Container corn

Tue May 15, 2012 4:22 pm

My kid brought home about 8 sprouts of corn all in one plastic cup and about 5-6 inches tall from school. I don't know what kind of corn it is so I am weary of planting it near my sweet corn.

I'd like to try it in a container. Has anyone tried to grow corn in a container before?

Thanks.

Tue May 15, 2012 7:48 pm

ive heard of people doing small raised beds and even 5 gallon bucket corn...

What type of sweet corn are you growing btw in your patch

Wed May 16, 2012 4:25 pm

Start some sweet corn with out telling your son and swap it out when you go to plant it.

Back when I lived in an apartment building I grew corn on the balcony in buckets I had 2 stalks per bucket and got some pretty good corn from it. And it would make a good privacy screen once it got tall. I only grew 10 stalks but I would have nice fresh sweet corn for a few meals out of it.

Wed May 16, 2012 4:47 pm

Since you don't want to plant it near your sweet corn I'm sure your aware of the wind and cross-pollination. Keep in mind that they recommend (from my reading) at least 250ft distance between corn you don't want to cross-pollinate and 700ft away to ensure there is no cross-pollination. Obviously planting it in the typical up-wind direction helps.

Keep this in mind when placing containers if you choose to do so.

Thu May 17, 2012 10:58 am

If the corn is a few weeks behind your sweet corn you should be ok. It's possible to plant different corn types that cross without creating problems if timed so the sweet corn silks at least two weeks before/after the other corn. Can't cross-pollinate if the timing is off!

Thu May 17, 2012 11:44 am

RickRS wrote:If the corn is a few weeks behind your sweet corn you should be ok. It's possible to plant different corn types that cross without creating problems if timed so the sweet corn silks at least two weeks before/after the other corn. Can't cross-pollinate if the timing is off!

Good point!

Thu May 17, 2012 11:32 pm

RickRS wrote:If the corn is a few weeks behind your sweet corn you should be ok. It's possible to plant different corn types that cross without creating problems if timed so the sweet corn silks at least two weeks before/after the other corn. Can't cross-pollinate if the timing is off!

I was gonna say this! I planted my peruvian giant corn and am planting the sweet corn a month later.

Fri May 18, 2012 9:34 pm

I planted Early extra sweet hybrid- I think it was from burpee. I'm gonna give the containers a shot just to see what happens.

Thanks.