Sweet corn

[bopper4]

Anyone have any suggestions for what sweet corn I should grow? I did a honey bicolor pearl the last two years which I beleive was an Sh2. It was delicious but wondering what else is out there?

[KEN W]

Have you tried the augmented SH2 varieties?

The best I have eaten is Gourmet Sweets,especially 277A.My family asks for it.You can find them at Stokes,Jungs,and Johnnys.Also 274A and Vision.

The Mirai's are really good also.Available at Jungs and Harris.

[bopper4]

I think I found it on Johnny's would it be the extra tender 277a (f1) (sh2). Zalso what are the benefits of treated vs untreated?

[Big-Al]

I have been growing "gotta have it" from Guerney's for about four years now. I have been very happy with yield, sweetness, and most all the ability to keep on the stalk and in the fridge although mine usually gets eaten or frozen immediately. The price has just gotten out of hand though.

[Nainoa]

Normally I'm a 100% heirloom type of guy and I'd tell you to go after and grow a "Country Gentleman" or a "Buhl" sweet corn...

Last year I went to a small Hobby Farm "Cornfest" where they were serving "Bodacious." (Which is a hybrid)

And I have to say, I would step over my own grandmother's grave to get myself another dozen fresh picked ears!

[KEN W]

I think I found it on Johnny's would it be the extra tender 277a (f1) (sh2). Zalso what are the benefits of treated vs untreated?

Yes.....277A is the best one I have ever grown out of probably 35 varieties over the past 30 years.Another benefit of that one is that most stalks have 2 ears.The second one a little smaller than the first.You will love it.Tender,very sweet and strong corn taste.

This year I am growing Vision....an early augmented SH2,277A for mid-season and,How Sweet It Is,which is an 87 day white corn.Also having 2 ears per.

If you decide to grow a SH2 you want treated seed.It usually has Captan which is a fungiside to prevent the seed from getting moldy and rotting before it germinates.

[Dotch]

lol! Bodacious has become one of my go-to hybrids over the years. It's consistent. Wasn't aware until this spring that it's actually an se+, meaning both parents were se for extra sweetness. I like the agronomics on it. It's a tough plant. The weather can get cold and it will still emerge where some of supersweets such as Supersweet Jubilee will struggle. It also doesn't require the isolation sh2's do although keeping it away from the Indian corn or field corn in the vicinity probably isn't a bad idea. I have to plant when time and soil conditions allow so my selection has to be able to tolerate some abuse. My plan this year is probably to stagger a couple plantings of it 2 weeks apart. I get the seed for free from my seed corn buddy so why not?

We're in a hotspot for commercial sweet corn production with Birdseye, Green Giant, Festal and others operating in the area. Some of the hybrids they grow aren't too bad all things considered. I get some seed to try sometimes when farmers clean out their planter boxes so it's interesting to see how they taste. Protege (an sh2) was one of the replacements for Supersweet Jubilee for the reasons mentioned. Very adequately I might add. Haven't seen it available in garden catalogs yet though. Jubilee (su) was a mainstay for Birdseye for decades but when they converted it to an sh2, it lost the ability to get out of the ground. After struggling with it a few years they axed it. However, if you can plant your sweet corn later when you're sure the ground will remain warm and you like sweet corn flavor with extra sweetness, Supersweet Jubilee is still pretty darn good.

The mirai's and synergistic's fascinate me but the requirement for isolation gets to be an issue. Maybe someday when I retire & establish more garden area I'll have time to play with some of that.

[bopper4]

So if I decide to grow an sh2 am I able to grow multiple sh2s for example a vision and A gourmet sweets in the same area?

[MN Mike]

For the past 3 years we've grown Honey n Pearl from Jordan Seeds, you can find it at other retailers too but it's one awesome Sh2 sweetcorn. It's the largest sweetcorn cobs we've grown and they have a pretty long life in the sweetcorn patch when they mature.

It's been around a while but it also has won awards, I highly recommend it.

Mike

[bopper4]

I think the honey and pearl is what I've grown for the last two years. We loved it but hoping to experiment a little this year.

[KEN W]

I grew Honey and Pearl when it first came out.Excellent bi-color with large ears.It was an All-American award winner.It is one of the crunchy(some say tough) SH2's.

I think the new Augmented corns are better.More tender and germination is better.They have some SE in their background.That makes them more tender than the straight SH2's.

Dotch....I worked at the Green Giant plant in Glencoe when I was a teenager.Their main corns were Jubilee and NK 199.I think they still use those.Large ears with large kernels.

bopper4.....all SH2's can be grown together and cross w/o any loss of sweetness.I am growing Vision and 277A next to each other.Vision is yellow and 277A is bi-color.I always get some white kernels on the Vision cobs.Doesn't matter.

[Nainoa]

Have any of you guys tried growing corn in "Three Sisters"

I'd played with 2 of the three sisters in multiple combinations in the past, but last year was the first year I did all 3 sisters at once and I couldn't be more satisfied with the results.

(Boy that paragraph could be taken a lot of different ways!)

But 3 sisters is the method that the Indians taught the Pilgrims (Not that lay a fish down garbage from childhood cartoons)

It's a companion planting of Corn, pole beans and squash. You wait until the corn is 6 inches tall (I start the corn 3 week ahead in peat pots) and you plant the beans at the base and the squash in the margins and at the edge of the patch.

The corn gives the beans a Pole to grow up, while the corn pulls nitrogen from the air and deposits it in the soil to fertilize the corns roots... And the squash as it vines out in the heat of summer gives shade to the soil to keep from drying out... AND it fends off coons, since coons actually DESPISE spiney vines.

Last year was the first year that I lost ZERO ears to coon raids.

[Dotch]

Ken - The Green Giant employees I've dealt with have been some wonderful people. Always take the time to visit with their field staff about things like variety info, weed, insect and disease control measures as well as fertilizer requirements for both sweet corn and peas. The exchanges have been mutually beneficial.

Nainoa - Suspect you meant to say that the beans pull nitrogen from the air to deposit in the soil for the sweet corn. Unless of course you've discovered a nitrogen fixing sweet corn in your tomato breeding laboratory.

Doing some reading about the Squanto/3 Sisters/corn planted with fish scenario, it's possible that Squanto did tell the Pilgrims to use dead fish as a fertilizer. However, the practice was very possibly of European origin as Squanto had lived and learned English in Europe prior to his dealings with the Pilgrims. Use of fish, manures and other fertilizer had been employed for centuries in Europe prior to that. It is widely accepted however that he did show them the 3 Sisters approach to corn production. This could be construed as one of the tenets of IPM as we now know it in North America. There's a fascinating read from the Smithsonian Magazine about all of this if anyone is interested. Personally, I tend to rely on the electric fence encircling my garden not only for raccoons but to keep the sheep out of it as well.