planting corn 101

[Freds]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One seed per hole will yeild 2 ears of corn )</font>

That's interesting! I never really paid attention to how many ears were on one stock.

 

[Chuck52]

Well, this thread has encouraged me to do what She Who Must Be Obeyed has been prompting me to do for a couple of years. Namely, start a corn patch. I don't know if I'll get it planted this year, but I will go ahead and kill the fescue, plow and till it, so if I don't plant this year it will be ready for next year. It will only be about 50x50 feet as that would make far more corn than we would use unless the deer get way too much of it. I went so far as pricing the seed, and found that $10/lb is about as low as it gets. So I figure my 50x50 will cost about $30 just for the seed. I was wondering though, since I always try to rotate the stuff in my garden, how many years one can go with just corn before the patch needs a rest with another crop, like clover or such. I guess you can keep adding manure and stuff to replenish the nutrients, but I'd bet you would need to give any field a rest from corn every few years. Is that right? Maybe I should think about just planting half of it in corn any year and the other half in something else or perhaps just cover. A 25x50 patch of corn would still give us lot of corn.

Chuck

 

[Nasty135]

Chuck, In my experience 2yrs. is about the turning point for a good crop, after that it just doesn't seem to do as well. That is with doing nothing to amend the soil.
Like you said planting rye or something else will help amend soil. Say after the corn is finished for the year plant the rye then as fortification for the next year, Then with fertilizer 5-10-5 or 10-10-10 you could possibly have a good crop yearly.
I have also heard that garlic is good to plant where corn was because they compliment each other nutrient wise and time table wise (time of year) . But 50x50 patch of garlic would be enough to keep THE MOST persistant WEREWOLF away /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Chuck52]

Hoo boy! Imagine the cost to plant a 50x50 patch of garlic. I was surprised at how much the corn seed would cost, but for garlic I'd have to mortgage the house! On the other hand, maybe some garlic amongst the corn rows would discourage the deer. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Well, if I don't get the corn planted this year in the new patch, I can at least sow clover or hairy vetch or something as a green manure crop. I'd probably try to do that every year after the corn was done. I might find it makes more sense to plant only half the patch each year, so I could alternate years and have some good green manure crop on the other half. I suspect that we'd get about as much corn as we could use from a 25x50 patch anyway.

Chuck

 

[DUMBDOG]

You should easily be able to cover a 50 X 50 foot area with one pound of corn. I usually plant mine about eight inches apart and the rows three feet apart. Sweet corn averages 2,000 to 4,000 seeds per pound.

 

[Chuck52]

Wow. I was estimating about 3 pounds. I was reading my usual web site for seeding rates, the horticulture pages here at MU, and it said 0.25 pounds for 100 foot row. I was figuring 25 fifty foot rows, and that comes out a bit over 3 pounds. But using the number of plants, that would be 25 x 50, or 1250 plants if I did 12 inches apart and 2 foot row spacing. Gotta go back and see if I just mis-read that seeding rate.

Thanks! I would have had a bunch of corn seed to store!

Chuck

 

[Chuck52]

Dumdog,

This site gives 1200 seeds/lb average for sweet corn:

<a href="http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex81?opendocument" target="_blank">http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex81?opendocument[/url]</a>

However, that still means I need much less seed than I thought.

Chuck

 

[DUMBDOG]

Buy my seed from Jordan seed company out of St. Paul, they do not have a seed count for a specific variety, just list the range for all of the varieties that they sell. Last year we planted over forty pounds.

 

[Nasty135]

Chuck52, I've seen corn planted as close as 4" apart in a row but I think 8" is the preferred distance for prime nutrient usage. So with that formula you would get approximately 37 seeds in a 25' row with rows 2' apart you would 12 rows times 37 =444 seeds or 888 ears of corn (SWEET!!!) If you go 18" apart rows you can gat 16 rows instead of 12 for your patch. It really depends on what your going to use for cultivating after the plants start to grow . I run an 18" tiller between rows at first with rows 2' apart but as the plants grow I have to go to my little 2-stroke 8" cultivator. So if you don't have the tools(toys) wider rows will be easier to clean the weeds.

In the past I have usually planted 500 seeds ,and my 9yr twin boys help plant it and can hardly wait to sink their teeth into a roasted ear of sweet corn,That makes it all the more fun for me... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Chuck52]

Nasty,

I'll be doing a 50x50, and I think I may go with the 2 ft row spacing. I have a Mantis-size tiller I use between rows, and it works pretty well to just swing it back and forth if I keep control of it. I'm hoping that if I kill the grass in the plot with Roundup before tilling it several times, the weeds will be not too bad the first year. Of course the corn may not be all that good either, but with that big a plot I hope to get something even with the deer sharing. I'll probably plant a 25x25 as early as I can, wait a week or two and do another, wait and do another, and then get the last in before it gets too late, if I can.

If I get a good yield, I'll be Santa to the family and friends. If I get a lousy yield, I'll remind myself how much the gym would have cost for the same exercise! I do a lot of that with the weird weather here in Mid-Missery. Some years all I get from the garden is exercise. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Chuck