Author Topic: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?  (Read 2461 times)

zxcvbob

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What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« on: February 05, 2018, 07:40:53 PM »
If I asked my wife she would say "Silver Queen", but it needs too long a season (92 days)  I haven't grown corn in many years, but I think I want to try a rotation of it this year -- almost the whole garden.  No, I haven't thought about what I'm gonna do with that much corn if it actually grows and all comes in at once ;)

Not sure about "sugary-enhanced" varieties vs. "synergistic".  I don't want super sweet with the shrunken seeds  I've read about them and kind of understand the difference, but don't know about the taste and how well they emerge in cool soil.

Any suggestions?  I've been looking at University of Minnesota publications to see what the recommended varieties are, and haven't found much.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2018, 09:20:55 PM »
I'd look for short season varieties.

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I don't think I've ever had any I didn't like that had been grown, harvested and prepared right.
I'll eat the hell out of some corn on the cob.

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RoadKingLarry

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2018, 09:22:21 PM »
http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/corn/corn-peaches-and-cream-hybrid-prod000672.html
  [popcorn]

A local grower produces that variety and it is mighty tasty. I've bought it a couple of bushels at a time and put it in the freezer.
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2018, 09:30:05 PM »
Are you thinking boiling ears or canning/freezing corn?

Yea the white types require longer growing degree days, if you can get your corn in by late April/early may you should be harvesting in mid August. Plant when the soil is at least 65 degrees for good germination.

Are your going to stagger your planting to so you can have a staggered harvest? Start with the early sweet varieties for boiling and finish with a more starchy corn for preservation.

I really like "peaches and cream" for sweet boiling/roasting, Kandy Corn for a good but not too sweet corn flavor boiling and canning and Iowa Chief for preservation.  Iowa Chief is fairly starchy compared to peaches and cream.
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zxcvbob

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2018, 11:03:09 PM »
This is for eating fresh, knowing that I might get way more than I can eat and give away, and have to can/freeze some.

I'll be doing good to get the first seeds in by mid-May, and that would have to be a variety that sprouts well in cold soil (this is Minnesota)  I'm going to just buy one variety because I can buy one ounce of seed for almost $5 or a half a pound for about $10, and one ounce isn't enough.  Probably two plantings 2 or 3 weeks apart.  I like that Sugar Buns has an unusually long picking time in case I miss the exact moment it's ready.  But since Wife likes Silver Queen I'm leaning towards a white or bi-color variety.

The ones on my sort list are: Sugar Buns, Illusion, Sweetness, and Trinity. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/corn/?prefn1=prod_feature_cat_ref&prefn2=prod_feature_seed_type&prefv1=175&prefv2=13  Or Silver Duchess from another seed company and tell Wife that it's Early Silver Queen.

Something that grows about 5 feet tall (instead of 7+ feet) would be preferred because it gets pretty windy here.  Also I can plant them closer.
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2018, 12:13:10 AM »
You don't live that much further north than me. When you see farmers planting, start planting your sweet corn. Probably last week or April, first week of May.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2018, 01:34:34 AM »
If you want to try and get a little jump on things lay some black plastic down. It can get.your soil temps up a little sooner but you'll need to be able to irrigate under it.
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2018, 07:40:27 AM »
If you want to try and get a little jump on things lay some black plastic down. It can get.your soil temps up a little sooner but you'll need to be able to irrigate under it.

Problem him and I have is we can still get frost in May. Plant too soon and you run the risk of frost kill if the corn plant is at V6 (growing point above the soil) or older.
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2018, 07:57:50 AM »
Higher the sugar content and longer growing days requires more nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. Up to 150 lbs of nitrogen per acre. About half applied at planting and other half applied when the corn is 18-24" tall. Too much N and you'll burn your plants.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #10 on: February 06, 2018, 08:06:14 AM »
Problem him and I have is we can still get frost in May. Plant too soon and you run the risk of frost kill if the corn plant is at V6 (growing point above the soil) or older.

Bummer.
My average last frost date is listed as April 15th but I've never seen one quite that late that I remember. I use that date for setting out tomato plants. If I plant corn I try to have it in the ground by the 21st of April and a time or two when I was real ambitious and the weather was cooperating I've planted sweet corn as late as the 4th of July and gotten a 2nd crop.
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Brad Johnson

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #11 on: February 06, 2018, 09:41:09 AM »
Ever tried corn starts inside using peat pots or some such (anything that can be direct-planted when soil temps are correct)? When I had a garden I would do that with tomatoes and peppers but never with corn. I would start my seeds indoors in early January, plant in early April, and have tomatoes by end of May or early June. After a couple of years I wimped out and started buying live plants. Not nearly as time-intensive and it only set me back a couple of weeks in terms of harvesting.

Now? I simply don't have the time to keep a garden. I may try some container tomatoes on the back porch.

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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #12 on: February 06, 2018, 10:19:05 AM »
Ever tried corn starts inside using peat pots or some such (anything that can be direct-planted when soil temps are correct)? When I had a garden I would do that with tomatoes and peppers but never with corn. I would start my seeds indoors in early January, plant in early April, and have tomatoes by end of May or early June. After a couple of years I wimped out and started buying live plants. Not nearly as time-intensive and it only set me back a couple of weeks in terms of harvesting.

Now? I simply don't have the time to keep a garden. I may try some container tomatoes on the back porch.

Brad

Just doesn't work well with corn, it's a grass with deep roots. Sweet corn is usually planted 6" apart in 30" rows with one harvestable ear per plant. That would take a lot of pots to get a decent harvest.

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Larry Ashcraft

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2018, 01:50:37 PM »
Yeah, corn needs to be direct seeded because the roots start going deep right away.  Once it peeks up, start weaning it off of water to force the roots to grow deeper, making better corn and a stronger plant.  Water it deeply when it needs it, watering too often will stunt the stalks.  In my clay soil, once a week is sufficient, even when the temps approach 100.  I wait for the first signs of wilting, and then water deep.  To make it wind resistant, dig a ditch about 4" deep and poke the seeds in the bottom of the ditch.  As the corn grows, fill the ditch in.  Our latest freeze date is May 15, so when I was growing corn I would have it in the ground by May 5.

I live in an area of truck farms, and the overwhelming favorite here is peaches and cream.  One farmer plants an early variety early in an attempt to have sweet corn in the stand by the 4th of July (brings the city folks out in droves).  He's successful more than half the time, even if he has to re-plant 2 or 3 times due to freezes.  Trouble is, those short early varieties just aren't very good.  The smart money waits until mid-July or later and buys the peaches and cream.

zxcvbob

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2018, 09:15:30 PM »
I just ordered a half a pound of "Allure" seed corn.  It's a tall mid-season variety with big ears.  The seed is not treated, so I'll either water it in with a mixture of Captan and some kind of insecticide like Sevin or malathion, or figure out how to apply pesticide dust to the seeds myself.  At first I thought I wanted to buy treated seeds, but they are using systemic insecticides like imidacloprid now and I don't want to kill bees with the pollen later in the season (not sure if that's an exaggeration or not.)

I think I'll wait until I see corn coming up in the fields on the way to church and then do the first planting; that should be about 2 weeks after the farmers planted, but sweet corn needs warmer soil that field corn.  So sometime in May.  Then plant some more in June.

And I may put a dozen seeds in little 4-packs to fill in holes in the rows, but it really doesn't make sense to use transplants for corn -- I've seen them for sale at nurseries but they always look terrible.
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #15 on: February 08, 2018, 02:48:56 AM »
I just ordered a half a pound of "Allure" seed corn.  It's a tall mid-season variety with big ears.  The seed is not treated, so I'll either water it in with a mixture of Captan and some kind of insecticide like Sevin or malathion, or figure out how to apply pesticide dust to the seeds myself.  At first I thought I wanted to buy treated seeds, but they are using systemic insecticides like imidacloprid now and I don't want to kill bees with the pollen later in the season (not sure if that's an exaggeration or not.)

I think I'll wait until I see corn coming up in the fields on the way to church and then do the first planting; that should be about 2 weeks after the farmers planted, but sweet corn needs warmer soil that field corn.  So sometime in May.  Then plant some more in June.

And I may put a dozen seeds in little 4-packs to fill in holes in the rows, but it really doesn't make sense to use transplants for corn -- I've seen them for sale at nurseries but they always look terrible.

Corn like grass is wind pollinated, no insect required.

Root worms and Japanese beetles are your biggest pests. Japanese beetles love fresh silk. Like round up at pollination time both will kill ear filling.
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zxcvbob

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #16 on: February 08, 2018, 09:31:20 AM »
Corn like grass is wind pollinated, no insect required.

Root worms and Japanese beetles are your biggest pests. Japanese beetles love fresh silk. Like round up at pollination time both will kill ear filling.

I don't want to use a systemic insecticide on the corn because bees harvest some of the pollen.  Also my wife raises monarch butterflies and I don't need Bt corn pollen getting all over her milkweeds (I know I'm conflating GMO corn and systemics.)  But I'm fine with spot treating with pesticides.  The Jap beetles have been awful the past 2 years, and I didn't know they like corn silk. :(  Thanks for the heads-up.  So I'll definitely have to spray the ears; just keep the spray off the tassels.
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Larry Ashcraft

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #17 on: February 08, 2018, 01:03:52 PM »
A couple drops or so of mineral oil on tops of the ears after silk appears will keep worms out of corn.  I don't know how it works, but it does.

K Frame

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #18 on: February 08, 2018, 01:32:54 PM »
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this varietal.

Hearty, very sweet, and very freeze proof.

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zxcvbob

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #19 on: February 08, 2018, 03:06:11 PM »
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this varietal.

Hearty, very sweet, and very freeze proof.



I like that!  Do I need to find certified seed corn, or will bags of candy corn from the grocery store work?  I've had mixed results planting grocery store dried beans.
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #20 on: February 08, 2018, 04:20:52 PM »
A couple drops or so of mineral oil on tops of the ears after silk appears will keep worms out of corn.  I don't know how it works, but it does.

That also could stop pollination.
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Larry Ashcraft

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #21 on: February 08, 2018, 06:55:15 PM »
Quote
That also could stop pollination.
It doesn't.  I've used it many times  All you need is one grain of pollen on each strand of silk to form kernels.
Quote
I've had mixed results planting grocery store dried beans.
Use only fresh seed beans.  Green beans and (especially) black-eyed peas need to be fresh.  As in, harvested last year.  Corn is a different story.  Kept cool and dry, corn seed can last several years.

charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #22 on: February 09, 2018, 11:00:35 AM »
It doesn't.  I've used it many times  All you need is one grain of pollen on each strand of silk to form kernels.

If you plug a silk with oil on accident you stop the flow of pollen to the ovum. Like I said may prevent pollination.

More than likely the corn has already pollinated by the time you placed your oil.

I was referring to Japanese beetles eating silk as it emerged from the ear. 
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charby

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Re: What kind of sweet corn to plant, SE or SY?
« Reply #23 on: February 09, 2018, 11:02:40 AM »
I don't want to use a systemic insecticide on the corn because bees harvest some of the pollen.  Also my wife raises monarch butterflies and I don't need Bt corn pollen getting all over her milkweeds (I know I'm conflating GMO corn and systemics.)  But I'm fine with spot treating with pesticides.  The Jap beetles have been awful the past 2 years, and I didn't know they like corn silk. :(  Thanks for the heads-up.  So I'll definitely have to spray the ears; just keep the spray off the tassels.

If you soil is cold and wet, you may want to put a little fungicide on your seeds before planting.
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