Ask instead what variety of corn you want to grow. From that, you can figure out how to space it.

For example, if you want to grow Silver King sweet corn, then your spacing would be just a bit too close. A shorter and smaller variety like Yukon Supreme could be grown with 8" X 8" spacing.

DarJones

Fusion,

Thanks for the response.

I'm trying a number of varieties.

White out
Vision
xtra tender 277A
Montauk
421 W mirai
Seneca arrowhead

Can I get away with one square foot per plant?

Scott

Interesting....I will be planting 3 of those varieties myself.All of them are augmented Sh2.Vision and 421 will be new for me.I have planted 277A for quite a few years.Best sweet corn I have ever eaten.

Vision....yellow
Mirai 421....White
277 A....Bi-color

Sportsman

Appreciate your review of the 277A. These are all first time varieties for me. Let me know what you think at the end of the season.

How many plantings do you get in? What zone?

You have two immediate problems with your choice of varieties. 1. SH2's have to be isolated from other types of corn. White out as an example is an Se. Cross pollination will ruin the texture and flavor of SH2 like Xtra Tender 277A. You will need to plant all SH2 types if you are going to use any of them. 2. The plants will vary greatly in size. The smaller plants will not fare well.
Can't help on the spacing as I field grow using traditional methods. No irrigation. Corn will grow at pretty dense populations with enough fertilizer and water.
A minor probelm when you grow whites, yellows, and bicolors in close proximity in space and time. Cross polination will render them all bicolors. Does not overly affect taste and texture unless you have mixed other types with an SH2

Farmerdila,

Here's the schedule:

Seneca SE 5/1 62 days
White out SE 5/5 74 days
Mirai 421W SHa 5/22 72 days
Vision SHa 6/4 75 days
Vision SHa 6/11 75 days
xtra tender 277A SHa 6/19 77 days
xtra tender 277A 6/26 77 days
Montauk syn 7/7 79 days

Will delay if the preceding crop is less than 6" and may not get in the last variety but the weather will decide. Will also hold if soil less than 55 degrees for Seneca or Whiteout. Less than 65 degree for the others.

I also have a farmer planting field corn every other year or so 1000 obstructed feet away. Not sure if he will grow hay or corn this year.

Would enjoy input.

Scott

Oh and one more question, Farmerdill,

What plant spacing do you think works well in raised beds with excellent soil and drip irrigation?

Thanks

Scott

The farmer 1000 feet away can be ignored given that you are growing corn to eat.

Cool temps early in the season will delay growth of the first two varieties. Instead of being separated by 10 days, they will probably overlap by 3 or 4 days. That is not a problem given that both are se. The Montauk is a long season variety and has a high probability of getting caught by cold weather in October.

A larger problem is that you will be able to plant at most 2 rows per variety. That is a recipe for pollination problems. You could still grow that close if you walk through the plants and hand pollinate them to ensure good pollen coverage.

Your plan to separate varieties by 10 days for planting will be a problem. I would suggest grouping them by endosperm type, for example, plant the se varieties 1 week apart, then skip at least 2 weeks and plant the sh2 varieties. The wider gap between planting will help prevent pollen overlap.

If you want to go this route, then plant 2 seed per at your spacing of 8" X 18" and when the plants are about 6 inches tall, pull out all extra plants leaving only 1 plant at each spot. I would still consider this very close spacing for most of the varieties you list, but if you water heavily and feed them enough, they will produce a crop.

DarJones

Carol Deppe had an interesting idea for figuring out the optimal spacing for a given variety of corn.

She grows rows of corn with varying spacing, so that at one end of the row the corn is only 4 inches apart (for sure too close), and then they get further apart until at the other end of the row they are 3 feet apart (for sure too far).

Of course the problem with this is you're kind of "wasting" this space on an experiment for one year. But then after that you know for sure which spacing a variety of corn likes.

The reason you hear a lot of different things about how far apart to plant your corn is because it depends on the variety and on your growing conditions. The only way to know for sure is to do an experiment.

(And now I am reminded of why I have yet to successfully grow corn. Seems to be a very fussy plant.)

Fusion,

My plot is a nice 20 x 27 rectangle and I'm able to create blocks of 5 - 7 rows with 6- 9 plants in each. This has always give me great pollination and ear tip fill in the past.

Agree with your other points.

Thanks

Scott

Just a thought, don't introduce too many variables into your trials (in row and between row spacing, planting date, variety) or you'll never be able to interpret what the plants are telling you via their responses to what you put them trough. More than 2 variables will be too many in all likely hood, one is best. Unless you are as old as me and don't have the years left for the answers, be patient, and remember, this year's results may well not be the same for next year as the growing seasons often have different climatic conditions. Repeat your trials for at least 3 years before passing judgement on a method.

Michael,

Good Advice.

Scott

drscott.....I live in the northern part of Zone 4.In order to get the most out of my short summers,I start some indoors and transplant.Usually I do this with the earliest Sh2 I can find.In this case I will start with Northern Super Sweet.

I start them inside the last week of April and transplant out after 4 weeks.I usually put spun bonded row covers over half with the other half having no covers.This ripens them about 1 week earlier than w/o the row covers.

Next I will plant Mirai 421 the second week of May and 277A the last week of May.

Lastly,this year I am tilling under some of my strawberry beds after they are finished.I will start Vision in my greenhouse the first week of June and transplant them into the old strawberry bed in early July.

Last year I ate sweetcorn pretty much non-stop from the end of July into Sept.

Sportsman

Does sweet corn require deeper than normal pots to start indoors?

Scott

No.....I use regular sized 6 packs.....72 to a flat.About 1 week to germinate and 3 weeks to grow before putting them out.Becasue of the transplant shock,they will be shorter than if direct seeded.The cobs are regular size.This gives me a 1 month head start on direct seeding.

It also allows for exact placing of plants in rows.No empty spots.

Don't waste effort doing spacing trials. With good growing conditions the plants you list need about 2 sqft per plant. If you go thinner you will average more and larger ears per plant. If thicker the ears will be smaller and less plants will have useable second ears. Too thick and some plants will have no ear. There is little difference in total yield between 16,000 and 28,000 plants per acre, (43,560 sqft/acre).

Yes thicker planting will work but only in very small plots. There is a large border effect in small plots. The outside plants get extra light so yield more. Don't be fooled by those recommending very high populations. That only works in very small plots or for minature corn.

You've got the right idea by spacing plantings on the size of the previous planting. If you put in another planting every time the previous planting reaches 6 inches you will have an almost constant supply of corn. This assumes a corn like Mirai which for me stores in great shape in the frig for 10 days. Very early in spring the 6 inch rule will space plantings one and two 4-6 weeks apart. Once it warms up around here 6 inches spaces plantings and harvest 2 weeks apart.

I had 7 plantings last year and 9 plantings in 2009.

This 2007 trial at Purdue is typical of university research results. Higher densities give more but smaller ears. Optimum density is way below one plant per sqft.

Here is a link that might be useful: Purdue sweetcorn plant density trial

I appreciate Ribsy's opinion but not the attitude with which it was stated. The study attached by Fruitnut was interesting.

My soil runs 9.5 - 12% organic material and I rarely fertilize. My P and K are also quite sufficient and the soil is loam in nature. I use drip irrigation with timers. My soil is much better than that used in the trial.

My opinions run with Fruitnut and I'll try several spacings but most will be at 2 q ft for each plant. I have the space why not use it?

Scott:

Better soil or better growing conditions doesn't have much effect on optimum population. The reason is that better growing conditions give more leaf area per plant and thus more crowding. But better growing conditions result in bigger ears and higher yields. You just don't need more plants to do that.

Ribsy's results may be coming from the sq ft gardening arena where higher densities are common due to high border effect. Your plots are quite small as well and may benefit from more than one plant per two sq ft. On a small plot the outside plants may yield twice what the inner plants do. But only if the edge is open and sun exposed. Only you can judge that.

Good luck with your trials.

My plots are three rows wide by 20 ft long. So that's about 8ft by 20 ft. Sixty to eighty plants works great. I really don't think doubling the population would help at all. Ya, I'd get more ears but they'd be smaller. And the plants would be much more likely to blow over in the wind.

Fruitnut

Great advice as always. I have great soil and great sun conditions. I think I'll generally take your advice but will also experiment a bit and see what happens.

Thanks

Scott

I use an Earthway seeder, and according to the website, the spread is 7.2 inches. My rows are anywhere from 16-20 inches apart, and they always produce ears bigger or as big as those in the grocery store.