Corn?

[Spike2]

We have a farm here that that grows the most amazing yellow sweet corn. Needless to say they are not gonna share the type of corn seed they use. So what type of sweet corn do you plant and why?

[pondgardener]

My wife loves Mirai bi-colored corn and is disappointed when I plant anything else in the area reserved for sweet corn. And it holds its sweetness and flavor for a long time. Normally bought seed from Jung, but I notice Seeds N Such are carrying it this year.

George


https://www.seedsnsuch.com/product/m...color-susesh2/

[kath]

We've tried lots of varieties over the years and our favorites are all bicolors: Ambrosia, Latte, Mirai 350BC. They grow well here and are good for Stewart's Wilt and Rust resistance. Mirai also comes in yellow, if that's your preference.

[Cole_Robbie]

My grandparents grew Silver Queen and Bodacious. The Bodacious is later, and lower-yielding with smaller ears, but has excellent flavor.

[clkeiper]

We grow an acre in 6 different plantings so we have corn all Summer.

paydirt (yellow)
Paydirt actually gets a few brix #'s higher in the cooler.

Honey Select bi color I eat this standing in the field and have no need to cook it.

Gold Nugget. yellow

New this year for us is Cafe- yellow

and the latest to ripen is Silver King. huge nice ears of white corn but for us corn is a terrible hard crop to grow...due to the coons, the skunks, the deer and the drought.

[Cole_Robbie]

I know of one market gardener who actually makes money with sweet corn. His garden is about 5 acres, and he has not just an electric fence, but electric netting along the bottom few feet, so the coons can't do the limbo underneath it. He has a 4-row planter and plants 4 new rows every 10-14 days all summer. I think he is growing an extra-early variety, but I don't know which one.

[Spike2]

A good corn here is big business! Hubby likes Silver Queen but it doesn't seem to put up good for me. So I go here to buy my corn for canning and freezing:

http://lutzfarmssweetcorn.com/index.html

Once they are open for the season, the cops are there directing traffic and controlling the crowds. I don't need to grow their corn as I happily buy it but like some fresh from my own garden. (sick of Silver Queen . . . shhhh)

[clkeiper]

Silver king is a much better corn than silver queen. And around here the freeezing corn all the families who put up large quantities LOVE incredible for freezing. say there is nothing better but I put up whatever I have at the end of a lot of days.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I know of one market gardener who actually makes money with sweet corn. His garden is about 5 acres, and he has not just an electric fence, but electric netting along the bottom few feet, so the coons can't do the limbo underneath it. He has a 4-row planter and plants 4 new rows every 10-14 days all summer. I think he is growing an extra-early variety, but I don't know which one.

yes... we electric fence our corn as it starts to fill out. otherwise we would get no corn. the varmints will wipe out a field the night before it is ready to pick. ask me how I know that!?!?!?!?!??!!@#$%^&*()_. when I spend 25.00 a pound on corn I expect to make a nit of money on it. I am not doing it to break even. I have no use for that.

[Spike2]

What are you buying that cost $25.00 a pound? I was told that the more expensive the corn seed the better it is? okay? I happily buy corn from Lutz to put up for the winter. I love to support our local farmers. I just want some corn in my back yard so I can pick 2 ears to go with dinner. Not have to buy 14 ears IF Lutz has any corn left.

[imp]

Originally Posted by pondgardener

My wife loves Mirai bi-colored corn and is disappointed when I plant anything else in the area reserved for sweet corn. And it holds its sweetness and flavor for a long time. Normally bought seed from Jung, but I notice Seeds N Such are carrying it this year.

George


https://www.seedsnsuch.com/product/m...color-susesh2/

I agree with Pondgardener here- Mirai has to be the best corn we ever ate; it even got Rob excited enough to go to the community gardens with me when it was coming up and especially when it was ready.

And, I have had it hold it's taste in my fridge for up to 10 days, no kidding.

The other thing I really liked about Mirai for us, it tillered and those tillers usually produced an ear or two as well as the 2 on the main stalk. I buy the seed from Harris seed, best price I could find for the amount I wanted.

Put up a few ears as a door prize at the CG's fall harvest supper and people were all wound up about it.

But, it is that darn good.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Spike2

What are you buying that cost $25.00 a pound? I was told that the more expensive the corn seed the better it is? okay? I happily buy corn from Lutz to put up for the winter. I love to support our local farmers. I just want some corn in my back yard so I can pick 2 ears to go with dinner. Not have to buy 14 ears IF Lutz has any corn left.

that was pay dirt and a normal for some of the newer varieties. but commercial growers often buy sweet corn by seed count. we looked at stokes to buy cafe and it was close to 100.00 for 10,000 seeds. enough for one planting of Cafe corn. good night! no way am I spending 100.00 on a patch of sweetcorn just for the seed. we finally found it for 21.00 a pound at another seed supplier near us.

and unfortunately you have to plant corn by the block for pollination. it is nearly impossible to plant to harvest only 2 ears at a time.

[Barbee]

We plant a variety called Incredible. Nice big ears and sweet as can be. We always try a new variety each year but we have yet to find one that compares to Incredible.

[brownrexx]

I grow Incredible as well but have also grown Ambrosia. We like both of them and they are untreated seeds. Most of the other seeds sold here are treated with anti fungals. I garden organically and do not use treated seed.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

that was pay dirt and a normal for some of the newer varieties. but commercial growers often buy sweet corn by seed count. we looked at stokes to buy cafe and it was close to 100.00 for 10,000 seeds. enough for one planting of Cafe corn. good night! no way am I spending 100.00 on a patch of sweetcorn just for the seed. we finally found it for 21.00 a pound at another seed supplier near us.

and unfortunately you have to plant corn by the block for pollination. it is nearly impossible to plant to harvest only 2 ears at a time.

I paid $212 for a 8-lb bag of GMO corn a few years ago. It had "Attribute," which is the trait that makes it produce BT, which is supposed to make it not have worms. It grew great, but was full of worms. Late that year, the University of Illinois published a bulletin, and whoops!, Attribute only works on worms in Europe, not in the US. The solution was to buy next year's model, which contained Attribute II, and this time we promise it will work, just buy another $200 bag of corn seed. 'No thank you' was my response.