All About Growing Sweet Corn

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Saving Seeds

Most sweet corn varieties are complex hybrids, so don’t expect good results from saving and replanting the seeds. To save seeds from open-pollinated varieties, allow perfect ears to dry on the plants until the husks turn tan. Continue to dry them indoors until a few kernels fall away when you twist the ear between your hands. Store seeds in a cool, dry place for up to two years. (To find the varieties you want, use our nifty new seed search.)

Pest and Disease Prevention Tips

• Grublike gray to brown corn earworms feed on corn silks and kernels. They are larvae of moths that lay eggs in the tips of immature ears. To limit damage, use a squirt bottle to place five to six drops of vegetable oil in the tip of each new ear. For nearly worm-free harvests, add Bacillus thuringiensis (also known as Bt) organic insecticide to the oil. If earworms are minimal, simply break off the blemished tips as you shuck. Varieties with tight husk tips (such as ‘Argent’) often show only modest earworm damage.
• A fungal disease called “corn smut” causes kernels to become black, swollen and distorted. You can limit its spread by removing infected ears. Revered in Mexico as a delicacy, blobs of corn smut actually are edible, and resemble mushrooms when cooked.
• Inch-long striped army worms are common pests of late corn varieties, but early maturing varieties rarely are damaged. Tachinid flies and other beneficials kill large numbers of fall army worms, or you can use a spinosad-based pesticide. For more information, see Oregon State University’s Web page on organic controls for fall army worms.
• Raccoons closely monitor sweet corn’s progress and stage nighttime raids just as it reaches perfection. To protect nearly ripe ears, tape the ears to the stalk with packing tape, or try some of the other deterrents suggested by the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management.

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