I've never grown corn until this year, but I've got a lot of corn fields around me. And from what I've seen, all the stalks seem to have 2+ ears per stalk. It didn't seem to matter if it was feed or sweet corn.

Next time I'm over at the farm up the street, I'll check with the Steve the farmer to see what he figures is average for his sweet corn. It might be a week or 2 b4 I get back with an answer from him because I was just over this Saturday.

Hey, I found this:

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-06/961130969.Bt.r.html

"Each stalk of maize will bear only 1 tassel, but an ear could form
associated with each of several leaves (branches always form above the
point a leaf attaches to the stem). So maize can have one to several ears.
Genetically uniform field corn usually only has a single ear per stalk.
Most sweet corn varieties will produce 2-4 ears per stalk, and one variety,
called "six-shooter", appropriately enough produces six ears per stalk, and
it also grows pretty tall."

greasybean,

What variety did you plant? What quality of soil do you have? Did you have your soil tested? Did you make any amendments to your soil before planting?

I usually get only one good ear per stalk and I have raised many varieties over many years. Novelty corns can produce several small ears. So call me a doubter about most of those heavy productions LOL.

I've grown Bodacious, Ambrosia, and a couple of others that I can't remember the name of right now. I have a clay type slightly loamy soil. Soil test showed a little low on potassium, everything else seems acceptable. I put down some 10-10-10 and tilled it in before planting.
After reading what crabjoe posted above, I'm thinking my soil is just not fertile enough to produce two ears. When I was a child we had good bottom ground that was really something. Everything grew good. Even though I just get one ear to the stalk here, it is really good tasting corn. Maybe I'll try more fertilizer next year and see if I can get two ears. Thanks everyone for the help.

One thing to remember. Corn was much more widely spaced in my youth. In fact field corn was planted 42 x 42 inches (check planting) Today everyone crowds their corn. I can get two ears off most sweet corn if I use a minimum of 18 inch spacing in 42 inch rows. the second ear is rarely as good as the first tho.

I expect two ears off of each plant. Poor soil or inadequate sunlight results in fewer ears. I would expect overcrowding would do the same.

I hate to throw this off topic, but if only one good ear comes from a stalk, corn seems to be a terrible crop to grow for food or feed stock for anything like ethanol.

So if it's basically 1 ear per stalk, how can corn be so cheap? You know.. I can get corn almost any day at the market for 4 to 6 for a $1.

If I only get one ear per stalk, there ain't no way I'm growing it again next year.

I crowd my corn terribly and then I interplant it with beans, so I'm not surprised I only get one ear per stalk. Last year that's all I got too. Kind of short ears too, about 6-8 inches long. Last year I was growing Golden Jubilee. This year it's Celestial (too early to tell how many ears it will yield).

I don't mind the one-ear-per-stalk, because I don't put any up and I plant all at the same time. So we have to eat it all real quick - say within a week or two of ripeness. I have about 60-80 plants with a family of three corn-eaters, we'll have to eat two cobs a day per person for 10 days.

I don't have the luxury of space, so if I planted half the plants and got two cobs per ear, it wouldn't do me any good. Real dense as they are, they shade the ground good, support each other a bit against winds and make a decent bean trelis.

Far as I can tell I have terrific soil.

crabjoe,

I was at a lecture on corn and the speaker said that 70% of subsidies go to corn instead of all the other vegetables put together. Why? Because corn is in everything - from pop tarts to soda (high fructose corn syrup, etc.) It's processed and incorporated into almost everything we eat from a package.

Maybe I'll try more fertilizer next year and see if I can get two ears.

Suggestions for fertilizer:

Here are more options for nitrogen fertilizer:
Manure (chicken has the highest level)
Blood meal
Cotton Seed Meal
Legume Cover Crops
Compost
Pelleted Chicken Manure
Fish Meal/Emulsion
Liquid Fish
Phytamin 800
Feather Meal
Seabird Guano

Farmerdilla hit the nail on the head. I have noticed field corn where there was extra space beside a stalk and often that one produced two ears. Now this is on an outside row which has extra space on one side to start with. Farmers now plant corn with high plant populations per acre [27,000 - 30,000] to get maximum yield rather than larger ears.

With a medium amount of garden space, I plant medium thickness and get one good ear per stalk. An especially healthy stalk with a little more room may produce a second ear that is ¾ size.

Since this is a corny topic I have a question to ask of those who have corn experience.

I planted a few corn seeds in a small area of my small garden just to see how it would grow. If I get a few ears of corn before the squirrels do, I will be satisfied.

American Seed co's sweet corn was the package. I have them close together, 12" apart in 3 rows about 16" apart. Probably only 3 dozen stalks now about eyeball high on the fourth of July. I noticed a few of the stalks are weak at the point they touch the soil and leaning over. Is something causing the weak stalk? Worms? I will investigate further and see if this is affecting more than the three I noticed yesterday.

We have had little rain in the last month but since I have a lot of tomato and other veggies, I water almost daily.

Most corn varieties today produce 1 ear per stalk but sometimes a second smaller ear will develop below the first if conditions such as population, fertility, moisture and heat units are right.

As a farmer we now plant 30,000 to 35,000 plants per acre which is about one plant in 6-7 inches in a 30 inch row. That is corn used for feed. We used to plant about 24,000 plants per acre which is what I like to plant my sweet corn at. That is about one plant in 9 inches. Of course seed corn companies make more money getting us to plant higher populations.

Corn is a heavy feeder of nitrogen and will not have the dark green color without it. Corn also needs about an inch or so of water per week but roots go deep without it.

"I hate to throw this off topic, but if only one good ear comes from a stalk, corn seems to be a terrible crop to grow for food or feed stock for anything like ethanol. "

I was JUST thinking about this.

To me, it doesn't make sense that corn uses so much nutrients, water, and space just to give you one lousy ear of corn, and that corn goes to power probably an infinitesimal proportion of your car.

Why bury the fish under the corn, when you are just better off eating the fish for calories and biking to your nearest destination?

I swear, some things in this country make no sense. It makes me wonder if the government purposely props up the most inefficient entities it can find