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Gary350
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HOW & WHEN do YOU know when to plant CORN ?

HOW & WHEN do you know when to plant corn AND how do you plant your corn? I am finding a lot of conflicting information that is not specific to, geographical location, last frost, temperature, fertilizer and no information about rain & weather.

Farmers Almanac, plant April 12.

University of TN, plant corn 1" deep, 55-60° F, space seeds 12" apart.

TN Garden Calendar, plant sweet corn May 15.

Middle TN Extension, plant sweet corn April 20, plant extra sweet corn May 1st.

Master Gardener, plant seeds 2 weeks before last frost.

Fertilize 1 week before planting seeds, fertilize day of seed planting, fertilize 1 week after planting seeds. Which one ???

Fertilize with 1 lb of Urea every 100 ft 1 week before planting seeds to give plants a jump start. Another place said Fertilize with 1 lb of Urea every 40 ft. Which one???

Seed spacing is 4" to 12" apart.

Row spacing several places all say 32" between rows.

No information on sweet corn seed depth except for field corn plant seeds 1½" to 2" deep.

Corn seed germinates at 55 to 60° F.

MY experience planting my corn seeds 1" deep germination is very poor, if no rain for 5 days soil dries out and seeds don't germinate OR if seeds do germinate they die in dry soil. If we get a cold rain before seeds germinate less than 20% of the seeds germinate then corn needs to be replanted.

When I plant corn seeds 1½" deep I get much better germination about 70%. I have to transplant 30% from 2 extra rows. If we get a cold rain germination is 10 to 20%. .

I think sweet corn is not as hardy as field corn both farmers near us plant field corn 2 to 4 weeks before I can get a good crop of sweet corn.

If I plant corn too soon I usually need to plant again. If I plant too late I usually have to plant again. I am tried of planting extra rows of corn for transplants to the 5 corn rows we want. Our weather usually changes from too much rain to not enough rain very quick usually about 1 week. Last year someone mentioned he plants 2 seeds in every seed hole then pulls up all the unwanted plants, that sounds good but I don't like wasting $5 of good seeds.

I wish I could find the magic trick to get 100% germination on the first try.

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TomatoNut95
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Wish I could help you but corn is something that I cannot grow due to short space and stupid raccoons. I know my grandmother used to grow it but that was so many years ago I don't remember all the planting details.

But maybe if you tried soaking your seed before you sow it? I read that somewhere.

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Gary350
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My cousin that plants 2000 acres of corn in Illinois said, the only thing he can think of is, his corn planter has a wheel that rolls over the soil to compact soil down on all the seeds. They have it set to correct setting many years ago no need to ever change it. Their corn is 1½" deep after the wheel runs over it. I have built a wooded corn seed planter to push seeds 1½"deep and compact soil. After pushing deep enough to compact soil he said, dig the seed up it should be 1½" deep. We have 7 days of rain in the forecast so I won't be able to test this corn seed planter for about 10 days.
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applestar
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One detail to pay attention to is that some of the newer hybrid and triple-gene varieties in particular are sensitive to low soil temperature. Most of these are sold already treated with fungicides, etc. to protect against rotting in too-cold soil.

I think establishing “good soil contact” by thoroughly stepping on where you planted the seeds or by the way farming vehicles roll over the seeded row is probably an accepted fact among the farmers, that we as backyard hobby gardeners need to pay attention to. Remember, too that those machine-worked fields have been dug and fluffed up to much deeper depth than you might work your garden either with a tiller or with manual tools.

Advantage with our smaller square footage is that you can (and must) pay more individual attention to each seedling, but it’s important to translate the “proven” field methods to our much smaller scale.

I’ll be interested in hearing about how the tools you made work out. Would you also consider making pegs in a long 2x6 plank maybe? You could walk over it like a balance beam? Alternatively, maybe you could get one of those small lawn and athletic field rollers — I was looking at them at one point because I was trying to figure out how to emulate “crimper rollers” for no-till field of covercrops.

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digitS'
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How & when do "I" do it?

First of all, we cannot use a whole lot of corn. We aren't whole-heartedly enthused about frozen or canned corn. The whole hearts are into fresh!

Second, our nights are cool right thru the growing season and cold soil would make for a late start. I became accustomed to growing SE corn and not the "newer hybrid and triple-gene varieties" that AppleStar mentioned because of their sensitivity to cold. Ambrosia and Sugar Buns are regular choices. That helps but another way for us to have corn early is to transplant after about 3 weeks from dropping seed in some cells of soil mix. Corn transplants easily. Soak the flat before carrying it out to the garden.

There's another advantage to transplanting. Pests seem to like the sprouting corn best and will generally leave it alone once it is up and growing. I don't know what all is out there eating the sprouts - crows, magpies, rabbits, voles ... :? . It used to be hard to have a good stand of the crop and replanting was necessary.

The rule of thumb is to sow seed and transplant tender crops about 2 weeks after last frost date. I like to wait about 3 weeks. The garden environment is fairly good for growing a couple of crops of sweet corn and more seed can be started here at home just a few days after that those first transplants go into the garden. There is a temptation, and I think that it would often work, to have a 3rd crop of a quick maturing variety.

Steve

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I was watching https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-life/ ... rch-6-2021 last week, and they had a segment about some new planters that automatically put the seed down at 38% moisture soil level on the fly. Apparently that must be the perfect depth, as they don't worry nearly as much as about the depth as they do moisture percentage.
It would only cost you a few tens of thousands of dollars to plant perfectly every time... LOL

I just plant in the same spot every year right by the compost pile, where I rake out the last remains across the adjacent soil that has had a couple of inches of yard trimmings laid down in the fall, fertilize and plant. The soil warms faster with the compost on top, yet keeps the moisture underneath where the undisturbed ground doesn't get tilled. I push the seed down through the compost to about the natural soil level. I've had the patch there for about 6-7 years and it seems like I have less problems with pests and weeds every year. Some years I add extra mulch if I have it, some years not.

I try to plant as early as possible, usually around the last week of March/first week of April, to avoid earworm pressure and leave time to get a good crop of southern peas grown after the corn comes out.

The patch gets a little larger every year, which is good, because growing corn in the back lot is impossible due to the possums and squirrels shredding it after I make the first picking.

PaulF
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Our niece plants a few acres of sweet corn to sell at farmer's markets and for a roadside stand. She has the guy who plants corn on farmland her mother owns the same time he does field corn. That happens about the first of May or a little sooner if weather co-operates. Soil temperatures here are in the upper 50s or 60s at that time.

Works well for us since we help her pick the corn and then we take home what we want to eat. Last year we froze enough for about ten years. Twice a year for eating corn on the cob is enough for me. When we tried sweet corn in the garden all it did was attract raccoons, inviting them to try whatever else we were trying to grow.

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TheWaterbug
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Gary350 wrote:
Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:38 am
HOW & WHEN do you know when to plant corn AND how do you plant your corn?
I always have my Corn-U-Copia harvest party on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, so I count 77 days backward and sow on that exact day. I soak my seeds overnight, drop them into a furrow, rake to cover, and step on the soil.

The seeds end up being at about a 1" depth, and my germination is pretty reliable, except for last year when I planted in a new area partially shaded by a pine tree and covered with pine needles. Nothing germinated in that region at all.

I normally drop seeds every 4" and then thin down to about 1 plant per foot.

imafan26
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It depends I think on where you live when you can plant corn. Most temperate corn requires longer days 14-16 hours to grow fast. Shorter day corn for shorter seasons. Longer day corn (over 100 days) would have to be planted early.

In my case I have other considerations. I need a short day variety. Tropical corn grows best because it only needs to have 12 hours of daylight. It is resistant to heat and pests. I can grow corn from March to about October. The local tropical corn is ready in about 80-100 days to harvest. It has characteristics that I need to grow corn. It is a supersweet corn that comes either white or yellow. Dr Brewbaker, who developed it, is always changing and modifying the variety so while it has the same name it can be different from year to year. It is a tight husked corn. This trait is needed or corn ear worms would make short work of it. It is maize mosaic resistant. There are very few other varieties I can grow. Golden bantam, Silver Queen, Ilini Xtra Sweet, and Bodacious are the ones I know about. I can grow the UH varieties early and late, but Silver Queen, Ilini Xtra Sweet, and Bodacious are better as the main season crop since they need the longer days. (My longest day is just shy of 14 hours). Temperature is not a problem for germination. My minimum temperature rarely goes below 64 in March. But if the days are short, the corn will be short too, and will not grow until the days get longer. My biggest problem is that it takes up so much space.



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