Corn in your garden this year?

[Dewdrop]

I know this is an old thread, but this year my folks and I are tentatively going to nurture, harvest, and 'test-taste'  Golden Bantam and Country Gentleman sweet corn.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

This year I'm doing a grow out of Double Red sweet with old purple kernels from Astronomy Domine sweet. I might throw in some detasseled country gentlemen to breed a new shoe peg sweetcorn. Also might detassel some Japanese waxy corn.

[RpR]

Planted:
Sweet Corn:
Double Red
Martian Jewels
Breeder's Choice
Kandy Korn
Country Gentlemen
Precious Gem

Field Corn:
Aunt Mary's Dent
Casto Family Heirloom
H&M Yellow Dent
Henry W. Wood Seed Co.

I almost TKOd a turkey with a shovel so I am not have them destroy my planting this year.
So far , with the wet weather we have had, although we went from winter 20 some degrees F, to summer 80 some degrees F in days, both of my gardens are thriving.

Addendum:
Liar, liar pants on fire: They erradicated 2/3 of my Corn down South with their size 10 feet.

[blueadzuki]

I GUESS I'm going to try some corn this year, assuming I can get the patch turned over (with all the tree roots, it gets harder and harder every year).

WHAT corn, I have yet to decide. The way I see it, I have two options (and, unlike many on this site, I don't have the space to do both at the same time and be able to keep them discrete and not crossing.

The first option would be to continue trying with my miniature non-popcorn experiments, which, this year, would mean doing the red dent one (the one I think is the result of a cross between Strawberry Popcorn and some sort of field corn). Those seed samples aren't getting any younger. Of course, every year I DO try, the animals end up eating every single seed or seedling long before they can produce anything.

The second option is to try the miniature Glass Gem I have saved up. This has a few disadvantages, the main one being that doing so wouldn't advance the above corn project any. On the other hand, there is the advantage that I have SO MUCH seed of that one stored up that, if I use it all and overplant like crazy, there may actually be so much seed the animals CAN'T eat it all before some of it makes it to a stage where they stop being interested in it.

[RpR]

Mar 11, 2022 10:17:43 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

This year I'm doing a grow out of Double Red sweet with old purple kernels from Astronomy Domine sweet. I might throw in some detasseled country gentlemen to breed a new shoe peg sweetcorn. Also might detassel some Japanese waxy corn.

There was a few years back, a hybrid Country Gentlemen, called COGENT.
I bought it and it looked to be pretty much the same as the non-hybrid, but, when I planted both types side by side, the ears that fall on some were yellow.
The place that sold does not any more.

[RpR]

Of all the corn I listed above, my South gaden was first destoryed by turkeys and then extreme drought finished it off.
I got no edible sweet corn , my Country Gentlemen cobs were five to six inches long, and the plants that should have ben at least six feet tall barely got over four. so I got around three dozen small ears from what varieties survived.
Good enough for the squirrels and that is about all.

Up North where it was dry but we had far, far more rain than down South, all three plots did very well with
Precious Gem
Baxter's Yellow sweet
Tait's White Gem dent

Producing very , very well.

[synergy]

2022 my first planting of corn in June rotted in cold wet soils. Dairy farms were not working fields and veery late planting but then summer skipped fall and I think they might have gotten some crop off if they irrigated ? I am just thinking to try some sweet corn again 2023 due to high cost of food.

[RpR]

List of seeds in seed pail for 2022:( Note to myself as Norm Macdonald used to say)
FIELD CORN
Hickory Cane
Tuxpeno
Indian Flint
Silvermine
Seneca Red Stalker
Tait's White Dent
Casto Family Dent
Tall White Competition
Aunt Mary Dent
Henry W. Wood
H & M Yellow
Atomic Orange
Eureka Ensilage
Goliath Silo
Boone County White
Piper's High Protein Dent
Mandan Bride

SWEET CORN
Golden Bantam
Country Gentlemen
Tuxana
Zanadoo
Martian Jewels
Double Red
Baxter Yellow
Breeders Choice
Silver Queen
Kandy Korn

[RpR]

This post is all I have done this year:

Past three Weeks:

I have a lot more to do but as I am actually starting a little earlier than on average, and the fact that I uncovered three large toads, up North, still waiting for soil to warm so they could hit the road again, I do not feel bad about that.

I put in some of the potatoes up North:
Agata
Grand Duke
Sinatra
Satina
I collected far, far more leaves than normal for rose protection last fall, so I have a lot of extra bags of leaves; may put then extra deep on the potatoes , as I have a bad feeling about rain this year.

I put in one spicey chile, and three varieties of Sweet.
Buy them in six or four packs is cheaper but you get more than one wants.
Planted my Rakkyo, Candy, Cipollini Gold Coin Onions and Conservator Shallots.

I was too lazy/cheap to put bird (squirrel) food on the ground, so some critter has zapped my cauliflower and Brocolli plants. (Putting critter food on the ground has saved my early garden for decades. I should have known better.)

Up North I also put in 4 larger sized tomatoes; Green Zebra is my favorite but no one has it and talking to a person who sets up temp. garden shops, it is not available whole sale up here now.

Every thing I fully pre-intended to plant down South is now in the garden.
I planted the potatoes, 98.6 percent carry overs down there, and then uncovered the roses and put the leaves on the potatoes.

I planted the potatoes in the lessor production side of the garden because I did not want to have to cart the leaves any farther than absolutely necessary.
The South garden was HEAVILY hit with 30-0-10 fertilizer because I had it and was curious to see if that makes any difference.
Garden was roto-tilled twice, partly for weed control the second time, so it is mixed into the soil.

I have approx. 35 hills each in the North and South gardens.

I planted some ButterCup Squash and a pot of cucumbers but as of now the rest is Corn and Potatoes.
Corn planted was:

World's Largest Giant Corn Seeds
Seneca Red Stalker
Tuxepeno
Hickory Cane
Boone County White Dent
Goliath Silo Field Corn
Eureka Ensilage Dent Corn.
Zanadoo Sweet Corn
Martian Jewels Sweet Corn
Tuxana Sweet Corn
Double Red Sweet Corn

Plots are unevenly sized but on average, guessing, Seven by five.

My neighbors gave me a packette of Sun Flowers, so I did transplant two volunteer Sun Flowers and planted six Mammoth Sun Flowers.
I have two small open spots I may put some thing else in but as of now I am far more concerned about enough rain and the stinkin Turkeys.

Today I start to finish the North Garden which will be mostly corn though I will have to replace the Cauliflower and Brocolli.
Did put in six green snap beans of which 4 are coming out of the ground .
Looks to be a good year for onions so far but we need rain .
My Dad always planted some flowers so I am putting a goodly amound of Zinnias and Marigolds this year.

[RpR]

I finished the Garden up North, no more room for any thing.

On the flower side , I planted:
Pack of Cosmos, I got from Cherrios some where along the way.
French Double Dwarf Marigolds
Burpee Happy Days Marigold mix
Burpee Climax Marigold mix
Orange Flame Marigold from Bakers

Bakers Queen Lime Orange Zinnia
Polar Bear Zinnia gift pack from St. Clare
Burpee Zinnias:
Big Red
Purple France
Oklahoma Mix

Mammoth Sunflower randomely on the berm

Vegetables -- beyond Potatoes, Tomatoes, Chiles, Broccoli and Cauliflower .

Osmak 8 row Corn
Indian Flint Corn
Mandan Bride Corn
Piper's High Protein Corn
Atomic Orange Corn
Country Gentlemen Sweet Corn
Baxter's Yellow Sweet Corn

Free Cherry Belle Radish from Mary's Heirloom
Tenderette Beans
And two varieties of carrots.

It is dry so I watered garden heavily; two hours on each side with a lap-over in the middle. 8)

[flowerbug]

that is a ambitious list, i hope you have a plentiful harvest.

[RpR]

Corn down South is spotty again, makes little sense.
One plot of four rows, one fully came up, the other three, one stalk.
I every so many years put several trailer loads of Sheep manure in that garden; I think this fall I will have to haul in three more.

Up North , I water at least once a week heavily and that garden on the whole looks good; cutworms got a few but most came up.
I bought some liquid cutworm erradicator and will apply on the stalks.

Potatoes are coming up spotty but some were carry overs from last year with looong sprouts wheile other were newly purches with new sprouts.
I now believe, longer the sprout, quicker they will come up; used to break off long sprouts.

[RpR]

Corn that came up and survived is doing very well with frequent watering.
Shoulder high by the Fourth of July.

[blueadzuki]

Shoulder? You've got me beat, I'm only at waist (though, as a tall, long legged fellow, my waist is pretty high.) Still since superstition only called for knee high, I guess I'm still ahead of the curve.

[flowerbug]

as a kid the corn fields around us the rule was knee high by the 4th of July, but in recent times around here it is more like shoulder high. this past season so far it was barely ankle high until we picked up some rains at last, now it is coming up better.