Sweet Corn

[Meadowlark]

Home grown sweet corn is one of, if not the top tasting veggies my garden produces. It is just fantastic when eaten fresh from the garden or after fresh frozen for later consumption. The variety I use is the triple sweet Honey Select. I make three plantings from late March through mid-April that each produce about 100 ears of corn, sized to be easily processed.

It takes 200 seeds for each planting, a 16 ft long space with 4 rows in each with corn planted every 4 inches. Some fail to germinate, thinning takes out several, and acts of Nature get others normally resulting in about 100 ears of corn to eat from each planting. 100 ears requires us about two hours to process...pick, shuck, clean. par boil, remove from cob, and freeze. .

Just completed processing the second planting as shown below...two down and one more to go.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I tried it once long ago, perhaps there are modern varieties more suited to our climate, I see it being produced commercially here now, but then it comes down to a matter of space, sigh.

 

[YumYum]

How do you keep the corn ear worms out of yours?

 

[Meadowlark]

Well, I don't 100% keep them out but do limit the damage with a Spinosad spray on the silks. The damage isn't much and it does not affect the taste or safety of the corn. Much higher risk of ear damage due to squirrels which have no limits on their appetite for fresh corn. Fortunately, I have dogs which terrorize the squirrels so there is a balance there.

Corn is absolutely worth it...if you garden for taste. Nothing beats the taste of fresh garden corn.

 

[headfullofbees]

I grow them some years.
Just put 24 plants in 2 weeks ago, starting to take off now.
Will harvest late-Aug/Sept. depending on the summer.
It's more a hobby grow than for yield.
Farmers here plant a lot of corn, through black mulch, but it's a special, non-sweet variety for cattle feed.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I have seen plenty of it grown as feed over a while, but more recently I have seen it in supermarkets labeled as grown here.

 

[Chuck]

Well, I don't 100% keep them out but do limit the damage with a Spinosad spray on the silks. The damage isn't much and it does not affect the taste or safety of the corn. Much higher risk of ear damage due to squirrels which have no limits on their appetite for fresh corn. Fortunately, I have dogs which terrorize the squirrels so there is a balance there.

Corn is absolutely worth it...if you garden for taste. Nothing beats the taste of fresh garden corn.


View attachment 90826

I have been using Bt for the past few years. I soak the silk where it comes out of the husks and I get an almost perfect effect. Most years zero worms. I spray twice, once at first sight of silk and again at full silk. Back before the days of Bt and spinosad I used mineral oil twice also. Not as good a job as Bt but it still greatly reduced the number of damaged ears. I guess it smothered the eggs.

 

[headfullofbees]

I have seen plenty of it grown as feed over a while, but more recently I have seen it in supermarkets labeled as grown here.

Indeed, grown through black plastic mulch.
I'd have thought the environmental cost of field full of plastic would justify importing it.

 

[Meadowlark]

My goodness...what a vision...a field full of plastic. I guess the concept of cover cropping is foreign to them?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Indeed, grown through black plastic mulch.
I'd have thought the environmental cost of field full of plastic would justify importing it.

I was reading recently that the environmental transportation costs of imported out of season Spanish tomatoes are considerably smaller than those of heating English greenhouses.

 

[headfullofbees]

I was reading recently that the environmental transportation costs of imported out of season Spanish tomatoes are considerably smaller than those of heating English greenhouses.

Especially this year.
Indeed many UK greenhouses have lain idle because of heating costs.

 

[Meadowlark]

Harvested about half of the third planting of corn for this season. The heat and low humidity reduced production somewhat but still a nice harvest heading into fall.