Corn Varieties

16 years ago

Hi folks,

I am thinking of trying a different type of corn this upcoming year.

So far I've used Sugar Dots and Peaches & Cream. Sugar Dots is no longer sold locally, so I tried Peaches & Cream this year.

Sugar Dots is a very good, sweet hybrid corn. One of those things that works well so you continue to plant it.

But, I then planted Peaches & Cream this year. The stalks got at least 7-feet high in an 80% horse manure/20% compost mix - and the pollen started falling almost a full week before the silk started to emerge! Maybe the soil was too fertile that caused the corn to shoot upwards instead of putting work into the ear development. So, I wasn't too impressed with Peaches & Cream.

This upcoming year I'm looking for something that will also grow tall but will put on hopefully at least two ears. I was reading the reviews on the "Sun & Stars Hybrid" by Burpee. It seems to grow tall and has been noted on the reviews to produce very large ears and produce two years per stalk well.

I was wondering if anyone else has planted this variety and what kind of outcome they have had with this type. I plan on planting the corn 8" in rows and 12" between rows (four rows total, rows of about 20). I use a variation of the square-foot garden method - more or less a raised bed garden but the garden is a long row of 20 feet long but is only 4 feet wide so I can reach in from both directions of the garden.

In addition, how strong are these stalks and will the stalks stay in good shape for the year? I am going to also try my luck at planting some Fortex Pole Beans up the outer rows of the corn.

Thank you all for your information!

BsnTech Gardening Blog

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Comments (2)

fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
16 years ago
There is no corn that will produce two large ears per stalk spaced 8 by 12 inches. At least not in a large patch. Since you only have four rows the outside plants will get a lot of extra light. But now you want to hang some beans on the outside rows cutting off their light. You can only grow so many large ears on a given area. I need about 1.5 sq ft to produce one large ear. In 30 inch rows 9-12 inches between plants is a good spacing. For your area, 32 inches wide by my figuring, three rows with 15 inches between plants would be about right.

If you wait until the corn is pretty large before planting the beans that will help your corn crop.

I grew Miari 301 this yr and liked it a lot. Get a Harris seed catalog. They have dozens of varieties and lots of info.

The Fruitnut
fusion_power
16 years ago
If you plant pole beans thickly on the outside rows you will have problems as noted above. I suggest a max of 2 bean seed at one plant and skip the next 3 corn plants before putting 2 more seed in. Even so, you will be stretching the envelope. Be sure your soil is VERY fertile and well watered.

Most sweet corn has relatively weak stalks. Only a few of the better varieties will stand up to supporting beans. You can help with this if you plant the corn down in a wide trench 4 inches deep and then pull the soil up around the stalks as they grow.

Corn should be a minimum of 1 foot tall before you plant the beans. I usually wait until it is about 18 inches tall because I prefer to maximize the corn production.

DarJones
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