It is not necessary to rotate your corn plots. It is a good idea to till or plow down those stalks in the fall to decompose over winter. The fodder improves your soil texture each year.

I agree the rotation isn't important in most cases, but there is one exception. If you end up with rootworm beetles (look just like cucumber beetles and I am not sure if you have them in your area.) Then you will want to move the corn plot for a year.

The reason is those beetles lay eggs in the soil at the base of the plants and they hatch as larvae and feed on the corn roots the following season. Tilling the soil doesn't help, in fact it hurts as the eggs can survive the process and just get spread around. The only real 'cure' is to make sure there is no corn present for the larvae when they hatch and they will die.

I agree that short-term rotation of corn wouldn't be necessary. If you tried growing it long-term, say 10 years or more, in the same soil, especially if you weren't ammending it yearly with compost, humus, and fertilizers, it might lead to nutritional problems.

You might notice an increase in corn smut over time -- personally, I've discovered, in the past few years, that this fungus is absolutely delicious, so now I look upon it as a bonus. One of the gourmet markets near me sells it in the summer for $19.95 a pound. Don't know how many takers they would have at that price. It's widely used in Mexico as a food crop.

Can anybody recommend the best type of corn to grow for eating? In my area (San Diego, CA) the nurseries are selling Chubby Checkers -- this has the yellow and white mixed throughout. Is this a good, sweet corn (one that kids would like)??? Appreciate any suggestions in advance -

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening Journal

Corn consumes N (Nitrogen) very heavily.This is one of the reason why it is helpful to rotate the corn.Legumes are heavy producers of N and that is why one would rotate legumes.If you plant legumes in the same place coule of times than they will be growing vegetatively and will not produce enough fruits.Corn plants will not be so healthy if you use the same place on and on.One may replenish N by chemical fertilizers.But N ingested in the ground is difficult to remove unless one plants the corn kind plants in place of legumes to remove N.

So, is that a good reason to plant pole beans with the corn? I've heard that's a good idea, so I'm going to give it a try. That and supplement with nitrogen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure