How many sweet corn cobs per plant?

[demi]

How many sweet corn cobs do you get on each plant? Ours only have 2 or 3 corns per plant. Is that all they get? It dosn't seem like a lot for such a big plant.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Yup. Mind you, the weight of the grain you get per square metre is still far more than for other grains.

[gregorach]

Up here, you're lucky if you get one...

[grahamhobbs]

Yes and unless it is a good year, the plants well spaced and well fed, the second and third ears are unlikely to amount to much.

[Green Aura]

Up here, you're lucky if you get one...

We have nine lush plants, the healthiest I've ever seen, without a single cob as far as I can tell.

[oldjerry]

Agree with all the above,but would add that in my experience they are a marginal crop outside in temperate regions.So in a crap summer they will have difficulty,and most of all in a good summer (!!) they need a good deal of water.
Obviously you're wasting your time with any non-F1 seed, and even amongst these,some varieties seem more suited to different areas,even though the temperatures may be similar in the different areas.
I've grown this stuff for years,...actually I think it's the most overrated veg of all time...ghastly unless drenched in melted butter!!!

[Mustardseedmama]

I think our climate may be a little better suited to growing sweet corn over here (?). We grow it every year, always rotating, and always following with beans. Corn is the hardest thing on soil, and so we manure well after the beans and usually follow with tomatoes.

We usually get 2-3 cobs per stalk. We plant 3 seeds per, spaced roughly 14 inches apart. This enables the plants to stand up better in our windy plains conditions, especially during storms. At the first sign of silk I get out the mineral oil and turkey syringe and dose each ear with oil, down into the silk, to keep worms and bugs out. Yes it's a pain, very time consuming, but I don't like to use spray if I don't have to.

Our corn is usually lovely, full, juicy ears, and sweet so long as we don't have something come up and leave it in the garden for too long. It's delicious "naked" (the corn that is, ), although a good slurp of chile-lime butter never did hurt an ear of corn, IMHO.

[GeorgeSalt]

I think I'll be lucky to average 1 this year, but 2-3 full-size cobs per plant is about right for a good year.

[demi]

Thanks guys, so that is normal.
We've planted the sweetcorn with beans together and the beans are climbing up the corn. The beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the corn and the corn provide support for the beans. Symbiosis!

[Odsox]

The beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the corn and the corn provide support for the beans. Symbiosis!

Well, not really.
The beans have captive bacteria that fixes nitrogen for the beans and gets sugar sap in return, that's symbiosis.
The corn gets nothing in return for being used as a support, that's parasitical.
Nitrogen is only released from the root nodules when the bean plant dies, only benefiting subsequent crops.

[gregorach]

You're overlooking the role of mycorrhizae, which can transfer nutrients directly between the beans and the corn in mixed-cropping scenarios. This is an active research area at the moment, but I believe there is already some pretty good evidence that this particular strategy works.

[clare]

I have 2-3 cobs per plant and I am really chuffed as it is is my most successful crop ever so far,But how do I know when it is ready as I have never got this far with corn before can someone help please??The top of the cobs are now brown rather than straw colour,the weather is warm for the minute and I am watering regularly?

[Odsox]

After the silk has turned brown, the way I tell is to gently pull the wrapper away from the top of the cob and see what colour the kernels are. If they're white I put the wrappers back in place, but if they're gold and firm they are ready.

[happyhippy]

Hi Demi,I've grown corn for years and I've always only had 2-3 cobs per plant.Mine are doing really well this year actually and i might pick a couple to go with our tea tonight!

[EcoSam]

You're overlooking the role of mycorrhizae, which can transfer nutrients directly between the beans and the corn in mixed-cropping scenarios. This is an active research area at the moment, but I believe there is already some pretty good evidence that this particular strategy works.

Aye, some native American Indians planted the "three sisters" together - corn, beans and squash - corn provides shade, beans N and climbed up the corn, squash acted as mulch. So, for the same amount of space, you'd get a yield of three different vegetables and don't have to mulch/weed as much. An example of a Permacultural approach.