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newtothisnj
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any advice for first time corn grower
Gonna try to grow corn I'm new to growing anything. Was wondering if anyone had any tips for me and also on average how many ears per stalk.
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DoubleDogFarm
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newtothisnj
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treehopper
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newtothisnj
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- Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:14 am
- Location: nj
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newtothisnj
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treehopper
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hendi_alex
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I grow only a small amount of corn. We used to consider it too much trouble for the amount of space, but that was a mistake. There is no substitute for corn that goes from the stalk to the table in 30 minutes. You can't buy that!
For the small home garden however I would recommend planting several plantings in small blocks, planted about three weeks apart. You could plant three or four rows say 4 feet by eight feet. That should give about 32 plants and will give all of the corn that our family of two can eat for a 1-2 week period. So consider planting as many a four of these blocks, for a total of around 8 feet by 20 feet. Of course you can plant much smaller, say even 4 x 6 or 6 x 6 blocks, at one plant per square foot. At any rate, if you plant several succession blocks, you will get fresh from the garden corn over a prolonged period. I plant one block each of yellow and of white corn, which ripen at different times. Then an additional block is planted each three weeks for a total of three block of each kind of corn.
Three tips. Hill the soil around the base of plants when they get about 2-3 feet tall, so the plants don't blow over. Give the bed a good shot of fertilizer at planting time, and side dress with high nitrogen fertilizer during the season. Corn is a grass and really loves this treatment. Give the corn a deep soaking once or twice per week when there is no rain. Bonus tip: don't plant the corn too close to tomatoes. Corn ear worms will cross over to the tomato plants and cause lots of damage to the tomatoes.
For the small home garden however I would recommend planting several plantings in small blocks, planted about three weeks apart. You could plant three or four rows say 4 feet by eight feet. That should give about 32 plants and will give all of the corn that our family of two can eat for a 1-2 week period. So consider planting as many a four of these blocks, for a total of around 8 feet by 20 feet. Of course you can plant much smaller, say even 4 x 6 or 6 x 6 blocks, at one plant per square foot. At any rate, if you plant several succession blocks, you will get fresh from the garden corn over a prolonged period. I plant one block each of yellow and of white corn, which ripen at different times. Then an additional block is planted each three weeks for a total of three block of each kind of corn.
Three tips. Hill the soil around the base of plants when they get about 2-3 feet tall, so the plants don't blow over. Give the bed a good shot of fertilizer at planting time, and side dress with high nitrogen fertilizer during the season. Corn is a grass and really loves this treatment. Give the corn a deep soaking once or twice per week when there is no rain. Bonus tip: don't plant the corn too close to tomatoes. Corn ear worms will cross over to the tomato plants and cause lots of damage to the tomatoes.