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Sweetcorn Spacing

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

FYI - Report on experiments with sweetcorn spacing:

When I planted my fall season sweetcorn in mid August (USDA Zone 9), I
followed the advice of Doreen and others and spaced the seeds at 1 per
square foot (planted 2 seeds, then thinned to one plant).  I planted 3
types,  each in an 8X8 square.  Pollination was good for the 4-5 foot tall
types  (ears well filled out).  A few plants had 2 ears each but most had
one ear.    Early Sunglow, a 60-day su type, yielded 78 ears from 64 plants
with smaller ears than I had experienced previously when spaced at 16
inches.    Breeder's Choice, a 75-day se type, is still being harvested;
ear size is as large as with greater spacing and it looks as if will average
one ear per plant.  We also planted Breeder's choice last year and it ranks
with Kandy Korn (also an se) as one of the best we've had.

Country Gentleman, an open-pollinated "heirloom" is truly spectacular;
stalks are 10 feet tall and ears up to one foot long.  But the1-foot
spacing appears to be too dense - ears are too slim and pollination not as
good as with the other types at the 1-foot spacing.  I was hoping to have it
fresh from the garden for Thanksgiving dinner like last year but looks like
it will be ready within 1 more week.  I did not plant an sh (super sweet)
type because they are too sweet for our taste (don't taste like corn) and
seem to lack texture.

I used 8X8 planting beds instead of the more conventional sqft 4X4 and
4X8 beds because my experience is the outer, upwind rows don't pollinate
well and percentage loss due to poor pollination is less with the larger
beds.

My conclusion is the optimum plant spacing in small spaces depends on the
size of the plant (stalk height and diameter).  Recommended plant density
for field corn typically varies from 18,000 to 28,000 plants per acre
depending on the variety .  Popcorn and sweetcorn spacing should be about 50
percent greater but would vary according to plant size, e.g., large
varieties like Country Gentleman and Kandy Korn would be close to the 28,000
plants/acre (1 plant per 1.5 sqft or .67 plants per sqft) and some of the
smaller Bantam types about 42,000/acre or very close to 1 plant/square foot
.

Olin Miller
USDA Zone 9, AHS Zone 12, Sunset Zone 13


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