How to Grow Organic Sweet Corn

Sweet corn is sweet for a reason. It is selected at the immature stage, before sugars are converted to starch, and is consumed as a veggie. Field corn, on the other hand, is chosen at the mature phase (dry, dented) and is made use of as a grain. The Native American’s presented the early inhabitants to sweet corn and the rest, as they state, is history.

Recently established hybrids have improved on the “sweet taste” of sweet corn, uniformity of maturation, and storage length. A lot of corn officianos concur that non-hybrid sweet corn, with the disadvantage that it need to be consumed extremely quickly after harvest, has exceptional taste over the hybrid varieties.

Varieties of sweet Corn to Grow in Your Garden

House gardeners have a decision to make on the kind of sweet corn to grow in their garden.

Open-pollinated varieties: These standard corn varieties are the most tasty, but, alas, you need to pick them at the right time. Due to the fact that they convert sugars to starch quickly, you need to eat them very soon after harvest. The benefit the open-pollinated sweet corn is they require less fertilizer than hybrids and you can conserve the seeds for planting year to year.

Sweet-enhanced hybrid ranges: These sweet corn varieties have the quality of continuing to be sweet for a week or longer after harvest. They hurt and have a rich corn taste.

Super-sweet hybrid varieties: If you desire super-sweet corn with crisp kernels helpful for freezing, then you could desire to attempt these sweet corn hybrids. Bear in mind to plant them a minimum of 30 feet far from other sorts of corn to prevent cross pollination.

Synergistic hybrid ranges: As the name implies, these varieties have a balance of sweet-enhanced and super-sweet kernals.

Growing and Fertilizing Sweet Corn

Sweet corn needs warm soil (above 65 degrees). To stretch your harvest, begin planting in very early summer season both very early and mid period ranges.

Typically, corn has been companion-planted with pole beans to the corn’s advantage. Corn is a heavy user of nitrogen. Given that beans are “nitrogen-fixing”, your corn will get additional nitrogen from the beans at no expense to you. Plus, the corn works as a trellis for the beans to climb. Include squash to the mix and you have the “3 sis” grouping used by Local Americans.

Mature size differs, averaging 6 -8′ tall, and it can take up to 90 days to harvest.

Suggested Corn Varieties:

1. ‘Early Sunglow’ – Early and sweet. Helpful for much shorter seasons and little gardens.
2. ‘Silver Queen’ – Another very early manufacturer with pale white kernels and really disease resistant. The new “Silver Princess” ares earlier.
3. ‘Golden Bantam’ – An open pollinated heirloom variety, often called the initial sweet corn.
4. ‘Tuxedo” – One of the newer ‘supersweet’ ranges with extra long ears.

Gathering Corn

Standard knowledge states harvest your corn the day before the raccoons do. Seriously, search for fat, dark green ears with brown tassels. Squeeze to test for firmness and a rounded, not pointed pointer. A final test would be to puncture a kernel with a fingernail. If it spurts milk like fluid, it prepares.

Growing Tips – How to Grow Corn

Planting Corn: Corn is typically direct seeded, after all danger of frost is past. Since corn is pollinated by the wind, it does best when planted in blocks as opposed to rows. Pollen from the male tassels has to reach the female silks and close planting suggests more contact. Keep in mind to Seed Savers: Wind pollination likewise leads to easy cross-pollination, so keep different types of corn separated by at least 25 feet or plant varieties that develop at different times.

Soil for Growing Corn: The dirt must be loose, with a neutral pH (6.0 – 7.0). Heavy dirts hinder the long tap roots. The superficial roots you will see on the soil surface are predominantly there to anchor the tall plants.

Sweet corn is a long season crop. To extend the harvest, plant varieties that develop at different rates. You can anticipate one to two ears of corn per plant.

Growing Corn

Fertilizer & Feeding: Corn is a heavy feeder, needing rich soil. Nitrogen is particularly crucial, given that corn is basically a grass. The Native American practice of burying a fish head with the corn seeds was a practical means of supplementing nitrogen.

Insects & Other Issues 

Animals will be the most significant insect trouble. The native American method of growing squash under corn plants helps hinder some animals, due to the fact that they do not like stepping on the irritable squash leaves. But it likewise makes it difficult to collect.