Corn Quandry

[GoDawgs]

I've always grown sweet corn in six single rows 3' apart. Last year I experimented with double rows; two rows 12" apart and 3' between pairs of rows. More corn in 8 rows in a shorter length of the garden. With just the 3' between pairs, there was a problem pulling enough soil to the outside of the plants and also to the middle of the pairs.

During the growing time there were several high wind storms that came through and laid the corn down. Either they blew down because they hadn't been adequately hilled and thus didn't have strong enough tillers or the winds were high enough that the corn would have blown down any way, like these young plants in the first pic. That has sometimes happened with single row corn adequately hilled.





It's getting near corn planting time again. I was thinking maybe do the double rows again but with 4' between pairs. That would give me plenty of soil on each side to pull to the stalks. I had good pollination with the 3' between rows but would 4' apart mess with pollination? Hand pollinate to be sure? Gently smack the stalks occasionally with a stick to shake out pollen?

Then I thought about three triple rows, 3 rows each 12" apart and 4' between sets of three. Better pollination than double rows and even more corn in less space using three sets of three. But maybe a hassle hilling and also fertilizing that middle row.

Maybe I'm just getting greedy, wanting more corn in less space. But this year the corn is on the left side of the garden.



Some of that patch is somewhat shaded in the afternoon. Doing triple rows and starting them just below the last bed above the corn area would minimize the shade thing.

I'd be grateful for any input or general thoughts, positive or negative!

[clkeiper]

Corn usually stands itself back up. that said.. I wouldn't go to a triple set of rows and then a space. I think that would be a pain to pick.other than to cultivate and hill the soil I don't think there is a lot of option. We grow an acre of sweet corn and occasionally it does get blown sideways but rarely stays laying down. if it does than it is a mess to pick but there isn't much to do about it. I can't go through an acre of corn and hill it up after the fact.

[Rajun Gardener]

I wouldn't plant 3 to a row either, that will be a pain to hip/sidedress.

I'm trying something different this year too. I'm hoping I can get away without spending too much time weeding and hipping the corn. I planted an 18'x 18' block with seeds 2.5-3" deep every 7 inches with rows 24" apart. Germination is close to 99.5%. After watching a few farmer videos I thought planting deeper would help hold the plant up in winds and maybe I won't have to hip so high or not at all. The closer planting will hopefully hold the weeds down to a minimum once the plants get 2-3' tall.

I tilled the area and applied 3 lbs of 10-10-10 and tilled that in then used a push plow to make a furrow and planted in that. I should only have to sidedress once at the V6 stage. I plan to loosen the soil between the rows and apply nitrogen down the middle and cover it up. Of course all that might change depending on how much rain we get.

Doing the math that's 18 dozen corn in an 18'x 18' area, I know I won't harvest that much with pressure from coons and squirrels but I should have enough to put up and try again for a fall crop.

[Worth1]

How deep did you plant the seeds?
I see no reason to hill corn if planted deep enough as a matter of fact a small hill hoed up next to the row wont be much help keeping the corn upright in a wind storm.
Hoeing that hill up at the wrong time will do more harm than good by cutting roots that otherwise would help hold the corn up.
If you have exposed roots coming off the sides of the main stalk they are called prop roots.
A tiller is a stalk that grows next to the base of the main stalk it has nothing to do with helping keep the corn upright.

Sometimes even the best of planting and plans cant keep the corn from blowing over in small patches because there is no wind break as there would be for a big field of corn.

[brownrexx]

I never hill my corn either and they usually have lots of those prop roots.

[GoDawgs]

I appreciate all of the input. I've been thinking about it on and off today and think I will just stick to the double rows. But it will be interesting to see how Rajun's spacing works out. I usually plant 2" deep but it's nice to know that even 3" works. Planting will happen Wednesday or Thursday.

[Tormato]

When hand pollinating, just pull the pollen laden tassel out of the plant and work with that. It pops out easily.

[GoDawgs]

I planted today and decided to do the four double rows and spaced the double rows 3.5' apart, not the 3 ' or 4' scenario. 90% chance of rain Friday which will water them in just fine.

[Rajun Gardener]

How deep did you plant the seeds? Just wondering.

We have your storm/rain coming tomorrow so I side dressed today at the v5 stage. If it rains buckets I won't be able to work the soil so I jumped the gun.

After I finished I did a little research about corn root growth and I might've hurt the plants roots by trenching too close to the plants but they're all still standing happy after a few hours so hopefully the deep planting made up for my eagerness. I only trenched about 2" deep pushing the soil away from the plant and then came back and pushed the soil to the plant to cover the urea.

I used the antique push plow to make a tench on both sides of the plants about 4-6" from them and dropped 25 lbs of urea(46-0-0). The soil wasn't compacted so the push plow made this the easiest and fastest way to get it done.

[GoDawgs]

Rajun, hope you're ok. That's some rough weather that passed through.

I planted 2" deep. That's always worked well when I've been able to adequately hill the stalks. I used to just fertilize with 10-10-10 pre-plant and then like a neighbor used to do which is at knee high and at the first sign of a tassel.

Two years ago I did a lot of reading and switched up a bit. Kept the 10-10-10 pre-plant and then the first side dressing was at the 5 leaf stage with 2 oz ammonium sulfate per 18' row (I had read that corn likes a tad of sulphur) and added a drizzle of 5-10-15.

Then when the first tassels started pushing I side dressed with 15-0-15 with a drizzle of superphosphate. It was the first year I didn't see any sign of that maroon color low on the stalks indicating some kind of nutrient problem. And the corn did great.

This year I've switched from amm sulfate to nitrate. The nitrate was a lot less expensive.

This is a great pdf from N. Dakota Extension I found two years ago. It explains in detail every single leaf stage with photos too. I learned a lot from this.
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/crops/a1173.pdf

[Worth1]

Someone that lives down town has their game on when it comes to corn.
Every year they plant it in huge tubs in the driveway.
Beautiful plants and ears.
I live in a small town you can walk from one end of down town to the other in about 10 minutes or so.
Sadly urban sprawl is taking over though.

[Rajun Gardener]

The storm wasn't bad, windy with gusts to 25+ and 2.3" of rain. I see it's moving to the East coast today.

I just checked on the garden and even those small corn plants are leaning from the wind. I guess it's time to string up the tomatoes, they're also laying down from the wind.

I read that link you posted a few days ago. That's where I got the info about hurting the roots by trenching so close to the plants. I didn't think a plant that small at V6 has roots 18" deep and 24" in radius. I didn't see roots when I side dressed so hopefully they're deeper then a few inches of the surface. Here's another link about root pruning while sidedressing. https://www.ipni.net/ipniweb/pnt.nsf...c!OpenDocument

[AlittleSalt]

Every time I see this thread's title Corn Quandry I see it as Coin Laundry or Corn Laundry or Coin Quandry

Of course, there's nothing funny about high winds laying down your crop.

[Tormato]

Some varieties are simply stockier than others. I've done Hawaiian #9 (silver).



This variety has thin stalks and grows to 11 1/2 feet (measured to tip of tassel). The only way I've managed to keep it upright is with a multi-level Florida weave. I plant in 4 foot squares, 4 plants 1 foot apart in a row, 4 rows 1 foot apart, 16 plants total per square, a 10-11 foot pole in each corner of the square.

[Rajun Gardener]

I dodged another storm yesterday for the most part except some rain. Hopefully it dries up in the next few days so I can weed the garden, I hate those light drizzles every other day keeping the soil too wet to work.

Here's 9 days growth after sidedressing, they seem happy!