All About Growing Sweet Corn

(Page 3 of 3)

June/July 2008
By Barbara Pleasant 
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Growing Tips

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  • Precede sweet corn with a cover crop of hairy vetch or another legume to boost the soil’s nitrogen supply. In warm weather, sweet corn can be sown one to two weeks after a cover crop is cut down or turned under.
  • Sweet corn seed must germinate rapidly or it will rot. For best germination, soak seeds in clean water overnight before sowing in warm soil (65 degrees).
  • Hybrid sweet corn is bred to grow at close spacing with heavy fertilization. To keep plants supplied with nitrogen, fertilize before planting, then side dress them with a high nitrogen fertilizer such as cottonseed or blood meal when the plants are 1 foot tall, and again when tassels appear.
  • If plants are blown over by gusty summer thunderstorms, give them a few sunny days to right themselves. It won’t hurt nearly mature plants to grow crooked, but you may need to prop up young plants that don’t get back up by themselves. To prevent this problem, called “lodging,” hill up soil over the base of the plants as you hoe out weeds.
  • The best way to fit sweet corn into a small garden is to grow early varieties in hills comprising six to eight plants. Corn is pollinated when wind carries pollen onto emerging strands of silk. To assure big, well-filled ears in a small planting, gather pinches of dusty pollen from corn tassels and sprinkle it onto the silks once or twice a day.

In the Kitchen

Immediately refrigerate sweet corn to preserve its flavor. You can boil, steam or grill full ears, cut off whole kernels or make creamed corn. To get kernels like those found in canned and frozen corn, blanch ears in boiling water for a few minutes, then cut off the kernels. For creamy corn kernels, cut the kernels from raw ears, and use a spoon to scrape the remaining milky juice off the cobs.

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Comments

  • Josh 7/4/2009 7:19:38 AM

    Thanks for the "when to harvest" tip. I'm growing corn for the first time this year and that was the last thing I was wondering about. I'm also using an Elliot Coleman method, and I've underplanted soybeans when the corn was around a foot tall to fix nitrogen. I also used blood meal for an early nitrogen boost which seems to have worked. It's well past knee high and it's only the 4th of July!

  • Barbara Pleasant 2/3/2009 3:47:03 PM

    The extra growths, or tillers, that rise from the base of a plant make it stronger by increasing its leaf area. That means more energy going to big ears of corn. So, unless the tillers are really in your way, let 'em stay. Thousands of years ago, corn was a bushy plant with lots of tillers.

  • athol forbes 1/14/2009 3:18:22 PM

    can you please tell me if the extra growths from the bottom of the main growth needs to be cut away.i am talking about sweetcorn.

  • T 8/16/2008 3:01:44 PM

    My corn is about 4 feet tall and the leafs have holes in them and some sort of brown dust on them in clumps. I've tried an insecticide thinking it was some sort of bug but it came back. Any ideas on what might be happening?

    Thanks

  • Joan 7/29/2008 5:52:37 PM

    I would like to know when the ears of corn start to grow on a stock. My corn stocks are full grown and the ears are just beginning to develop. Is this normal? Would appreciate your answer.

  • Lauren 6/23/2008 12:23:36 PM

    Planting corn with beans and squash is actually how the Native Americans grew it, and they called it the "Three Sisters Garden" The beans will add nitrogen to the soil and the squash/melons will provide shade and work as a mulch to prevent weeds to the corn.

    I'm doing this in my garden this summer with great results. All three crops are thriving.

  • Lauren 6/23/2008 12:22:57 PM

    Planting corn with beans and squash is actually how the Native Americans grew it, and they called it the "Three Sisters Garden" The beans will add nitrogen to the soil and the squash/melons will provide shade and work as a mulch to prevent weeds to the corn.

    I'm doing this in my garden this summer with great results. All three crops are thriving.

  • Suzi 6/23/2008 9:11:21 AM

    Are there any plants I should avoid planting nearby? I read elesewhere here on Mother ,that yellow squash will snarf up nitrogen.Where can I find info on good companion planting combos?

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