I am in 7a, and I planted my bread corn in late May. Rain only, the plants are now from a foot to foot and a half tall.

I can't remember when I started them but I think it was April. On May 25th I snapped a picture and one stalk was about 16 inches tall. So in a month you should realize a lot of growth as the ground gets even warmer, days hotter etc.

Mine is in a greenhouse though. I am sure that accounted for like 5 feet or more of growth on the tallest stalk. If I had my way and a large piece of land I'd get me some cold frame greenhouses from Farmtek and never go back.

My tomatoes look like Sigmund the Sea-Monster.

Other thing I'm convinced of is despite how stinky it is corn loves fish emulsion. I did the same thing last year and had a little back yard jungle.

Just got done harvesting mine last night. Started them back in... oh February or March I think. We had that really early warm spell and I took a gamble, it paid off.

Only had 6 stalks so my ears are a little, um, sparse? There's enough here for an entire field next year, which was my intent, but if you saw 'em in the supermarket you'd definitely ask if they were diseased or something.

Naturally heavy-feeders love ground fish. They didn't put fish-guts under the corn-seed for nothing.

Our weather went up and down. I don't remember if they really got any cold. There were cool temps as usual in May. Never fails here but mine got to wear a coat(greenhouse). Perhaps try the brown paper bag method? There are some good videos on line. Funny the corn I planted Stowell's Evergreen once had 4 ears sell for $20,000!!!

Yes Pnbrown, that's where i got the idea. I don't fish although all my neighbors do/have boats etc and their gardens often look crummy. One loves "miracle grow"(blah)and I think he adds sand to his garden every year. Little does he know he's in the middle of a patio project. I used to use the koolaid fertilizers and then I tried Alaska Fish Emulsion and saw the difference. Oh it smells to high heaven(especially in a green house)but it's got more than just animal urine(full of hormones and other junk no doubt. That's not to say fish emulsion might have bad things in it though)the emulsion has trace nutrients. Another project which is pretty good is lobster compost from Maine. And if you fish and frequent beaches there is seaweed for the taking and even the crab shells and other shells could be added to the soil. The cats might come but in a small garden you can easily make it look great. He also went with a rototiller which is fine and dandy but I find you don't get close enough to see anything bad in the soil with one of those. Lot of larvae and bad worms to remove. Oh and don't forget the straw which does wonderful things to the soil. Another thing I harvest is alveradi(Sp?? not a chance to spell or pronounce today)roots. They're in the cedar family and their roots go everywhere. Compost those roots and they make nice home made compost. Grass clippings too but compost them first with peat moss. Corn wants a pillow top bed not a firm top. Give it the works. In the fall I'm going to try and maintain my hoophouse for as long as possible to grow winter rye and really get it going strong. That will do wonderful things for the soil too. Also raised beds work best.

There is a maize cultivar for virtually every climate/soil suite. A wonder plant.

The super-sweets and 'bt' corn are the latest and least useful.

Tallest stock is now over 8 feet with the tassel. Trick is really going to be timing it when the silk comes out to get the sides up for the wind. The 8 footer is all out of room. It's not near the center of the green house. I imagine if I had more room, sun the entire bed would be 8 foot. I'm hooked on greenhouses now. I see the potential for greater things in a very large one and over the course of a year and after years of cultivation. Keep a garden alive longer and the soil will improve greatly. Even without full sun my greenhouse out performs similar plants with better sun. Weeds are a problem but a high quality breathable weed barrier would be great and eliminate weeds and improve yields. Still very much an experiment. High roof levels I feel are essential along with high level sides. I'll find out soon enough if corn can be had in a greenhouse.

Zone 5 Granby CT one farmer had corn last night at market! I asked if she started it in March when it was hot, she said April 1 under cover.

I lived in E.Hartland for a while years ago, I remember Granby quite well.

The field corn (hickory king) grew a good foot in the last few days. As an experiment in late sowing, I planted a yellow flint monday morning. It is not separated from the dent corn in space, but if it makes it to flowering it will be well separated in time.

Wow! Corn already. Mine was started in April. We got a bit of a cold stretch at the beginning. Timing I suppose is everything. I planted peas in February and have already harvested a week or so ago. It's just amazing that over 1 month ago my corn was only 16-18 inches high and most of the other stalks around 6-8 inches. 1 month it shot 7 feet or more. It was a very good month(in my best Sinatra).

This year has been so strange I'm not even sure what month we're in right now. It seems like it's been this way forever . Kinda warm right now. Can't wait to get swinging the mattock. I started another bed of corn yesterday as an experiment in square foot gardening.

I've got a round compost pile 5 feet tall and about 8 feet in diameter. I'm not even done weeding and trimming. I haven't seen one Colorado potato beetle or cucumber beetle but then again I didn't see any tulips either. They sorta came up and died. The bugs and plants are confused too.

I planted most field corn in April and it is now from six feet to three feet high.

I have over a half-dozen different types so the very different heights is expected.

I filled in some holes two weeks ago and where earlier corn took from four to six weeks just to pop out of the ground, this was up in more normal seven to ten days.

My sweet corn is averaging five feet high but that, unlike the field types, did not like the early plantings or the soil where it was planted had someone who thought they were doing me a favour put too many ashes there as germ. was low.

With the recent very wet and then hot-wet-hit... weather come June you could probably hear it grow.

I am putting Atomic Grow on selected stalks with both treated and untreated fertilized, to see if there is a difference and so far those treated are a darker color at least.

pnbrown - I grew up in West Hartland! My parents still live there. When did you live in East?

Market last night was in East Granby - Granby one was Tuesday night and I didn't make it to that one.

I hear ya RpR,
After the rain I was working raking some freshly added peatmoss to very dead soil(completely devoid of organic matter) and you could just feel the steam coming off the ground. And to touch the compost I also added felt like bathwater.

I'll have to check out that Atomic Grow.

One problem I am finding with a greenhouse if the corn is not very strong. It can't stand up to the wind. That could prove to be a major problem. Oh well at least I have an urban jungle.