Follow These Guidelines To Growing Succulent Sweet Corn
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
While there are no magic ingre
dients to growing the tastiest sweet
com, university experts agree on
several factors: choose seed wise
ly, know your customers, take
good care of the soil nitrogen that
sweet com demands, and watch
the silks.
Follow those procedures, and
you could be well on the way to
sound sweet com production,
according to several specialists
who spoke last week at the Mid-
Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Con
vention at the Hershey Lodge and
Convention Center.
While other factors might mea
sure up, growers could be over
looking some critical stages in
their production of com. One chal
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lenge often overlooked is the
neighbor’s com and field com
plots can end up dramatically
effecting sweet com.
“Depending on what stage your
sweet com is in, if there are fresh
silks out there, you will tun into
real problems from field com,”
said Dr. Richard Hassell, veget
able extension specialist from
Clemson University, South
Carolina.
By far of all vegetables in the
state, sweet com production is the
highest. According to the
1997-1998 Statistical Summary
published by the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture, sweet
com was number one, at 19,500
acres in 1997 for fresh market and
2,800 acres for processing.
Despite some of the best efforts
on the part of growers, sometimes
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the com turns out not very sweet,
at times far too bland, and loads at
auctions get rejected.
Growers should beware,
according to Hassell, that field
com generates a lot of extra pollen.
Depending on wind direction and
speed, the wind can transport that
field com pollen into sweet com
plots. And if the com is under
drought stress a couple of weeks
before silking, the com can suffer
in ear quality and sweetness.
“Sweetness,” which can be
measured, is actually a byproduct
of production. If the plant is under
stress, sweetness is directly
affected.
That’s why it’s important to
consider fertilization of the plant,
according to Hassell.
Like field com, the nitrogen
available to the plant in the soil can
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be measured with the pre-sidedress
nitrogen test (PSNT), according to
John Howell, University of Massa
chusetts, who also spoke at the
convention. The PSNT can pro
vide a good indicator of how much
nitrogen is available to the plant at
the critical stage leaf 6.
The threshold level of 25 parts
per million (ppm) of nitrogen (N)
is the cutoff point. If the soil N
measures 25 ppm or less, “we
recommend sidedressing,” said
Howell. “Sidedress from 50-60
pounds of nitrogen per acre.”
If growers put on more than the
recommended amount after the
PSNT, “we almost never see a crop
response.” But an overall soil test
can also help growers benefit in a
big way. Growers need to look at
the soil pH—an item “often over
looked,” Howell said.
For a typical sweet com plant to
develop ears, a com acre needs
about 55 pounds of nitrogen, 8
pounds of phosphorous, and 30
pounds of potassium. Stalks need
about 100 pounds of nitrogen per
acre, 12 pounds of phosphorous,
and 75 pounds of potassium.
To perform the PSNT, at 12
inches of com height, the soil
needs to be tested with a probe to
12 inches deep (24 inches of depth
would be better), in a place where
no fertilizer has been broadcast or
banded. Fifteen to 20 subsamples
or cores need to be mixed together,
similar to a regular soil test In this
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 6, 1999-All
case, the sample needs to be com
pletely dry before being shipped to
the lab. (The dryness is to stop
chemical reactions from taking
place to break down the nitrogen in
the soil).
For growers that have little top
soil to work with, sampling down
to six inches may be all that is
needed. At that depth, perhaps a
30-35 ppm cutoff level would be
sufficient, Howell noted.
For the nitrogen to work, how
ever, soil high in organic matter
will provide the energy necessary
for microbes to break down nitro
gen, especially where organic fer
tilizer from manures or compost
are used. Manure provides about
half the nitrogen in soluble, ammo
nia form, as long as the material is
incorporated right away, the first
year.
Too much nitrogen at sidedress
ing can create environmental prob
lems. Howell noted he has seen
that a lot of rain in June has leached
out nitrogen overapplied at
sidedressing.
For the next year, the organic
nitrogen, in nonsoluable form, will
be available the next year for the
crops.
According to Hassell of Clem
son University, cultivar selection
plays a big role in crop productivi
ty and acceptance.
He said that selection “dictates
where you’re going to be able to
(Turn to Page A 27)