Can I plant corn??

[N80]

Here's the deal. I'd like to try my hand at planting some sweet corn. I have a plow and hope to have a disk soon. But I do not have, and will not be able to get a planter. I'm not talking about a 'field' of corn. I'm talking about maybe two or three rows, maybe about 100 feet long each.

I know nothing about corn. So I'd appreciate any basic info and/or any tips/tricks you might know. About all I really know is where to get it (local farmer's exchange).

Let me ask a few questions. First, can I plant it 'Indian style'? In other words, make a hole with a stick, drop kernel in hole, cover up hole? If so, how deep a hole? How far apart? How far apart should the rows be? How many kernels in each hole? How tightly to pack it back in?

As mentioned, I have a two bottom plow that makes a healthy furrow and a mound. Do I plant the corn up on the mound? Or is the mound made by a plow too high? If so, I can disk over the plowed area plant the corn on the mound made by the disk.

Is corn real sensitive to fertilizer and ph? (I can get specific soil info from the farmer's exchange).

I realize that this will probably end in failure, most likely due to either not enough rain or the deer are going to eat it all. But, I want to at least give it a go.

Thanks for any tips you can give me.

 

[LMTC]

For pollination purposes you are better off with a square, i.e., 5 rows 20' long will pollinate better than one row 100' long. Biggest mistake I see with corn is people grind the soil to dust, plant the corn, then the first rain makes a really hard crust out of that dust, and the seedling can't break through. My corn section of the garden was usually the least tilled, small clumps are actually good. Has to be covered enough to keep off birds and squirrels though. And then when the seedling pokes through the crows or geese will use those as markers to come and pull up what remains of the kernel and eat it. I found the best deterrent was a dead bird left in the garden.

Yes, you can go along and drop the corn, app. 1' apart, and just use a rake or your foot to drag dirt back over it....most sweet corn likes a depth of app. 1". If you're really going to get into this, look for an old copy of "Joy of Gardening" by Dick Raymond. We "gardened" app. a full acre very productively for the better part of 20 years, and that book was the source of 90% of our best information.

 

[EddieWalker]

Interesting question. Do you plan on growing the corn to eat or for hunting?

The corn that I use in my deer feeder will start to grow after a few weeks. If it rains and some of it gets covered in mud from the wild hogs tramplening it in, it will grow. It never gets very big as they will either eat it, or just tear it out of the ground. I don't know which.

My farm supply stores all sell different types of seed. I priced a fifity pound sack of cowpeas the other day at $40. I need 30 pounds for an acre, so that's more then I need.

The ag extension in town has bags that they give out with instrucions on how to do a soil test. Basically, you put the dirt in the bag and put it in the mail. It costs $10, and in about 2 weeks, they will mail you back an soil analysis. I'm going to send off four bags. Two for my food plot, one for where I might put in a garden and another for my front pasture where nothing seems to grow.

There are some testers that I've seen that cost around $40, but I don't know if they work, or if one is better then another. My guess is that they don't work, which is why I'm mailing off my samples to the Ag Extension.

Eddie

 

[Tororider]

We are thinking about doing some corn this year too, mostly for the deer. We are probably going to hire it done though. There are plenty of farmers around, one farms the field across the street, and I figure it will take him two passes to get us more than we want. We haven't priced it out, but we figure it has to be cheaper than us trying to get/rent a planter and messing around with it. Just a thought.

 

[N80]

Thanks guys. Just started doing some internet research that confirms what you are telling me. Sounds like corn takes a lot of care. Sounds like even if it grows well, you have to do a bit of weeding. Yuk.

Eddie, I think it is going to go to the deer whether I plan on eating it or not.

But, I'm going to try planting some silver queen to eat and share. I'll try to plant it up near the cabin so I can water if need be. But I still won't be able to water a lot. For one, we are oinly there on weekends and two, with the drought we're in, I don't want to deplete my well.

This is more of an experiment than anything else. Just to see if it can be done. And for a small area it doesn't look like it will cost all that much to try. Although, I think fertilizer prices have gone through the roof. That alone may put a real pinch on my food plots this year.

Anyone else notice that seed and fertilizer prices have gone up?

 

[Podunkadunk]

N80,
Good luck with your corn planting. I didn't have great luck last year. The first I planted got whacked by a frost , the second re-plant got washed out by a torrential flood (saw Noah come by on his ark). I had a few "volunteers" that managed to survive the flood and I didn't tend to them. They didn't produce...we didn't get any rain.

Still, I have some seed from last year in the deepfreezer, I plan on sewing some in again. Maybe my luck will change. My brand of corn is called silver queen.

Also, instead of hand planting, you may want to look into one of these planters. Works good, last long time! Pretty cheap too.

Earthway Precision Garden Seeder - Earthway Outlet

You can get one through your local co-op or exchange.

Podunk

 

[ray66v]

I plant a 30x40 plot of sweet corn with an Earthway Precision Garden Seeder. It's fast and easy. They are avaliable at carden centers and on the net.
Testing soil regularly has helped me grow some very good corn.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I've been growing sweet corn for home comsumption for at least 35 yrs and think I know a little about it.

The biggest thing to remember in any ag related questions is, weather and soil conditions very so much over the country, a single focused comment will not apply to many areas.

Check with you local extention agent or some other local source in the know about soil prep and seed variety.

I work my garden plot and I don't ever "hill" the soil. You want to wait and plant until after the soil is warm. You want to plant the seed deep enough so the seed is covered but I wouldn't want to go over an inch deep. (I typ see shoots breaking through the soil in 1 week.) Agree with the other comment on planting compact, sq area as this is needed to insure good pollination. You most likely will have to weed some. To aid in weeding I'd space rows about 3' appart. To insure a good crop you do need to water enough so the stocks look health and not stressed from lack of water. You don't want to mix varieties in close approximaty or at least plant varieties that will tassle out about 2 weeks apart to prevent cross pollination.

I've used one of the garden planters for over 30 yrs and still using the original one. Highly recommend one to those serious about home gardening. You can plant by hand. I've used the handle end of a rake to make a small furrow, hand plant the seeds and space 10" +/- 2". doesn't hurt to have more than one seed grouped together. After dropping the seed I cover the row with the rake to they are covered and in good contact with the soil but not packed too hard. With the seeder, I let the seeder take care of covering and packing.

Good luck on your adventure.

 

[Luremaker]

I grew sweet corn for the first time last summer. I plated 10 rows each 130 feet long spaced 2 feet apart. I fertilized my whole garden (~2 acres in size) with 165 lbs of 19-19-19 and 110 lbs of 11-52-00 per acre. I also spread a little urea (60-0-0) when the corn was knee high. It grew like a weed and we had lots of fresh corn. I do weed the garden a lot in the spring and early summer.

To plant the corn I used my wife's precision planter with the sweet corn plate. It took me less than an hour to plant the 10 rows. My only mistake was not thinning the rows a little. This year I will thin the plants a little.

 

[tony123]

I wanted to do corn, but ultimately decided I didn't have the space or knowledge. I'm going to do about a 5x10' area just for the **** of it, and realize I'll likely not get corn.

Doesn't it seem odd that corn was such a staple for early pioneers, american indians, etc. Yet, it seems so many people have trouble with it.