Sweet Corn & Not sure what to get.

I spoke with a Master Gardener the other day on the phone with one of the major seed supply places, where I purchased sweet corn seeds, because I had some concerns about the corn I received from them.

On the package it said to expect 50% of the seeds to produce.

The Master Gardener I spoke with from this seed company told me that I should expect 1 ear of corn from each stock and to plan on only getting 1/2 of the plants to produce.

I purchased 1,000 seeds and now I'm only going to get 500 stocks with one ear of corn.
I'm not real happy with this.

Is it the corn I purchased that made these stats?
Or
Is this normally how it goes with all sweet corn?

I'm looking for about 3 pounds of Sweet Corn seed and I'm not sure what to get.

I want at least 2 ears of corn per stock, 7" to 8" ears filled to tip, early, bi-colour, ummmm lets see.......lol

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Darrell, I don't know where you bought your seeds, but I rarely get less than 80% - 90% germination, even when I've been a little sloppy about storing seed from year to year.

Others on here can give you a more complete explanation (and have lots more experience to back it up), but I think the one-ear-per-stalk is pretty reasonable. Planting your corn in blocks instead of long rows can give you better pollination (which translates to more ears, and they'll be better filled out.)

I always get one ear per stalk and maybe two depending on the cultivar. Sometimes I think modern folk have gone crazy and plant corn way too thick. I plant on 18 inch intervals on 42 inch rows. Much dense than that a lot of stalks won't make without an incredible amount of both fertilizer and water. The larger cultivars need more room than the smaller so you can adjust accordingly. Most of mine are Silver Princess, Silver King, and Silver Queen, because that's what most folks want. I grow bi-colors for myself. Favorite is Sugar Dots, But I have grown both cultivars of Peaches and Cream, Honey and Pearl, Quickie, Ambrosia, Bi-Queen etc. Ambrosia was a dissapointment. The super sweets are more picky, hard to germinate in cold soil etc. I don't care for them so don't have a lot of experience with them.

The past couple years we have grown Golden Queen corn - sweet yellow corn - with amazing results. I always got at least two ears per stalk. They grew the first year to about 6-7 feet tall. Last year I added goat manure to that garden area and the crop was even more bountiful and the stalks were 8-9 feet tall. I have heard from several people that to grow corn you must have at least four rows - better to have four short rows than a couple long rows.

We had so much corn last summer that we cleaned and froze a whole bunch - putting it in the freezer in zip lock bags. Then we gave away bags and bags of corn to all our friends and neighbors. We have been eating the corn all winter and still have a few ears left. The Queen corn is especially good for freezing - you can hardly tell it has been frozen. Good luck!

I'm getting jealous. I had a nice block of sweet corn ripening last summer. I watched it every day waiting for the perfect degree of ripeness. One morning I went out to see every stalk and ear decimated and the raccon family I thought was so cute during the winter became the enemy. There were 6 of them on the porch raiding the outside cat's dry food dish. Not so cute anymore, and no more cat food left out overnight either.

I think there are very few corn varieties that produce only one ear per stalk. I'm very curious now though...darrell, what variety of corn did you buy? (By the way, seed companies don't normally hire master gardeners to push their wares, if they did it would be breaking the tenets of the master gardener program. I don't understand why a master gardener would be afflitiated with a major seed supply house; it goes against the master gardener program and should be reported)

Also, a 50% germination rate is pretty pathetic, especially for seed you just purchased.
Did you by any chance buy seed that was outdated?

I live in the corn belt. Lots of sweet corn planted here for canning companies. It is planted at 18000 per acre. That's about 14" apart in 30" rows. We plant ours for farmers market in 38" rows, try to get 10" to 12" spacing. We plant a bi-color called Radiance. Might be hard to find. We get it from www.jordanseeds.com
It is a supersweet so you plant a little later. 80 days to mature. People at the market ask for it by name. We always get one large ear to a stalk & a few days later a second ear will be ready on about half of them, not as big though.
Even this SS variety germinates nearly 100%.
Good Luck,
Bernie

P.S. Shoe whats going on in NC ? Duke & NC State both lost to Big Ten teams tonight.

Thanks for all the information, everybody.

I want at least 200 dozen ears of corn.

Farmerdill.......I found Silver Princes, Silver King and Peaches and Cream, but couldn't find the rest of them. (I have to find a seed store that will ship to Canada)
hmstyl........I couldn't find the corn you were talking about.

Big Red.....I'm planting 10 rows that are 105 feet long. Not because I couldn't use the space for something else mind you, I would rather plant something else and shorten the rows. But I want 200 dozen ears of corn.
If I'm only getting a small percentageof corn, then I have to plant a larger area.

Shoe......you have mail.

Bernie.....Jordan has tons of seeds. I sent them an email asking them if they can ship to Canada. If they can, I'll be getting my seed from them.

Other than getting the right seed, let me see if I have this correct.

Put down lots of manure and work it all in prior to planting seeds.

3 seeds per hill
spaces between hills 10" to 12"
spaces between rows 36"

When the seeds germinatate, I remove 2 of them on each hill, leaving the best looking one to continue to grow and produce.

After 2 weeks, side dress with bonemeal.

When corn is knee high, side dress with bonemeal.

Keep it watered each day.

Am I right so far?

Waste of the valuable seed, to plant & then pull it out. Put one seed every 12", not three, seed is to expensive. Besides who would want the extra work of thinning ?
You are growing for selling, right ?
Every penny you can save will help.
People that garden to get some fresh things for their family can thin & things like that.
We've been at this for 20+ years. We make every move count & do anything to save money. You will not last long if you don't.
Bernie

Good to hear Bernie. I was buying extra corn just so I could pull out the ones that were small. (going by what the seed company was telling me., i.e., pull out the ones that aren't as big in each hill of 3 seeds.) Of course they want to sell seeds too.

This is my first year and I'm learning. I've cut a lot of costs out already. I thought I needed this or that and after a little experimenting, I found easier ways & cheaper ways of doing things. Also short cuts are starting to come into the picture.

The floresent lights on the other hand are very expensive. At least I think they are. One 48" long florescent light that holds 2 light bulbs is about $48.00. The bulbs aren't too bad @ 2 for $5.38

Having 2 plants per hill, I take it, is out of the question if I want a couple ears per stock.
Or if I only get one ear per stock, putting two seeds in the same hill, so I get 2 ears per hill, is out too?

This message was edited Mar 26, 2005 9:53 AM

Darrell: you can get fluorescent lights cheaper than that. Canadian Tire has them:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/product_detail.jsp

Rhonda

Ack! The link won't work! Sorry 'bout that. Go to the Canadian Tire site and search on "shop light". Should come right up.

This message was edited Mar 26, 2005 9:03 AM

This message was edited Mar 26, 2005 9:04 AM

Thanks Rhonda...

I went to Canadian Tire link and found one for $36.99

It didn't have the bulbs, but it had everything else.

The one I bought had a cover on it and was broken/cracked with a large chip out of the side. I didn't need the cover, so I told the guy, "how much for this? I'm not paying 48 bucks for a broken light." I got it for $20.00. lol

But, I had to buy the electrical wire, chain, and bulbs.

The one I just saw for the $36.99 came with the cord, off and on pull chain, and chain for hanging it up. That breaks down to a lot cheaper than how I would have had to do it buying one item at a time.

Thanks again.

Darrell

http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?cat=76
http://www.stokeseeds.com/cgi-bin/StokesSeeds.storefront These are two Canadian Seed suppliers that are pretty good. Stokes in particular has a wide selection of corn. Because of your season they do not carry long season 90 day corn like Silver queen and Golden Queen. But they have a great array of short and midseason corn. Jordan (Minnesota) has a a good selection also including the 90 day cultivars. They have a great selection of bi-colors. Check them out in the Plantfiles.

I have the best results planting a 70 day early, 80 day midseason, and a 90 day( main season ) corn on the same day. (In my case Silver Princess, Silver King, and Silver queen) That gives me a better harvest interval than successive planting and is a lot less work. I do of course plant a small patch later in the season. My planter will sometimes drop two in a hill, but not often enough to really make the plants too thick. I had enough thinning corn when I was a kid.

Lights, everbody thinks you need to spend mega-dollors to grow plants. What a joke.
We have 3, 4 x 12 foot tables. Light fixtures every 16", some every 8". What did we pay ? The highest price was $8.00. I buy when Wal-mart, Menards, Home Depot or other cut-rate store has them on sale. They sell them as shop lights. Then go to their bulb department & get the cool white bulbs for under $1 each. I got some free this year on a rebate deal!
Some of our lights are still going after 20 years.

Corn seed----one to a hill! Two in a hill, one will not produce a good ear.
Bernie

Thanks Farmerdill. lol

I went to Stokes and got seed. They are the ones that told me to only count on 50%. But then again, the more I post in here, the more I'm finding out what they mean by 50%.

The planting directions on the package tells me to put 4 seeds in a hill. After they reach a certain height, remove 2 and leave 2. Doing that would give me 50%, just like they said.

I had enough too of thinning too. I'm not as young as I use to be.

Reminds me of my dad. ......

My dad use to plant potatoes. I hated seeing him out there planting potatoes. Anything else was fine, but not the potatoes.
He would plant half an acre. Maybe less, maybe more. When your a kid, it seems like a lot more.

I use to have to go out and pick off the potatoe bugs and put them in a can that had some gas in the bottom of it. HOT!!!.....let me tell you it was hot out there. I hated it. I'll never plant potatoes as long as I live. Not that I don't like potatoes, I do., I just don't want to go out in that hot sun, get down on my hands and knees, lifting up leaves and looking over each plant, and pick bugs off. LOL

DarrellR...

"After they reach a certain height, remove 2 and leave 2. Doing that would give me 50%, just like they said."

If you plant that many seeds together then of course some of them will be smaller/stunted due to all four plants competing with each other in such a small area. You will get better growth (and more production) if you plant the seeds singly in rows, not group in individual hills. Your seeds will go much farther and you won't be throwing away half of what you paid for.

And yep, corn is a heavy feeder so give them their share of manure. I'd go more with ground phosphate rock though than bone meal. (Bone meal is more slower acting and also more expensive to use.) I don't believe you'd have to side-dress with phosphorus twice during your growing.

Hope you grow a great crop this year! We're all rooting for ya!

Ground Phosphate Rock?
That's another new one on me. Bonemeal was a new one on me too. Where do I find Ground Phosphate Rock?
Yup, I'm going to plant one seed every 10". I can't afford to throw any out. If one seed doesn't make it, I can live with that. But to thin them out deliberately is wasteful and I really can't afford to be wasteful.

My Dad always planted 4 seeds to a hill, had an old saying: "One for the bugs, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow."

Hehehe...I sure do remember that one, Big Red! (Over and over we'd "sing" it.)

For us though it didn't refer to a "hill", it referred to the whole dang garden.

Darrell...ground phosphate rock is available at your local Farm/Feed store and also perhaps at some of the Lowe's/HomeDepot places. Hopefully you can find some. 'Tis one of the best investments you can offer your garden and crops.

Hey Shoe! Haven't talked in a long time. Got your garden going now that you're back into market gardening? Sounds like a lot of work!

We are in Kansas, and we realy like Bodacious, and Stowell's Evergreen Corn. I am trying to find a place to buy them both in bulk, since I want to plant a bunch. I have a place at the farm and we thought we would just turn it up with the big tractor and plant like we do the field corn. My brother in law did this every year and had a ton of corn to sell. Bodacious matures a lot earlier than Stowells so I think it would be ok to plant at the same time. Barb

OK - I am not going to deliberately step on anybodys toes here but I scanned the posts above and if I read them correctly some of them have you putting in 3 seeds to a hill - putting in a hill every 12" in a row and putting in your rows 3' apart - Then thinning to one plant in a hill - That is simply crazy! If you are planting in hills - put in 3 to 5 seeds a hill - and forget it - you will lose some - the rest will do fine - 3' between rows is a good measurement: You would do better to be sure you do not mix up the types of corn which cannot be planted together ie SE & SH2 -------- The packages should tell you if the seed requires isolation from other types of seed:
You are in Canada - I can almost spit into Canada from where I live - My personal preferences for corn are as follows:
for early yellow: Early Sunglow - 63 to 65 day
Bi-Color: I never found one I liked very well
Late Yellow: Delectable or Bodacious 80 to 85 day
Late White: Silver Queen 95 Day

I like Stokes because they will tell you the Latitude above which their corns should be planted: They clearly define what should be planted with what: and they are pretty quick to ship.
Three pounds of corn is a HUGE amount of seed!!!!

Good Luck -------

I received an email from a seed company here in Canada, (next Province over from me) and here is what it said about the corn I asked them about.....

"Honey Select is the variety that fits your description. It produces large 8-9" cobs, and usually 2 per plant."

This will probably be the corn I plant this year.

I've decided to start the seeds inside the seed house in those small dixie cups, about 2 -3 weeks before I put them out in the garden. They're paper dixie cups that are probably about 3 oz size and I plan on sticking them, paper and all, right in there holes.

One plant per hole, 10" apart and the rows are 2 1/2 feet apart. I'm not putting more than one plant in a space.

Fertilizer - I am going to put a load of cow manure in the garden about a week before I plant and I'm adding a bit of blood meal, bone meal, and ground phosphate rock.
Work it all in good and water it down with Mirical Gro all purpose plant food.

Seed - This brings me to the seed itself. Seems to me that soaking corn seed might help it get to the growing stage quicker than if I put the seed in the pot and waiting for it to expand and sprout.

Any thoughts on soaking corn seed prior to planting?

If you are starting in pots, soaking might be a good idea. Of course I can't even stand to think about about potting up three lbs of corn. I think I would rather go back to thinning that 20 acres I still have nighmares about.

lol
Farmdill.....I had to laugh when I read that last post.

Here is what I'm trying to accomplish.......

It seems like everybody and their brother stands around the big boxes of sweet corn at the super market as soon as it's brought in and set on the floor.

If I start the seeds inside and put the whole cup in the soil, I'm not distrubing the plant at all.

My goal is to have the first crops of sweet corn before the grocery store does and sell it for a little bit more than what the store will charge when the store finally gets it in.

If I plan the first part right, i.e., plant enough corn to get a few customers started in coming to my vegetable stand, they will tell their friends and come back themselves.

Having Corn is a big deal around here I think. It's like they can't wait untill the stores get it in.

I have to do what I can to get those "first" customers here. So, I'll start my seed inside and having them already growing for 3 weeks prior to June 15th, when it is ok to plant seed direct, will give me an edge, (I hope), on selling for my first time at a road side vegetable stand.

I agree with you about planting that many seeds in a cup and I will probably never do it again. But, this is my first year at this and I feel I need to do something, before everyone else has their stands up and running.

Best of luck. At least knock the bottoms out of those paper cups before you plant them. Honey Select is a good corn but relatvively long in season. You certainly will not not beat the folks who plant a quick maturing bi-color like Quickie, or a yellow like Sunglo. Of course it will be bigger ears and more tasty. but I always start with a short season corn. Here is a pic of one of last years patches. 6 rows of 120 yards, 1 1/2 lbs.

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Looks really good. I got the pot ready!!!!

Well, back to the drawing board I guess. Dang it!

As long as I'm the first to have corn....that's about all I care about.

I can always direct seed the other corn and have it as the season wear's on.

I want to get people at the vegetable stand, to meet them and have them meet me and know that I will have a lot of other things available later in the season.

Corn is going to be my "lost leader", kinda, sorta, in a way. lol

Farmerdill, WOW! What a garden, I should say field. Do you sell your produce or have an extended family that eats well out of that field?

Darrell, Stokes has a 60 day bi-color called Speedy Sweet with decent size (7 1/2 inch) ears. Don't know about its eating qualities but it should ripen almost a month ahead of Honey Select. You might want to try a small planting just to beat the crowd. That is about a work week ahead of Quickie (65 day).

This is what I have written down for corn:

Quickie 56 days
Bon Appetit 71 days
Honey Select 77 days
Speedy Sweet 57-64 days

What I'd like to do is plant 3 types of corn and have thme mature thru the season so I always have corn.

Still the most important part is going to be Quickie or Speedy, as the beginning crop.

I think all these will work out ok if I plant them all at the same time.

I also want to make sure I can save seed from these for next year.

This message was edited Mar 29, 2005 3:44 PM

My suppliers list Quickie as a 68 day corn, the same as Sunglo. Vesey has a more optomistic outlook. I have grown both and find that to be pretty accurate. Quickie is not bad for an early corn, has a shade more watery taste than Sunglo which is about the best early corn that I have tried. Can't find a good extra early white.

All of these are hybrids which means there will be some reversion back to the parents in the next generation. Seed Saving is not recommended although I have done it in a pinch without really bad results. I usually used saved seed only to finish out a row if I run short. Honey select is a synergistic hybrid from Syngenta since the kernels are mixed in the first generation I have no idea what a subsequent generation will do.

Ok....then I will order seeds again next year.

These corns should grow ok together shouldn't they?
They mature at different times.

I'm having a problem finding that Ground Phosphate Rock up here. I did find Glacial Rock Dust in the Fertilizer section from Lindenberg Seeds. I don't know if that's the same thing or not.

Can't help you there, I use super phosphate when need is indicated by soil tests. A few places use to sell untreated rock phosphate as green sand, but I have not seen that in years.

Bonemeal should be ok along with the cow manure. Don't you think?

I tasted Honey Select for the first time last year -- you will love it!! Very sweet, but still with a wonderful corn-y flavor! DH won't let me plant corn in the garden ("we are not a farm"), but if I did then this is the one I would choose. I'm pretty sure it doesn't need to be separated from other varieties, which also seems like a bonus to me (there's a corn field behind us, so we couldn't control separation issues if we did plant corn).

I've never had Honey Select.
It seems to be the corn of choice.
Maybe I'll plant a bit more than originally planned. hummmm