About Corn...

I've heard that people growing corn expect 1-2 cobs per plant. Is that normal? I never knew it produced so little. Never having seen it up close, my image of it from childhood is tall plants with tons of ears all over it.

Are there 'more-productive' varieties, or is 1-2 ears it? That's not much food for so much space in planting...

-Sev

One or two usable ears is all I have ever had and I have grown a lot of corn, field, sweet and popcorn. There are cultivars with multiple ears, those grown for the tiny immature ears in Chinese dishes.

Oh, that's right down near the ground. Do they all grow like that, so the tall parts of the stalk are just pretties, or is the spacing pretty random?

Some cultivars shoot low, that photo is Whiteout which about average. This is Silver Queen which shoots about as high as any modern sweet corn. In general about the middle of the stalk. ( 6 ft stalk, ear is at about 3 ft.) Late season cultivars are larger than earlier ones.

Nifty. What's that growing at the base of the corn - is it weedy, or are those a deliberate planting? They all look the same...

Silver Queen is a non-seed type, right? Er, a hybrid that doesn't come true from seed? How do you re-sow that - do you just have to re-purchase seed, or is there a way other than that?

Are there any nice, sweet corn types that come true from seed? I've got Country Gentleman, and am told it's a decent white corn. Are there better versions?

-Sev

It is just weedy, The field had not been cultivated for six years and was a Brier patch. The foremost weeds are blackberry vines, some Coffee weeds are visible and the Florida Pusley is just starting to come in.

As for open pollinated sweet corn, that is a matter of taste. There are three or four that still get some use. Country Gentleman (Shoepeg), Stowells Evergreen, Black Mexican, and Golden Bantam. They are all a step above field corn in tenderness and flavor, but a step behind the Su hybrid. Of course the majority of folks have moved on to Se, Sh2 and Synergistic hybrids. OP's also have a very short harvest window. I rarely plant more than 3 lbs of corn so the cost of seed is less than the labor equivalent of picking and shelling ones own OP seed.

*nod* something to keep in mind. Thanks, Farmerdill - as always, you make a lot of sense. :)

I agree also that 1 or 2 usable ears of corn is normal; but I had something interesting happen here in MT - I think it was in 2004. The sweet corn I had planted had not all come up; so I had counted it, kinda sad on how sparce that part of the garden looked. I think I counted 34 or so plants. Also I felt of and may have peeked in at an ear or two to check how developed it was. What a disappointment - they were way too far from being ripe or our normal frost time was way too close; how ever you want to put it. Anyway, I had been praising God alot that summer and thought, "Well, Lord, if thats the way it is, thats the way it is." But I remember thinking that I would check it again after the frost only to see if my laying hens might get something out of it; cuz there would surely be nothing there for our family and friends. Anyway, a few weeks later, I was walking by the garden and felt like I wanted to go check it. I immediately thought there was no way I was wasting any time doing that. Well I guess I argued with God a little while and then went and checked a plant. There was ripe corn everywhere. I believe I got 119 usable ears of corn; most of them full size; a few shorter than normal. I picked it all that day and we got a hard frost in just a few days; but what a blessing, it was wonderful.

over here in UK, it really all depends on the pollination too, so when I do sow corn, I plant one row, then the next row is planted with the seeds/plugs growing in between the plants from the first row, but a distant between the rows, cant make the rows too long as better shorter rows and more off them, in a kind of zig zag way, then when the breeze rustles the plants in flower, they get better pollination and sometimes more cobs per plant, sometimes I go along and gently shake the plants so the pollen falls onto the female flowers further down the stalks. WE have a short growing season here, so I dont always grow it each year, as you rightly said, they take up a lot of room if you dont get a good harvest, but it sure tastes better than shop bought corn any day. good luck. WeeNel.