corn for eating recommendation

[Harvster]

I want to plant corn for the first time this year and would like some advice. We are looking for a bicolor sweet corn and there are dozens of varieties. Any personal recommendations or general things to look for in terms of insect or disease resistance? This would be for southeastern PA.

[czechsonofagun]

I want to plant corn for the first time this year and would like some advice. We are looking for a bicolor sweet corn and there are dozens of varieties. Any personal recommendations or general things to look for in terms of insect or disease resistance? This would be for southeastern PA.

We plant every year Peaches & Cream Bicolor Hybrid Corn, great taste but one year we had a lot of Japanese Beetle and it pretty much destroyed it.

[DUMBDOG]

I want to plant corn for the first time this year and would like some advice. We are looking for a bi color sweet corn and there are dozens of varieties. Any personal recommendations or general things to look for in terms of insect or disease resistance? This would be for southeastern PA.

The variety of corn that does well for you will depend upon your soil. Another factor is the type of corn that you like to eat. Do you want it to taste like corn, or do you want it ooze sugar when you eat it.

The link that czechsonofagun has provided for peaches and cream corn is the first time that I have seen peaches and cream listed as a SE corn. Most places, it is a HSE or a sugar content of 20-30 per cent rather than the 30-35 per cent of the SE. But then we have a vendor in our market that calls his corn peaches and cream, no matter what variety of bi colored corn that he is selling.

Corn will range from SU (8-18 per cent sugar content) to Sh2 SL (40-45 per cent sugar content). My personal preference is for the SE corn which tastes like corn and not overly sweet like some of the super sweet varieties.

We have had many people come back and ask for our corn by name as they really liked the combination of corn flavor and mild sweetness. It is called Ambrosia. It is a SE corn.

As far as the insects go, each year is different with the amount of wildlife that will show up in the corn in a given year, unless you want to spray and not have an organic product. Even if you do not spray you will not have a true organic product unless you start out with seed from a certified organic producer.

In each of the last three years, we have planted five to eight acres of sweet corn and have used a few different varieties each year to come up with the one that people came back and asked for. We will be sticking with Ambrosia as we have had good results with it.

[randy41]

Ambrosia and Lancelot.....both SE's

[WayneB]

You can get all of the bi-color corns, but I would also suggest you plant some Silver Queen. It is big ears and a white corn, but great to eat. I always plant it later in the season, around June 15 in NH and it is ready to eat late August.

Really tall stocks to so you can use in the fall bunched up for Halloween

Silver Queen Mat No Longer Be the Ruling Sweet Corn Variety

Although this mentions Silver Queen may not be the ruling sweet corn, try it and see for yourself...

Wayne

[Birdhunter1]

An old fart told me last year that if you take an oil squirt can and fill it with vegetable oil and go around to each ear when the hair starts to show and squirt a shot of vegetable oil in the ear it will keep the bugs out. Considerig he's an old fart I'm gonna take his advice, he's either right or he just wants to get a laugh out of hearing about me out in the hot June sun shooting vegetable oil in my sweet corn.

[LMTC]

An old fart told me last year that if you take an oil squirt can and fill it with vegetable oil and go around to each ear when the hair starts to show and squirt a shot of vegetable oil in the ear it will keep the bugs out. Considerig he's an old fart I'm gonna take his advice, he's either right or he just wants to get a laugh out of hearing about me out in the hot June sun shooting vegetable oil in my sweet corn.

Bugs have to walk through the oil to invade the ear...the oil plugs their shell...most bugs "breathe" through their shell/outer coverring and thus suffocate. We used to walk the corn when silk appeared with a sprayer with dormant oil (used widely on fruit trees), and spray each ear generously. Made a big difference.

At least that's my story.........


Seriously...the oil helps.

[grizer]

Silver Queen.

[Wil]

Probably can't do the vegetable oil thing out here in Yuma Az. probably just wind up with pop corn all over the place in our heat. ;-)

Another old fart. ;-)

[randy41]

you have to wait until the corn has had time to get pollinated before doing the oil thing or you will get small unfilled ears.