Have you ever had trouble harvesting a great crop of corn? Healthy plants, but poor quality cobs? It probably is being caused by poor pollination. This is often observed in apparently healthy corn cobs that have few well formed kernels. How to grow corn that form cobs loaded with juicy kernels is the focus of this article.
Sweet corn is a plant that belongs to the same plant group as grasses and sugar cane - the monocots. As a monocot, it relies on the wind for pollination. Bees or other insects are not involved. This means that you must plant your corn plants in a way that ensures good pollination through the air.
Sowing Seeds Directly into the Ground
This is how most people grow corn. However, ensure that your seeds are reasonably "new" and well within their use-by date. This will ensure a good germination rate resulting in plants not being too far apart, thus enabling good pollination.
Sow your seeds about 1.5mm to 2.0mm deep and 30cm apart in several rows that are also 30cm apart. Do not sow corn in a single row - this minimises the likelihood of good pollination.
Sowing Seeds in Punnets
This is my preferred method because it ensures that only viable seedlings are transplanted into the the ground. Once again, the importance of this is linked directly to successful pollination when the plants are mature. I have been caught in the past when I have sown seeds directly into the ground and had poor germination rates resulting in plants widely spaced apart - this has then affected pollination and the quality of the harvested corn cobs.
How to grow Sweet Corn - Requirements
Sunshine
Sweet corn definitely prefers full sun. So when sowing your seeds or planting your seedlings, ensure that you have selected a locations that receives full sun throughout the day.
Water
Sweet corn can be quite thirsty and should not be aloud to dry out. If the soil is dry, it is possible that the plants will look healthy, but the quality of the cob and its kernels will be low. You should ensure that the soil the sweet corn is growing in remain moist - it should receive about 25mm of rain or the equivalent from watering each week.
Fertiliser
Lots of Phosphorus, Potassium and Nitrogen (PKN) are required in order to grow healthy, high quality sweet corn. Well composted and mulched soil combined with the addition of aged poultry manure well help ensure that the necessary nutrients are available for the healthy growth of your corn plants. Add the poultry manure 2 or 4 times during the growing season of the plant.
Harvesting
The sweet corn will be ready to harvest when you notice that the silks have turned brown and have a dry texture to them.
