Grow Your Own Sweet Corn
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
- Corn does not survive frost or extreme cold, so you’ll need to wait until the ground is warm enough before you plant your seeds. Ideal temperature for growing is 30-35 degrees Celsius.
- Sweet corn likes soil rich in nitrogen, so plant your corn in an area previously used for growing beans if you can (bean plants enrich the soil with nitrogen). You can also add a nitrogen based fertilizer to the soil if you need to.
- The PH level of the soil should be around 6-6.5 (a little acidic is ideal), and the planting area needs to have good drainage.
- To give your corn seeds a greater chance of turning into healthy, strong plants you may choose to pre-sprout them before planting. Do this by soaking the seeds in water overnight then placing them in an open small plastic bag or small covered plastic tray. Rinse them daily to keep them moist and they should sprout in about 4 or 5 days and be ready for planting.
- Depth of planting depends on soil temperature and moisture levels. Cool, moist soil has an ideal planting depth of about 2cm, but hot, dry soil requires around 10cm. Seeds should be planted about 30cm apart.
- To increase pollination of the corn, plant seeds in 4 rows of 10 plants each with about 50cm between each row. This ensures that each kernel is pollinated by pollen blown to the ears of the corn from the flowers.
- Planting in blocks also gives the corn plants some wind and rain protection, but do not mix varieties of corn within a single block (this will result in cross pollination).