It is rare to get two ears per plant unless you use wide spacing ( like 3+ feet) . Single row may adversely affect pollination. Your looks good.

For what it's worth, I plant 6 seeds in a big hill and thin down to the 4 best looking ones. Hills about 2 ft apart. I usually get 1 big ear and some smaller ones later.

I usually get 1.5 ears per stalk. I plant seed zig-zagged 12"-14" apart in double rows within a wide row. Plant 3 rows 3' apart, in a plot 15'-20' long in a block formation for better pollination. Side dress twice as per usual. Ambrosia is the only variety I grow now. 1.5 ears is good enough, though I envy the field corn numbers I sometimes see with 4 ears.

Why is field corn so much more vigorous and productive than sweet corn?

You would think over the years, somebody would've figured out how to breed some of that back into sweet corn.

It must be a trade off between quantity and quality. Pretty much the same trade off between better tasting home grown heirloom vine ripened fruits and veggies compared to the hybridized for apperance, shipping, and shelf life attributes of store bought bland tasting pesticide drenched waxy stuff found at the supermarkets....though I may be biased ;-)

"so I'm wondering if I have a better shot at that if I plant single rows next year."

No you'd get even less. Single row planting has serious pollination issues. But number of ears is primarily genetic, is variety related. If you want more ears from less plants then go back to one of the old, less hybridized, less less sweet corn varieties. Increase your row spacing, and plant more rows. The trade off with modern hybrids is sweetness vs. production.

Dave

I don't mean a literal single row. I mean multiple single rows vs. multiple double rows.

So this:

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versus this:

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The "double row" just means a double row 8-12" apart, spaced by about 24-30" until the next double row...versus two single rows, 24-30" apart (or whatever).

Flavor is definitely good. (Delectable, an SE Variety) I do have some kernels that look "bitten" into. Also some ends that are brown and mushy. I'm guessing corn ear worm?

If you do double rows with drip irrigation, should you run a drip line for each of the rows in the double row, or just one down the middle?

I don't grow corn at all (I find it too much of a hassle in a small garden,) so take this with a grain of salt... but it seems to me that unless one is saving seed, planting both the higher yielding, older heirloom varieties of sweet corn, AND some of the newer, lower yielding, super sweet varieties would give the grower both yield and flavor. If there's a problem with this suggestion, it might be timing the pollination. If though, enough of both were planted, it doesn't seem a problem that can't be worked around.