Sweet corn spacing

[rob the roller]

I have planted rows of onions, beetroot, chard, etc and next month I would like to plant sweet corn in the spaces between the rows. Can anyone tell me what is the maximum space one can leave between rows of sweet corn and still be sure of successful pollination?

Thank you

Rob

[rustylady]

Sweetcorn needs to be planted in blocks rather than rows.

[ginger ninger]

Hi Rob...As Rusty Lady said. Sweet corn are wind pollinated so blocks work much better than row's, when I've grown it in the past I've left around 8" between plants. I'd also be sowing them in module's now to give them chance to get some good root's and a bit of growth on them.

[Flummery]

The reason for block planting is that corn is wind pollinated. Even so, it's worth tapping the stalks when the tassles show, to help with setting. I have always started corn in pots too.
If you want something in between the rows I'd go for something like lettuce or radish that won't be there forever and don't need too much space.

[binley100]

This year I'm going to grow BNS inbetween my Sweetcorn as I've read they make good companion plants.

[gigleypants]

This is the third year I have done sweetcorn and I leave about 8" between the plants and arrange them in a block ... I sow a late and early ones so have a good long season ... cant beat it pulled from the plant straight on to the bbq, wrapped in foil and butter and cooked till hot ..... mmmmm

also have heard that if you take it straight from the plant and place in the mircowave leaving the leaves on and nuke for 5 mins also very good ... will try this year xx

[Nykied]

Square foot planting says you can put two into a 1 square foot space. Not sure about this, though and whether they'd have space to grow.

[rob the roller]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I have always grown sweet corn in blocks in the past. Perceived wisdom appears to be between 12" and 18" between plants and/or rows in order to get most benefit from the availabe land. When I planted at 18" intervals it seemed to achieve a better result per plant. Some of the plants had as many as 5 tillers. Not all the tillers bore cobs, but it was still an eye opener. That year was certainly the best result per plant. I didn't keep figures but it was certainly better than 2 cobs harvested per plant and may have been as high as 3.

More recently I have reduced the distance between plants so as to get more plants into limited space. There is an overall increase in the number of cobs harvested from the area, but it is a much poorer result when reckoned by cobs per plant.

I have tried lettuce etc between the plants in the past with mixed success. There is definitely some advantage, but I have found that neither does as well as when they are planted seperately.

Right now I have already sown the other plants in rows about 2' to 2'6" apart. This is much greater than the usual recommendation and I was wondering whether anyone else had tried planting at this sort of distance, and if so, what were the results.

Rob

Rob

[womble]

I plant at about a foot between plants (rulers don't exist in my garden) and I've grown squash under them with great success before, but last year didn't work so well for me. I think maybe because of the varieties I used and also that I planted the squash in with the corn, they really need their own space and be trailed into the corn.

One tip that I came up with before was regarding the 3 sisters thing.
From experience I've found growing beans up the corn doesn't work very well. So I grew beans up those garden arches, set within the corn, that did work well, but I think dwarf beans would work well also.
A part of the same tip, is to use beans you want to dry, to grow in the corn, getting in to harvest beans when the corn is growing is difficult and if you miss one the whole plant stops producing as you know, so just leaving the whole lot till the end of the year works very well.

I found lettuce didn't work well when grown either near, or under corn.

[Bigmallly]

Square foot planting says you can put two into a 1 square foot space. Not sure about this, though and whether they'd have space to grow.

Well that's my plan up for a challenge, I have put 5 baby corn per square foot (as on a domino) so average around 8" between plants. They are around 6" tall at the mo so time will tell.