Do I need to thin these to one or will they grow this close together and still produce? (Yeah - I think I know the answer, but I can be hopeful can't I??? I just HATE to have to kill anything once it gets started...)
Corn question
It depends, I can't tell your spacing from the picture or whether you have two plants in the cup or one plant tha has suckered. If you have two plants in the cup AND the bottom part of the cup has been removed, they will do ok if the spacing between the cups is 18 inches or so. They will of course need lots of nurients and water. The smaller cultivars of course will stand closer spacing than the larger ones.
These are the Honey & Cream, planted 2 per bottomless cup. Most only have one plant per square foot box, but in a couple of pots, both germinated. There are also a couple of doubles in the Trinity section.
If you are using the square foot system I would suggest pinching out the second plant. One plant per square foot is enough. Honey and Cream is a medium size plant, but can get quite crowded.
I did go out and thin all of the smaller plants and just have these 2 big ones left. I was able to carefully pull one of each of the smaller ones apart and have tried to transplant them, though I understand they resent transplanting. With the bigger ones I will just bite the bullet and cut them down. (Gasp!)
What do you use for fertilizer? I did a side dressing with 10-10-10. Hope that's ok. (Guess I should have asked FIRST, huh?)
As always, thanks for your guidance.
I also used a 1-1-1 ratio, 10-10-10 or 13-13-13. But half the fun of growing is experimenting to see what works best in your conditions. I have been doing this for over 60 years and I still try something new every year.
I don't usually fertilize anything. I use a wonderfull shellfish manure/peat mix, combined with MG soil, and it usually keeps everything happy. The tomatoes get the fert. and lime when they go out, but that's it. I just put this in 'cause ya told me to! (I am nothing if not obedient!)
Did I read that it should go in every 2 weeks once they are over 8"?
Not from me. I have sand, so I sidedress twice. But in a heavier soil just once when they show the first sign of tasseling. I don't want to grow the most magnificent plants only ears.
Good! All I ask is that I get a few ears this year. Last year I had half a dozen mutants - period!
I thought corn needed mostly nitrogen. Is a balanced fertilizer better?
For my conditions, I find it so. You can force it with heavy applications of nitrogen, but you have to match that with large amounts of water, which I don't have.
OK. Thanks Farmerdill!