CORN time to grow a different type corn.

[Gary350]

I have been growing Silver Queen for probably 30 years it is time to see if there is something better. Any suggestions?

[jal_ut]

I am lovin Ambrosia.

[wisconsindead]

Wish I could help ya out. I am growing a purple sweet corn (Double Red) this year to try out something new. My corn hasn't really turned out well in my two years of growing it. Any tips for growing/harvest time selection?

[applestar]

Last year, I grew Mirai350 BC triple-sweet hybrid and the kids loved them. You really cant make a mistake in harvest timing with those. DH and I thought they were a little too sugary and not enough corn depth, and the ears were definitely shorter than the farm stand corn, so they might not compare with Silver Queen however. They do make two ears though.

I do want to try Ambrosia hybrid at some point, but haven't got to it yet because I keep experimenting. We liked Kandy hybrid Corn.

They sell Ruby Queen hybrid corn now.

I've grown Double Red sweet corn before -- trick is to pick them at the right time if you want to eat them as sweet corn. But if you let them go and turn red and then to mature corn, they make wonderful corn meal, too.

This year, I'll be experimenting with seeds of some corn that I intentionally hand pollinated and crossed -- jumbled up mixture of Mirai 350 bc, Kandy Corn , Double Red, Glass Gem (not sweet corn -- more for popping and flour)..... I'm hoping to eventually get colorful sweet corn.

[rainbowgardener]

Besides the Marai triple sweet, any other suggestions about corn varieties that are more prone to make two ears per plant?

Last year my Silver Queens only made one per plant. Are they more prone to make two if fertilized more?

[wisconsindead]

I've grown Double Red sweet corn before -- trick is to pick them at the right time if you want to eat them as sweet corn. But if you let them go and turn red and then to mature corn, they make wonderful corn meal, too.

I do want to eat them as sweet corn. Any tips?

[jal_ut]

I plant the 5th of May, then wait three weeks and plant again, then wait 2 weeks and plant again. This spreads out the harvest. That works here at this location. You can plant corn about 3 weeks before your last expected frost. Even if it comes and gets frosted a bit, it usually grows. I always plant three rows as a minimum. Corn needs company so it gets pollinated. If planting in a bed I would suggest one seed per square foot of bed. If corn is too crowded it will make tall stalks but will not put on ears.

[applestar]

Hehe I'm still not good at growing corn, though I'm trying. When I grew Double Red, I wasn't very successful and needed to save seeds so I only tried a few ears as "green" sweet corn. But looking back from 3-4 years of experience since then, I would say to use the same criteria as any other sweet corn -- wait until the silk shrivels, feel from outside and peel a few to learn what they look like inside, and harvest as soon as the kernels are plump and maybe do the thumbnail test - milky juice when a kernel is broken open.

This one is old fashioned corn so don't dawdle but take them inside and cook right away or don't pick until just before ready to cook.

I believe the kernels should still look mostly white with maybe a bit of red blush on the top.


....hahaha you are making me want to grow them again. I do need to use up the old coin envelope of saved seeds that should be pure and uncrossed. Last year, I think I only had one or two double red plants, and pollinated the one or two ears that grew with Mirai and/or Glass Gem x Kandy Korn..... I do intend to grow those this year, but not sure what characteristics to expect.

[Taiji]

I'm with Jal, I like Ambrosia too. In fact, I think it was a couple of years ago when you mentioned Ambrosia which induced me to try it. It usually gives me 2 nice ears per plant. Before that, I always planted Bodacious which is great too, usually 2 ears per plant. No complaints with Bodacious, I just wanted to try a bi color. (Ambrosia is) Bodacious has a remarkable texture if picked at just the right time. One little tip with Ambrosia that I learned last year: the silks never really turned dark. I kept waiting, then was a little behind on some of my picking cause the silks only went to a medium brown.

Last year, I grew Silver Queen too for the first time, in a different location than Ambrosia. I was pleasantly surprised. Really tall plants, and 2 ears per plant. Well, most plants gave 2 ears. Some plants actually had 3 and 4 ears, but the 2 extra didn't really do much. I was in a quandary as to whether I should break off the extras or not. I think I didn't, can't remember.

I did give the Silver Queen a little sprinkling of ammonium sulfate every 2 or 3 weeks knowing they're heavy feeders. In fact, I do the same for all corns. Maybe that helped.
Not to beat a dead horse, but, top to bottom: Ambrosia, Bodacious, Silver Queen:

[digitS']

You are getting some advice from the Rockies if not the Rookies, Gary .

The Ambrosia and Bodacious varieties are from Crookham, in Idaho. They are a wholesaler and these were their SE introductions. I'd like to add a third: Sugar Buns. I've grown the others, have Ambrosia each year but I'm pretty sure that DW likes the Sugar Buns best .

SE varieties are supposed to have greater cold soil tolerance, even tho' Sugar Buns isn't noted to be especially gifted that way. Still, I don't have any problem with emergence from it. Low temperature tolerance is important here since our springs usually warm so slowly. Then, the growing season isn't especially long. Three successions still work for me with an SE with 75 days-to-maturity or less.

Steve

[jal_ut]

For planting corn this is my helper. The disc was set up to drop a seed or two every 8 inches. I took masking tape and covered every other hole so it drops seed every 16 inches. This seems to give larger ears with no thinning required.

[Gary350]

It is hard to know how much nitrogen to give corn. Urea is totally different than Ammonium Nitrate and Ammonium Sulfate it is easy to overdose plants with Ammonium Nitrate but seems to be much harder to overdose plants with Urea even though it is about 2 time more nitrogen.

I have not got the hang of using Urea yet last summer I gave each 12' row about 1 pint jar full of Urea. I side dressed the rows with the same amount of Urea every 3 weeks. It did not kill my corn so this year i will try giving my corn a little more Urea about 1 1/2 pints per 12' row.

A 12'x12' corn crop with 32" row spacing and 6 to 8 inch seed spacing gives very good pollination and nice 8" ears. In the past I have planted 12'x12' crops with 1' row spacing and 6" to 8" seed spacing that did almost as good as another 12'x12' crop with 3' row spacing and 8" seed spacing. 12" row spacing has 325 seeds and produces about 330 ears of corn. The 3' row spacing has 95 seeds and produces about 98 ears of corn. With 325 ears even if they are smaller ears it is still 2 times more corn than 98 ears.

Most Silver Queen stalks make 1 ear of corn but there are a few stalks with 2 ears. The compact 1' row spacing always has excellent pollination and 3' row spacing is usually good. Last summer i did 32" row spacing pollination was very good and ears were nice 8" long. Down side of 12" row spacing it is impossible to weed the corn once it is taller than 3'. It is a little bit hard to weed 24" rows. This year I will do 32" rows again with 6" seed spacing.

This year i will plant a 75 day crop and 90 day crop side by side plant them both at the same time soon as soil is 65 degrees. 75 day crop will be gone by the time the 90 day crop matures and they will not cross pollinate. The trick to good corn it must mature at or before 85 degree weather and still have rain in the forecast 2 or 3 times each week. Once temperatures get above 85 and rain stops corn suffers. It is usually 90 to 95 here by July 1st so I must have my corn planted by April 15 for the best crop but its not likely it will get planted until May 1st. If my 75 day corn gets planted May 1th it will mature July 15. That is why you rarely see farmers plant corn in TN we are too far south to get a good harvest corn will mature in 95 degree weather and spring rain is long gone. Maybe 3 or 4 more days of no rain I can till the garden.

I talked to my cousin in Illinois he plants 2000 acres of corn every year. He says he plants double rows. I ask, what are double rows? You plant 2 rows of corn side by side and 32" space between the 2 rows. 20 years ago we did single rows 32" apart. Double rows are 12" between the 2 rows with 32" row spacing this gives an over all row spacing average of 22". He said he use to spend $40,000. on seed corn and get a $200,000. harvest now he spends $60,000. on seed and gets a $300,000. harvest. This is interesting it makes me want to experiment and plant my garden corn in double rows I can still weed the garden easy and have 45% more corn in the same 12'x12' space.

[imafan26]

I have grown Silver Queen, it is my favorite corn. I do get 1-2 ears per plant sometimes 3 but I don't have enough pollen for the third ear unless I bag the tassels and hand pollinate. I get a second ear from about half the plants.

Silver King is supposed to be a better one than SilverQueen, but Silver Queen is the standard for what I compare white corn to.

I usually grow local short day corn that is resistant to maize mosaic virus, so I have limited choices for variety.

[Taiji]

I remember reading in an old Organic Gardening magazine years ago that Silver Queen was voted as the best corn. Yet, it took me until just last year to try it.

In a 6 x 8 foot area I put 24 corn plants. That works out to 2 square feet per plant. With a couple of exceptions, I get 2 nice sized ears per plant.

[imafan26]

I have heard good things about Bodacious. I like Ambrosia too. Honey Select is an AAS triple sweet corn that has a relatively short maturity of 76 days. It may be worth trying. Honey and Pearl is also nice. I prefer the super sweets to the regular corn.

[jal_ut]

It has always been said here: Put the pot on to boil then go pick the corn.

Yes, fresh picked is best. As soon as it is picked the sugars start to convert to starch.

[imafan26]

I do that too. I start heating the water before I pick the corn. However, just picked supersweet corn can be eaten just as it is.