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sweet corn

H

Hodge

Active Member
I am going to try to plant sweet corn. I have never tried before, so with that being said. I want to till up a section in my backyard around 8' wide and around 30 yards long. Would I be better off tilling up the ground now (its grass now) and throwing down clover and letting it come up for a month or so and then till it under and plant the corn? I have leftover buckwheat from last year. Would doing the same thing with that work? Any input would be greatly appreciated
 
Hodge said:
I am going to try to plant sweet corn. I have never tried before, so with that being said. I want to till up a section in my backyard around 8' wide and around 30 yards long. Would I be better off tilling up the ground now (its grass now) and throwing down clover and letting it come up for a month or so and then till it under and plant the corn? I have leftover buckwheat from last year. Would doing the same thing with that work? Any input would be greatly appreciated
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Corn requires high nitrogen, so the fertilizer benefit of planting clover would be a start, but IMO, you would still need to add more.

So I'd till it now to kill the sod, wait, broadcast a commercial fertilizer (or manure) and tilling again right before planting.
 
I grew sweetcorn last summer. After reading and watching some videos I purchased a regular grass fertilizer that was nitrogen only around 24% nitrogen. Apply lightly and till into soil when planting then apply liberally in between rows when the corn is a foot tall and then again when you first see the tassels and or silk. Also water heavily after fertilizing. Make sure the fertilizer is between the rows so you don't burn the corn with too much nitrogen. If your stalks turn purple you need more nitrogen, if they turn almost yellow they are getting too much nitrogen . Hope this helps it worked great for me last year
 
Thanks. I will try it out. I just tilled up the area today, so I will wait and fertilize it before planting.
 
I use chicken manure in ours. Stuff is pure nitrogen. It's too rich for a lot of vegetable garden crops, but corn loves it
 
so my sweet corn that I planted didn't really thrive that well. Theres maybe 10 plants coming in, the rest is weeds. Any thoughts? too late to till up and give it another try? last time I just tilled up, drug a hoe down a couple rows, hand placed the seeds, covered them then ran my cultipacker over them. I put down some chicken manure too.
 
Definitely not too late to replant sweet corn. Although you may want to look for a variety that has a little shorter growing time. Even so, I would plant again and you will still have plenty of time.
 
You planted them to deep. Just lay the seeds out in a line 4 inches apart and push them in to your first nuckle. Only one inch deep.
 
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