Don't soak the corn. It will germinate on its own in 2 or 3 days. 8-10 inches between corn is better than 6 inches.

For the corn I raise, I like 12 inches apart after thinning.

I plant my corn at 8" and don't thin. I figured thinning was wasting a lot of corn. I figured 8" and plant twice the area and I got twice the corn.

Thanks for the feedback.

I got my corn on average about 6" apart but some are even closer like 4". I have a few corn with slightly stunted growth (mostly due to lack of sun I believe from the taller plants) but the majority of the corn is all growing very fast and is nice and tall.

I think the biggest problem with intensive growing, is the nutrients getting depleted. I have been giving ample amounts of liquid fish fertilizer to my corn and they have been growing close to an inch every day or so.

the answer to this question is.....

It depends.

Some varieties of corn can stand very close spacing and still produce a crop. Other varieties can't. So if for example, you grew a field corn like Warners that gets very large and tall, it might need 18 to 24 inches between plants. By comparison, some of the very short early sweet varieties like Yukon can mature corn with spacing as small as 8 inches between plants.

As a general rule, sweet corn should be planted at a rate of 3 seed each 12 inches in rows that are 36 to 42 inches apart. This would apply for most normal varieties like Silver King, Merit, Golden Queen, etc. When the corn is about a foot tall, thin it to one or two plants per hill. This will produce the best crop of large and good flavored ears of corn.

Corn is VERY susceptible to lack of water. You can plant corn closer if you give extra water to supplement rainfall. Be sure to fertilize corn heavily. It is an especially high user of nitrogen.

DarJones

How do you handle succession planting? What is your plant schedule?

My succession plantings, we have two beds for the corn, we planted half a bed first then in 2 weeks planted the other half, two weeks after that planted 1/2 the other bed and so on. Done planting

I always soak my corn and never have a problem. Soak my beans and peas also. Why wouldnt you saok it? Helps it get a good/faster start.

I was always told to plant corn a foot apart, but I just planted mine 6 inches apart but am not going to fill in any of the "holes" where the seed didn't make it, as sort of a compromise.

It probably does depend on how big your corn variety tends to get and how good your soil is. I'm growing a variety that says it gets 6' tall. Hmm. I guess I'll see. I've never had luck with corn before, so I don't have high expectations, but I just can't resist at least trying.

Old thread, I know! I soak my corn for about 3-5 hours depending on how dry the kernels are. If you have difficulty with corn because of cool weather, or other adverse conditions, try painted mountain corn or another old variety. I like those, as I dislike the sweet varieties - may as well eat sugar cubes. The ancient varieties seem to do better in tougher situations and more variable soils than the overbred, fussy hybrids. And they actually taste like corn...