row. He watered and mulched heavily and the corn was great. If you have rich soil the plants do better as they don't compete for food.
Did your corn do well last year? How close are you going to space between the rows? What do you mean by double row?

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jal_ut
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I have a garden planter, a drill, that drops seed every 9.5 inches. Depending on the size of the seed, it may drop 1 or 2 seeds each spot. I make the rows 32 inches apart and don't thin. I always plant 2 or more rows. The Ambrosia corn I have been planting does very well planted this close. Most plants will have 2 ears. It all gets pollinated well.

I have seen corn in a patchy stand that didn't get pollinated real good and the kernels on the cob are rather patchy.

I have also seen corn in too dense of a stand where the center plants had no ears at all.

So, it would seem a happy medium is probably the best plan for planting corn. If it is too crowded and competing for sunshine, air and water, it may not even produce. Too thin and you may get sparse pollination.

I think your 9 plants in a 3x3 space would do well. I am going to agree with rainbowgardener that 16 plants in a 4x4 plot may be better.

Like I said earlier, give it a whirl The best way to find out is try it. Please report.

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RogueRose
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YES YOU CAN! You can grow it in small area and in rows and in small blocks!

This is my corn I grew last year along the fence (right now I have peas there. I might do corn there again, depending on the timing when the peas are done):
[img]https://inlinethumb64.webshots.com/50111/2117585440062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img]
[img]https://inlinethumb24.webshots.com/49239/2991124810062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img] Boot was there for size comparison.

Corn from the fence corn:
[img]https://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/49963/2965526420062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img]
[img]https://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/51068/2189712560062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img]

This is the only picture I have of the small block of corn in the garden. This stuff grew insanely tall and insanely fast:
[img]https://inlinethumb22.webshots.com/47637/2599942430062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img]

I like fun, weird corn. This was a hybrid sweet colored corn. I am IN LOVE with the color the silk turned:
[img]https://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/15900/2962587770062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img]

And some of the block corn crop:
[img]https://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/8028/2794877600062041520S425x425Q85.jpg[/img]



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