5 Tips How to Grow a Ton of Sweetcorn in One Raised Garden Bed or Container

warning you may find the following video a little corny get a I'm my from self-sufficient me bringing you another how to grow a ton of video in this video I want to give you my 5 top tips on how to grow a ton of sweet corn let's just get straight into it this corn here growing in the bed behind me is our second crop in the same spot we've already grown a ton of corn and then use the seed from that to grow another crop just before our winter hits corn originated in Mexico but you probably knew that already however there are lots of different types of corn or sometimes called maize such as popcorn dent Flint flower corn and old heritage corn many of these types are corn tastes awful in their normal form and are ground for all sorts of other purposes such as stock feed popping corn making flour but the main type of corn most of us are used to eating fresh and want to grow is sweet corn tip number one when to grow the reason why I've made this a top tip is because corn won't perform if it's grown outside of its comfort range corn grows best when the days are consistently between 20 to 30 degrees celcius or 68 to 86 Fahrenheit we live in a warm climate the subtropics and so what I've done is experimented over the years by trying to grow corn through our winter see how to go and I can tell you now it's been really bad I've produced poor results so conclusion is corn likes it hot baby so if you're going to grow corn no matter what climate you live in grow it at the warmest time of year if you live in the tropics you can grow corn all year round but I would plant it through the dry season for best results and for the rest of us grow corn when the weather warms up and allow our 10 to 12 weeks of growing I'm through the hottest part of the year in cool climates don't plant it too late so the Cubs are trying to ripen as winter hits or too early either so that the seedlings suffer trying to establish in a soil that's less than 10 degrees Celsius or 50 Fahrenheit tip number two preparing the soil and fertilizing light free draining soil that's full of organic matter is what corn really loves because it heats up early after winter and it also enables the corns roots to be able to get a good foothold and grow down and stabilize the plant better corn has a shallow root system and this is bad for two reasons a it makes the plant inherently unstable or easy to fall over and B it struggles in dry conditions when water is lacking also try to site your corn patch in a protected position where possible from high winds otherwise your plants will struggle to stay upright and pollination won't be as good now you can see today it's quite windy and we often get big storms in the subtropics so I've positioned my corn in the middle of our veggie garden it's surrounded by higher vegie beds and also an orchard on the other side but even so we still struggle sometimes keeping our corn plants upright due to strong winds but that's sort of part of corn growing unfortunately now the fertilizing with corn I have found that fertilizing the soil several weeks or even months early then leaving the bed rest before planting or sowing produces better results than fertilizing at the point of planting the reason I think fertilizing early works with corn is because corn is a species of grass and like grass if your own lawn you throw a whole heap of nitrogen fertilizer at it it'll respond well and grow really lush and and long but corn itself you don't want it to grow really fast and spindly and leggy because it won't support itself and B it just won't grow those nice big thick two just cobs that it should because it's shut up too fast tip number three sewing I often sow seed direct into the garden bed and also our so more than I usually expect or need just in case pests get them like rodents mice and rats will dig up the seed or they just fail to come up due to seed viability or whatever that way I can then thin the seedlings out if required rather than try and say more later most people particularly in cooler climates sow seed in containers first and then plant the corn out when the conditions are right this is an effective way of starting corn and getting superior results corn doesn't mind at all to be sown in punnets first and then planted out in fact that's a really good way of doing it because you can then plant the corn in a little deeper and that way it'll grow extra roots and be a little more secure in ground against wind like this block versus row you might have heard people say they prefer to grow corn in blocks rather than a row because this helps with pollination what happens is the male flowers at the top of the stem shed pollen spread by the wind onto the silk which grows out of the cob containing the female flowers growing in blocks gives this process of pollination a better chance so if you don't have enough room for a big block of corn and you only have enough for a single row in your garden well that's fine give it a go another reason could be your growing in containers and that's fine too corn grows well in containers and you might be able to only space those containers out in a row but if you find later on that the cobs when you peel back the husk you find that the kernels aren't formed correctly or not developed well well that's probably because it hasn't been pollinated correctly spacing the best spacing for corn is about 30 centimeters or a foot apart don't bother trying to grow corn really close together because all that happens is they rob each other of light nutrients and water and you get smaller plants and therefore smaller cobs of corn say yeah I've tried it so you don't have to and the last point and the sewing is succession planting now if you want to succession plant that is grow corn a few weeks apart so that it doesn't all mature at once and you've got this big glut of produce but you can then harvest as the plants mature that's fine as long as you're in our area with a long growing season that you can stagger without that corn going into winter and also when you are planting out those successive crops of corn make sure you plant them on the side that gets the most Sun and they're not going to get shaded out by those big long high plants that have already started growing and that are well ahead tip number four growing always grow more corn than you need because even if it all develops and you end up with a glut you can always preserve it or give it away to family and friends they'll love you for it watering as I said earlier corn has a shallow root system so ensuring it has regular water and is not allowed to get stressed is vital to grow good cobs and prevent early maturation resulting in underdeveloped fruit damage from pests and disease one particular little bugger is the ear worm caterpillar it drills in from the top of the cob through the silk and what it does then is it rots from the top because it starts feeding on the kernels obviously so keep an eye out for it by just looking and seeing if there's any droppings around the top of the silk and if so harvest that cob early or kill it off organically by squashing it maybe a bit of prey through MIFF you want but I tend to just harvest the cob cut off the bad bit and you know because I find it early and then we can just eat a good cup of corn that's no dramas there but if you leave it too late that type of pest can really do a lot of damage to the whole cob also you can see here in problem because I'm growing it late in the season is this corns got a bit of rust on it no that's okay as long as it doesn't get out of hand in and kill the plants but often you'll see a little bit of rust on the leaves of the corn I would just tend to just leave it go organically and let the corn struggle through it and then get your late harvest usually these types of diseases come from growing corn you know near to the end of the season and pushing the boundaries a bit if you grow corn at the right time and you give it the right fertilizer the great growing medium you'll find that you'll have a lot less pests and diseases on your crop guarantee you birds can also be a bit of a problem in some areas on our crop we might get one or two cobs damaged or eaten by birds or crows that's not enough for me to want to try to net our whole crop and quite frankly that's why I grow a ton of it so that when we lose a few or some don't come up at all it's not a big deal if you're going to fertilize extra or give it a boost during the season only do it if the plants are looking pale green and lackluster otherwise leave them because under fertilizing is better than over fertilizing for corn tip number five harvesting it can be pretty tricky sometimes to tell when your corn is ready the best way to tell is firstly check to see if the silk has browned off as soon as you see this sign test a cob by removing a little of the husk at the top revealing the kernels they should be swollen and plump if still unsure of ripeness rupture one or two of the kernels with a fingernail and if the juice is a milky color they are ready to harvest if the juice is clear they are not ripe yet if you're going to eat the corn fresh I would recommend you only harvest as much as you need at a time and leave the other cobs on the plants as long as this is only over a sort of like two-week period because if you leave the cobs on the plants too long they will begin to get more starchier and less tasty corn will so eventually dry out on the plants and this can be a good thing to experiment with if you want to preserve a glut of corn to make your own corn flour even though it's the wrong variety of corn or a crude polenta which I have made quite successfully out of sweet corn or even as a good quality feed for animals such as chickens and ducks if you intend to save your own seed try heirloom varieties and after harvest use those stalks leftover as mulch back into the garden bed because they'll break down and make a wonderful enriched soil for another crop of corn or some other crops well that's it those were my 5 top tips on how to grow a ton of corn when to grow preparing the soil sowing growing and harvesting do all those things right and you'll grow a ton of corn just like I can see that wasn't so corny after all if you enjoyed the video give it a big thumbs up also don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already and share the video around - that helps a lot another thing my patreon go there and support me on patreon you'll find different tear levels where with your support you'll get access to different things or extra content such as my podcast and other bits of information separate to this YouTube channel if you've got any questions or you've got some extra tips for growing corn I'd love to see them whack them down in the comment section below thanks a lot for watching bye for now

Channel: Self Sufficient Me

Views: 1,107,713

Rating: 4.9530578 out of 5

Keywords: how to grow sweet corn, how to grow sweetcorn, growing sweetcorn, sweetcorn, how to, tips for growing sweetcorn, tips for growing sweetcorn at home, how to grow corn, corn, how to grow corn from seed, tips for growing corn, corn growing tips, how to plant corn, tips, sweet corn, raised garden beds, self sufficient me, raised bed gardening

Id: 02z56He5W98

Length: 12min 56sec (776 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 30 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Wassup_Bois]

Damn that was corny