Hi Pat, yes full sun is the top contender for a good crop. 8 hours should do it ok if your variety is short season (~70-75 days and not too tall). Your "heirloom field corn" sounds long season & tallish? If so I'd adjust that spacing to 10-12" and increase the 30" to 36" between rows. Here I plant wide rows with two lines of seed within each row zig-zagged down the row with 12" between each zig/zagged seed. These rows are 36" apart but I do get 10+ hours of direct sun (Bodacious early & Ambrosia later). Keep the nitrogen levels up with a knee high plant side dressing of your choice. What has been the problems in the past? April is hopping busy here, will check back later as I'm taking the day off to get many things going myself.

Yep, very tall, supposedly 12' or so. Long season too, I forget exactly but field corn in going to be in the four month range I would think. I can get my rows to three feet, I think.

Hi pnbrown. Is this the Hickory King field corn? Good luck with it sir and let us know how it does.
I have some corn up about 6 inches now... just need more rain right now.
Shot

Is there ever too much sun for corn?
I've had poor results with it also but I'm not sure if it was the location or the soil. (it was very acidic)

Mxbarbie, corn usually prefers a soil pH of 6.0-6.8.

My soil is naturally lower than that (5.5-5.8) AND it has low nitrogen levels. If these two facts are interrelated, maybe your soil is also low in nitrogen. Corn is one of the major nutrient-hogs, if not the main one. So, if the acidity is an indication of low fertility, you might be blaming the pH, when the problem is really the lack of nutrients. Adding nitrogen in most forms (manure, cover crops, alfalfa meal or pellets, blood meal, cottonseed meal, etc) should improve the soil, and any organic matter added might well help buffer the acidity, esp if you did some liming, too.

Sue

Yes, sir, mr shot that would be the hickory king. Got it growing real well in fla right now.It will be interesting to compare the same variety in two very different regions......

Wow Pat 12 ft corn? That tops all the 9 footers I've ever grown. Is this for eating or display? At 12' that 12" spacing I suggested might not be enough to over come self shading. Plant N-S rows for max sun exposure and increase plant spacing to 15", better go with 36" between rows too. Up there in MA you may want to consider indoor starts if this variety is 100+ days to maturity.
I'd like to go to heirloom corn for seasonal seed saving but my hybrids have spoiled my taste buds :o(

Well, they say 12' (bountiful gardens in CA), I'm hoping that it won't get as tall here. It's a southern heirloom corn for fresh and grits.

Unfortunately I can't do north-south because of my slope. What I might do is simply double the rows and increase the spacing so I end up with a 15-16" grid spacing pretty much. But the south-slope helps because the corn gets stadium seating, if you will.

This is tropical coastal Ma, no problem with the long season here last frost is around may 15 and first often not til mid/late nov. That gives me five months or more. According to anson mills, it's good to let the dry corn freeze on the stalk before grinding.

Hickory King does grow to 12 ft. tall... at least by my estimate. Here is a picture of me standing beside mine taken last year. Some of it was taller than this shot. I am 6 ft tall and my nephew stood back and viewed me in corn and estimated it to be 12 ft tall.
The ears were long and full. I actually had to reach up to pull some of it. Very thick shucks(?) which helps protect it from insects and animals. In the spring when I went to burn off the field, there were still complete ears still on some stalks that survived the deer through the winter.
Shot
{{gwi:37714}}

I see you are outside the red-dirt zone of Georgia - more toward the coast? Looks like it grows pretty good corn!

How was it for fresh eating? Raccoons and such didn't go after it either?

I have plenty of red clay and just about in the center of Georgia. Just where I planted the corn was pasture where I use to feed the cows hay so good rich soil.
The corn, as for most corn, is better right out of the field. My wife creamed a pot full and baked some (frozen) biscuits... iced tea... YUM YUM...
I also grow sweet corn so any eaten by animals is generally the sweet corn... including my two dogs...
Yesterday, I started plowing peas (southern) and noticed the deer have already found them. :(

Shot

{{gwi:32575}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Location where I live

Looks like a nice lil' town. I reckon it is about a z8a? My florida place is z8b, a half zone colder than I had hoped. Might as well be in south georgia, in that regard.

Hey VGKG good to see you're still around. I was starting to worry as I hadn't seen any posts from you yet. How are ya'll doing?

As for the corn...I seem to have the best luck planting a double row about 8" apart then about 30-36" between double rows. I side dress with a good high N fertilizer when my corn gets 4-6" tall and then again when you see the tassel start to emerge also begin to water deeply and heavily at this same point. works for meand in my part of VA our soil is nothing but thick red clay (dang glaciers scraped away the topsoil!!!lol) Best of luck!!!

Glaciers got down to ole virginny? I was reading recently that glacial action is one of the processes that rejuvenates ancient soils, along with wind-blown dust and volcanic action. Soils that havn't had any of those things for millions of years - as in most of australia, for instance - are very infertile. I thought glacial till was infertile, so I can't imagine what ancient exhausted soil must be like.....

Hi Barngod, I'm still around a bit, I update my garden journal over on the "conversations" page of this veggie forum and I encourage every veggie grower here to add their seasonal progress. Not a lot of time to spend here nowadaze but I do piddle away some time over on the "Hot Topics" forum too.