We always grow sweet corn at the edge of a field of field corn with no issue.
It doesn't need to be Round up Ready if you use it before planting.
Corn. Again. (Long post)
- Thread starter N80
- Start date
- Views: 4942
It doesn't need to be Round up Ready if you use it before planting.
Luremaker
Veteran Member
Growing a good crop of chemical free sweet corn is a lot of work. We planted 2-1/2 acres last summer. We cultivated every week until the corn was too tall to cultivate then used the hand hoe and pulled weeds two or three times a week by hand. I love working in the garden so I enjoy being out there. We only have a few deer around here and they prefer my clover over corn so I can't help there. I have a few raccoons that enjoy our corn though. Sorry no pictures of us cultivating.
Just after 1st cultivation.
Corn now too tall to cultivate. Time to pull out the hoe.
Late season corn (1/2 acre).
Corn over 7 feet tall. Almost ripe!
Freshly picked sweet corn! Weeds coming back now, too tired to hoe anymore.
Just after 1st cultivation.
Corn now too tall to cultivate. Time to pull out the hoe.
Late season corn (1/2 acre).
Corn over 7 feet tall. Almost ripe!
Freshly picked sweet corn! Weeds coming back now, too tired to hoe anymore.
Attachments
Growing a good crop of chemical free sweet corn is a lot of work. We planted 2-1/2 acres last summer. We cultivated every week until the corn was too tall to cultivate then used the hand hoe and pulled weeds two or three times a week by hand. I love working in the garden so I enjoy being out there. We only have a few deer around here and they prefer my clover over corn so I can't help there. I have a few raccoons that enjoy our corn though. Sorry no pictures of us cultivating.
Just after 1st cultivation.
Corn now too tall to cultivate. Time to pull out the hoe.
Late season corn (1/2 acre).
Corn over 7 feet tall. Almost ripe!
Freshly picked sweet corn! Weeds coming back now, too tired to hoe anymore.
Nice looking corn. :thumbsup:
Larry Caldwell
Super Member
If you are going to hoe by hand, you need to start early, when the corn is about 2" tall, and then hoe weekly at least until it gets a good jump on the weeds. It sounds like you let the weeds go to seed, so you are going to have a lot of them.
scgargoyle
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2007
- Messages
- 396
Corn can be surprisingly hard to grow, considering how common it is. We used to lose a lot of it to raccoons when I tried it. You either have to grow enough that the varmints can't eat it all, or fence it in somehow. Deer can clear a 6' fence, and have been known to go over an 8' fence on occasion. I know someone with a 22 acre vineyard in VA, and he had to fence the whole thing to keep the deer from eating the grape vines. Any deer that gets inside the fence never gets out, if you catch my drift. My nephew uses motion activated sprinklers with some success. It's also hard to grow much of anything without sufficient water. I know you guys have been having some dry summers; I have property up your way myself.
charlz
Elite Member
This past summer I had rotated corn into four of my raised beds. I was gone for 2 weeks and when I got back the grassy weeds had taken over two of the beds and not so much in the other two. The two heavily infested beds I took my hand sprayer with glyphosate, gave it just a few pumps so the spray would mostly just dribble out the end. I then worked my way up and down the rows dribbling it on the grass and trying real hard to not get any on the corn. It mostly worked only a few corn plants lost and I did some touch up once the yellowing started and I could see where I missed weeds. The other two beds I hand weeded.
At the end of summer the two beds that were hand weeded were 6-8 inches taller than the rows I sprayed. Water is drip so it is all the same and they got the same fertilizer application. Dunno if it was simply the competition from the weeds, using up fertilizer, or if it was from the affect of the spray on the soil in general but interesting none the less.
A plus was that the weeds I sprayed were so thick they acted as mulch and nothing else came up in those beds. The other beds I had to hand weed a few more times before harvest time.
If you are getting poor germination it could be soil temperatures or too much early moisture. If the soil is too cool it will not germinate well and if too wet the seed will rot in the ground. I grow an sh type corn which is very sensitive to soil temps.
At the end of summer the two beds that were hand weeded were 6-8 inches taller than the rows I sprayed. Water is drip so it is all the same and they got the same fertilizer application. Dunno if it was simply the competition from the weeds, using up fertilizer, or if it was from the affect of the spray on the soil in general but interesting none the less.
A plus was that the weeds I sprayed were so thick they acted as mulch and nothing else came up in those beds. The other beds I had to hand weed a few more times before harvest time.
If you are getting poor germination it could be soil temperatures or too much early moisture. If the soil is too cool it will not germinate well and if too wet the seed will rot in the ground. I grow an sh type corn which is very sensitive to soil temps.
zimbo
Bronze Member
Looks like your in for a tough time!
when you next work the soil, put in some lime, if then soil PH is wrong the plants wont be able to use all the ferts your putting in. Also try and mulch the plants so the weeds dont have any light, and it will help to keep the soil at an even temp for the corn.
If you have space plant a cover crop where your corn has been growing, and before it seeds, plough it in, and plant another cover crop that will stay in over the winter, just to keep the soil covered, a legume would be ideal. Then plant corn in the same place again the next year.
Have a look at the roots, you may have nematodes which are host specific, or a disease your not picking up. Soil temps and moisture at planting, and for a few weeks after are very important, maybe try and plant a little later.
Once the corn is about knee high, add a little fertiliser to the side of each plant, something quite high in N, but with some P and K too, this will give it a boost in the growing stage.
Hope you get it sorted out!
Ryan
when you next work the soil, put in some lime, if then soil PH is wrong the plants wont be able to use all the ferts your putting in. Also try and mulch the plants so the weeds dont have any light, and it will help to keep the soil at an even temp for the corn.
If you have space plant a cover crop where your corn has been growing, and before it seeds, plough it in, and plant another cover crop that will stay in over the winter, just to keep the soil covered, a legume would be ideal. Then plant corn in the same place again the next year.
Have a look at the roots, you may have nematodes which are host specific, or a disease your not picking up. Soil temps and moisture at planting, and for a few weeks after are very important, maybe try and plant a little later.
Once the corn is about knee high, add a little fertiliser to the side of each plant, something quite high in N, but with some P and K too, this will give it a boost in the growing stage.
Hope you get it sorted out!
Ryan
Last edited:
OP
N80
Super Member
Thanks for all the advice guys. Will try to put a plan together. Here is a picture of the first year's crop early on:
Here is a picture of the results of about 5 minutes of picking corn.
I'm just trying to duplicate those results but apparently doing it the same way is not going to work.
A cultivator would be nice but I guess the biggest problem is that I just can't be down there often enough to run it frequently enough. Don't know why it was so easy the first time.
Here is a picture of the results of about 5 minutes of picking corn.
I'm just trying to duplicate those results but apparently doing it the same way is not going to work.
A cultivator would be nice but I guess the biggest problem is that I just can't be down there often enough to run it frequently enough. Don't know why it was so easy the first time.
charlz
Elite Member
I have put in a couple of gardens and it seems that the first year is always the best year. Don't know if that is related to NPK availability, microbe activity in soil or dumb luck. After the first year things tend to level out somewhere below the first year.
Are you rotating your crop or are you planting corn in the same ground year after year? You really should be rotating it with other crops or cover crops.
