How Tall Is Your Corn

Welcome old and new farmers....

 We used to say your corn should be knee high by the fourth of July. Now this was in the northern states, actually down here in Virginie we are eating corn by the fourth!

How do you plant your corn?  We always planted four seeds to a hole.

One for the worm;

One for the crow;

One to rot;

And one to grow!

Now normally you would get more than one to propagate, maybe two or three...

but this ensured a full row without large gaps in it.

Speaking of gaps; for corn to produce it needs to be planted in several rows, not one long row as I have seen beginners do. You need several rows or a block of corn so that the tassels will spread their pollen to the silks and give you a nice full ear of corn.

Another tip for serious corn lovers, plant 4 rows, then a week or two later plant another 4 rows and then again. I would say every two weeks and you will have fresh corn producing for a couple months!

The Old Farmer was quite the connoisseur of corn, he knew how many rows of kernels on an ear of different varieties and swore by picking it right before dinner while mother was getting the water to boiling. He would say if it wasn't in the pot within 15 minutes of picking it would start to turn to starch and loose its sweetness. All I know is we had awful good corn!

Now you have a hint how much you are missing if you are buying it at the grocery.