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I planted 3 different types of corn in the garden this year. My normal Jackpot sweet corn (55 DTM), Painted Mountain corn (85 DTM) and Popcorn (112 DTM). I planted them all at once and figured with the DTM varying so much that they would all pollinate at different times and I wouldn't have any problems. About an hour after planting (of course) I started thinking...does the DTM of the dry corns take into account the extra time they dry on the stalk? Meaning they could all pollinate about the same time but the painted mountain and popcorn need additional time to dry?

Thanks in advance!

I'm interesting in seeing the experts weigh in on this.

...It seems to me that 55 days is exceptionally early even for sweet corn so that one probably won't be a problem, but the painted mountain and popcorn might coincide?

What bothers me most is the 55 day sweet corn and the 85 day painted mountain. Will they pollinate at the same time and it takes another 30 days for the painted mountain to dry?

Looking at the DTM now, they are all about 30 days apart which is a pretty good span so maybe it won't be a problem.

I too am curious to see what the experts say

Hmmmm, corn maturity dates are somewhat of a mystery is right. My guess for the things you would plant in your garden is that the dates refer to the time from emergence to harvest. Of course the corn intended for sweet eating on the cob is going to be ready before the dry corns that will be mature at full dent. I would for sure document your plantings and keep track of the progress.
I am going to guess that you will have some cross pollinating going on since corn drops pollen for around ten days.
Good Luck.

I will definitely keep an eye on things and report back. I already marked down the emergence date. I would much rather have sweet corn than any of the other corns so unfortunate to say, if I see the other corn starting to pollinate anywhere near the time the sweet corn has silk then I may have to get rid of the other corn.

In my garden Painted Mountain flowers a few days earlier than a 60 day sweet corn. So I expect Jackpot and Painted Mountain to be flowering at the same time.

The math I apply to corn is:

Sweet corns flower about 25 days prior to DTM.
Flint/Flour corns flower about 55 days prior to DTM.
Flowering times have to be about 2 weeks different in order to avoid cross pollination.

If that's the case then I may just pull everything but the sweet corn now and just do another planting (or two) of it in a couple weeks.

Thanks!

Watch the 55 day corn and see what happens. It should tassel about 1 week before harvest and be ready to harvest at 55 days. If that happens watch the 85 day corn to see what it is doing.

My Silver Queen corn says 65 days. If I plant when weather, soil, temperature is all right the corn is up in 3 days. Last time I grew corn I harvested some in 64 days and 5 days later it was all harvested.

85 - 55 = 30 days. You have 30 days between crops so that will be fine.

It’s been one month since everything sprouted and all the corn is growing nicely. The sweet corn and painted mountain are about the same height (3’) with the popcorn slightly smaller (2.5’). One weird thing though…the painted corn is tasseling already. Based on my experience with sweet corn this seems way too early. Any thoughts?

Painted Mountain is a flour corn. So if it's 85 DTM and you subtract 55 days to get to the flowering time, then it aughta be flowering 30 days after being planted in hot weather.... Right on schedule.

Painted Mountain is the earliest flowering corn that I have ever grown. PM flowers about 5 days earlier than a 60 DTM sweet corn that I grow, so I'd estimate that if PM was a sweet corn that it would be a 55 DTM sweet corn.

Gotcha...it just seems so small! For some reason I thought it said it gets 7-8' tall but I just looked it up and it says 4'. I guess it's right on track. Now I need to watch the sweet corn and make sure they don't cross pollinate (very well could). As much as I would like the painted mountain I would much rather have my sweet corn!

So I just looked up the DTM on the sweet corn and though my dad (who gave it to me in an unlabeled bag) said it was 55 days it says online it's 82 days. If that's the case I should be good!

Thanks!

Quick update...its been 48 days and the Painted Mountain corn looks like it's done with pollination. The Jackpot sweet corn has tassels spreading out and soon should be silk emergence. The Popcorn is still growing with no signs of tassel emergence yet but the top leaves are growing straight up, tight and in a circular fashion which is a sign that tassels are coming. The pollination stages between the painted mountain and jackpot are a little close for my liking but I think I'm good. Hopefully the popcorn can hold off for a week or two.

Great timing!

Another Update: Picked the first half of the sweet corn yesterday (7 dozen) and it was delicious. No signs of cross pollination whatsoever. It's about one week early but the second half will probably be ready next week.

The painted mountain is coming along. Ears are smaller than I thought but have a nice color to them. Just needs to dry now.

The popcorn is over 9 feet tall is just about done with pollination and has two ears per stalk. It's still a long ways away from being ready.

Looks like everything turned out just fine!

That's so great!
Great news for people with small spaces who thought they couldn't grow more than one variety. Enjoy your harvest.