I wouldnt worry much about cross-pollinization of different sweetcorn varieties, after all, they are all sweet. You do want to keep it away from fieldcorn however. If you plant 65,72, and 85 day varieties all at the same time they will not cross-pollinate because they tassle at different times. When you plant a faster variety later than a slower variety you can get some mixing of the two, but again, it wont hurt nothing. I stick with slower maturing varieties for later plantings since they tend to be better tasting anyhow. I also mix up the ground my corn is planted on, rotating (2) years clover, (1) year corn. That minimizes fertilizer needs for the corn.
My Sweet Corn Reviews
- Thread starter Luremaker
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LD1
Epic Contributor
I dont know because I have never tried "gottahaveit".
If you can find the seed, try a few rows and see what you thing. But it is the best sweetcorn I have tried.
I Like the corn to be sweet and large/full kernals. That is why I dont much care for silver king, which is what my grandparents always used to plant.
I and another one that a friend gave me some ears that was pretty good was something like "peaches and cream". It was pretty good too.
Tried "Gotta Have it" for 2 years. First year I only got 3 awesome, VERY sweet ears. I planted twice as much last year and didn't get one ear(very hot summer)?! I planted end of May in TN, so soil was warm, decent germination also...just couldn't get plants to thrive. This year I am trying another Gurney's variety.....maybe will try putting some leftover Gotta have It also, the corn varieties cross pollinate OK. I haven't tested my soil, its clay type and field corn is grown in the area? I did try some fertilizer but, but maybe I need more? Soil testing this year-hopefully.
This will be my second year for "gotta Have it" I've never run into a sweeter corn that last as long in the frig as this. also have a patch a good distance away with some "Ruby Queen" and "Northern extra sweet" for a bit of variety.
Glad to see there will be some other reviews of "gotta have it" this year is my first with it looking forward to some good sweet corn!
I seeded one double row (75 x 2) 150' total on the 3rd of April (a week or so early for here) and just germination checked that row Monday the 11th and I have germination so I expect by the end of the week to see plants above ground. :thumbsup:
I have 2 more double 75' rows sitting bare I plan on seeding at 2 wk intervals so as I can have a for sure supply of product. I am in Kansas btw.
I seeded one double row (75 x 2) 150' total on the 3rd of April (a week or so early for here) and just germination checked that row Monday the 11th and I have germination so I expect by the end of the week to see plants above ground. :thumbsup:
I have 2 more double 75' rows sitting bare I plan on seeding at 2 wk intervals so as I can have a for sure supply of product. I am in Kansas btw.
Pollination is generally better if you plant in square blocks, rather than a couple of rows. If you find you have ears where the kernels are not completely filled in, it is usually due to poor pollination.
I agree. I usually try to plant no less than 4 rows wide at a time, no matter the length. the long rows are easier to manage but I end up with uneven pollination if I plant less than 4 rows at a time. I've planted rows at 36" for years and have had very good results, but this year I am trying 28" rows to see if I can get a 2 row cultivator to work. Time will tell if that affects my pollination.
Yeah ray I thought about that after the fact and I agree, in fact I had a brain freeze at the last minute when I decided to do the 2 week thing and could have done a third of the 3 rows then at once anyway thanks for the advice!
I think the other 2 rows will get the block treatment. I will use 2 rows just 1/2 of each for my 2 week planting schedule we will see how it goes!
charlz
Elite Member
Fertilization is key to good corn production. I have followed a corn fertilizing schedule of: some at planting (over 2 inches and down 2 inches from the seed), some at 8 inches tall and some at 18 inches tall. I have used 16-16-16 followed by 46-0-0 and 46-0-0. I don't broadcast it, I actually use my little Earthway planter to 'plow' it in next to the rows. I use the beet plate and this method uses very little fertilizer and gets it into the ground where it does the most good. Soil tests are $38 here so I just 'play it by ear' and try to avoid over fertilization by using the planter method.
charlz
Elite Member
Yeah ray I thought about that after the fact and I agree, in fact I had a brain freeze at the last minute when I decided to do the 2 week thing and could have done a third of the 3 rows then at once anyway thanks for the advice!
I think the other 2 rows will get the block treatment. I will use 2 rows just 1/2 of each for my 2 week planting schedule we will see how it goes!
You can always do some hand pollination on those first rows. When it is time just walk around taking pollen off the tassels and dropping it on the silks.
Thanks good idea! :thumbsup:
I load up the soil in my rows, before planting. I use 10-10-10 or 12-12-12, and 46-0-0 slow release sulfur coated. I used to do home tests every year, but I found I was able to predict the results after years of that, so I no longer test. If I put in enough slow nitrogen initially, I get dark green healthy plants, without any additional effort.
I always added nitrogen, waited 2 weeks, and retested until the soil tests showed a surplus. It is surprising how much nitrogen it takes to do that. Corn really sucks it up.
Chuck52
Veteran Member
That's a great idea for fertilizing using the Earthway. Do you use it to plant the seed, too? I tried using my Earthway for corn but it was so uneven I went to hand dropping the seed, but that was when I had one kid left to help with that. I haven't planted corn since then because the coons got all of it, but now I'm planning to put in some in my fenced garden area and see if I can keep the coons out. I bought Peaches and Cream seed and it looks a bit more uniform that the seed I used last time, so maybe I can use the planter.
Chuck
Chuck52
Veteran Member
How do you guys fight the earworms? If I can keep the coons from getting the corn I'd like to slow down the bugs, too.
Chuck
Chuck
I sure do use my Earthway seeder and like it a lot best thing a gardener can own if he does very much area imho!
I knew they had a add on fertilizer attachment and wasn't the least bit interested in getting it but just using one of the plates that is a great idea I will try it thanks! :thumbsup:
I use 13-13-13 before planting and a liquid side dress after they come up and dry 46-0-0 as a side dress once they are 2' fwtw.
I knew they had a add on fertilizer attachment and wasn't the least bit interested in getting it but just using one of the plates that is a great idea I will try it thanks! :thumbsup:
I use 13-13-13 before planting and a liquid side dress after they come up and dry 46-0-0 as a side dress once they are 2' fwtw.
charlz
Elite Member
I do use the Earthway to plant the corn. 'Gotta Have It' is a shruken augmented and the kernels are small and not graded for size. I use (IIRC) the bean plate and tape over every other hole. With the sweet corn plate I was getting double and triple drops and this seed just costs too much. Using the bean plate you have to go slow and watch the drops, few doubles but more misses. I keep a few seeds in my hand and stop and drop them down the chute when I see it is going to miss. Still faster than planting by hand. Putting down fertilizer with it works great, takes very little time as you can just walk right down the rows.
charlz
Elite Member
Early planting seems to be the best. I have tried BT and it seemed to worked the first year but not as well in later years. The first year was also on new ground though. Someone else on this forum said it goes bad fast and they buy a new bottle each year, I will try that this year. The mineral oil in the silk is supposed to work but seems like a lot of work.
I do two plantings, the early crop we eat, give away, etc the later crop is for freezing so I can cut off the damaged parts if there are ear worms in there.
Adding my non scientific update on Gurneys super sweet hybrid "Gotta Have It" to the reviews here.
Its tasseling now at roughly 64 days and what I am seeing I like is the plants are only 3-4' tall vs the 4-5' Kandy Korn I used to grow was usually.
With the winds we have that is a huge plus - the lower to the ground the longer they will stand I have had whole rows blown over in the past.
I seeded when it was too cold and I can tell because I have another several rows that were seeded at 2 week spreads and the next ones are nearly as tall and almost as far along.
I have probably 80-85% germination in the first rows planted too cold and 95% in the later another indicator.
Now I am sure looking forward to roasted sweet corn on the grill wont be long now I hope its all they say it is. :licking:
And thanks guys for the tip on the Earthway for side dressing that works excellent it just needs a bigger hopper that I will tackle next season I am using the pea plate and 46-0-0 its perfect on the corn and onions.
Its tasseling now at roughly 64 days and what I am seeing I like is the plants are only 3-4' tall vs the 4-5' Kandy Korn I used to grow was usually.
With the winds we have that is a huge plus - the lower to the ground the longer they will stand I have had whole rows blown over in the past.
I seeded when it was too cold and I can tell because I have another several rows that were seeded at 2 week spreads and the next ones are nearly as tall and almost as far along.
I have probably 80-85% germination in the first rows planted too cold and 95% in the later another indicator.
Now I am sure looking forward to roasted sweet corn on the grill wont be long now I hope its all they say it is. :licking:
And thanks guys for the tip on the Earthway for side dressing that works excellent it just needs a bigger hopper that I will tackle next season I am using the pea plate and 46-0-0 its perfect on the corn and onions.
Chuck52
Veteran Member
I'll probably try the labor intensive mineral oil trick since I only have about 200 stalks. I planted Peaches and Cream because that was available locally. Just about any sweet corn fresh pulled is good to me. I did try to use my Earthway to deposit fertilizer, but the pellets I was trying to use were too damp....doesn't work well like that.
Chuck
Chuck
Got started picking some corn and tried it out and I think the GottaHaveIt is the sweetest corn I ever tasted and the bugs like it too.
The one thing I am not crazy about is there is only one ear that is going to be useable on each stalk. A friend says that is normal for that variety I was wondering what I had done wrong but he said no thats the way it is.
I always planted Kandy Korn and I know sweet corn only makes 2 normally I think got 80% useable pairs even with that variety fwtw.
The one thing I am not crazy about is there is only one ear that is going to be useable on each stalk. A friend says that is normal for that variety I was wondering what I had done wrong but he said no thats the way it is.
I always planted Kandy Korn and I know sweet corn only makes 2 normally I think got 80% useable pairs even with that variety fwtw.
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