CROPS AND GARDENING … Growing Sweet Corn

WE’RE nuts about corn. Corn growing presents a marvellous opportunity for small farmers around the globe.

There are so many different ways to approach corn, and so many different corn products that can be sold, farmers are wise to consider some corn crops in their farm plan.

Although growing huge acreages of field corn is impractical for small farmers, growing sweet corn, popcorn, specialty corn, corn decorations, seed corn and building corn mazes can be very profitable activities for the smaller producers. We’re a world that’s crazy about corn, and the small farmer needs only to decide how to help scratch that itch.

CORN BIOLOGY

Botanically speaking, corn is a type of grass. Most grasses produce flowers that contain both sexes, but corn is different. There are male flowers at the top of the plant called the tassels, and inflorescences of female flowers on short, lateral branches. The female flower inflorescences become the ears of corn. The male tassels release pollen into the air and wind then carries it to other plants. The long, silky strands that poke out of the top of an ear of corn are the structures that catch the pollen and transmit it down to the waiting female flower ovaries.

In addition to their normal roots, corn plants have above-ground roots that appear on the lower stem. These structures, called adventitious roots, act primarily as additional braces. They also act as conduits in the absorption and removal of beneficial and toxic gases from the plant body; and they also search for additional water and nutrients in the layer of the soil above the normal root system.

TYPES OF CORN

All corn is classified by its scientific Latin name, Zea mays, but there are five main types of corn: Pop, Flint, Dent, Flour and Sweet. The differences in the main types of corn have to do with the various arrangements of the germ and endoplasm in their kernels. In addition to the five commercially used corn types, there are also pod types that have husks around each kernel, waxy types and a few other more obscure corn types, some of which may prove to be economically important in the future.

GROWING CORN

Growing corn on a big agribusiness outfit is a very scientific corporate matter, with everything from planting to harvest being scheduled according to the cooperative extension’s latest micro-management advice. For example, most big growers adjust the amount of nitrogen-fertiliser applications according to the fluctuations in the corn futures market.

Luckily, small farmers have a much easier job. Sure it’s good to get the crop to market early to secure the best prices, but the basic fact of corn growing remains the same: the crop likes warm weather, so there’s no point to planting seedlings in the winter greenhouses to get an early start. Corn farmers have to wait for the soil and the air to warm up—and that’s that. – www.hobbyfarming.com

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