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Silks out at 1-foot tall. UGH!

Corn Failure A.K.A. Starting Over

In a small-space garden, the beds aren’t always ready when it’s time to plant new crops in the ground, so if we start seeds in flats, we close the gap between pulling winter crops and planting spring/summer crops. Every year we start our corn seeds in a deep seed flat in order to get a jump on the season. By the time the peas and lettuces are done, our corn seedlings are already 6-inches tall and ready for transplanting.

This year, however, we waited too long. Our corn seedlings were a foot tall and dying to get out of their cage. Here’s a story about what happens when you wait too long to transplant:

Seeding Triple Play sweetcorn in seed flats
Seeding Triple Play sweetcorn in seed flats

We seed bio-intensively – 1-inch apart to save space and supplies. When seedlings are small you can prick them out to transplant them into beds. This close together, though, they won’t last long without stress. Timing is key.

Our corn transplanted well, but it suffered transplant shock. After about a week, we saw new growth and we thought we were on our way.

Corn tasseling out at 1 foot tall.
Corn tasseling out at 1 foot tall.

On our way…yeah right. Our corn was so eager to make up for lost time, it sent out tassels after two or three weeks of growth. Uh-oh. Our friend David King of the Learning Garden pointed out that direct-seeding is the best method because this exact thing happens if one leaves one’s transplants in the seed flat too long.

Not only did our corn start to tassel out early (which has happened in the past and the result has always been successful) but it started sending out silks. That’s when we knew this crop was doomed.

Silks out at 1-foot tall. UGH!
Silks out at 1-foot tall. UGH!

Yep, that’s a sure sign they won’t do well. David said, “you’ll get plenty of baby corn that you can use in stir fries.” We hate baby corn.

So we pulled the doomed plants and started over. It’s early May and this all happened in mid-April. We soaked and direct-seeded in the same bed, and now our new corn seedlings have emerged. This failure is not a complete failure because lessons have been learned: transplant early, otherwise don’t start corn in seed flats.

New sprouts pop up in time for the season, even with a failure on the books.
New sprouts pop up in time for the season, even with a failure on the books.

The moral of this story is – try everything and learn from the experience. Failure is surmountable. We gardenerds have the good fortune to try again every season.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Sue Sidzina

    Question… If you had left those small stalks would they not have pollinated and filled out since you had both tassels and silks? Maybe smaller cobs? I have the same issue but mine are 2 ft and growing taller daily. The tassels are just emerging as of today and silks too. I wonder if by thw time pollen shed begins they may almost be of size for the variety (4 to 5 ft)

    1. Christy

      In the past, we’ve left them and some did okay, but they were much further along than these guys were. Corn is such a heavy feeder that if the plant isn’t strong enough to support fruiting, the results will be disappointing.

  2. Julie

    I have planted corn too close together in a grow bag. My first time of growing anything. I have read they won’t produce a crop if too close together . I only have the grow bags no garden soil . They are about 7 inches high from the ground to the top of the stork . What can I do now to save them .

    1. Christy

      You may not have. In Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew plants corn 4 per square feet, or on 6″ centers. While most recommend 12-15″ apart, you can get away with closer together if you feed your soil really well. Corn is a heavy feeder, meaning it needs a constant supply of nutrients as it grows, tassels out, and fruits to maturity. Your plants are still young enough that if you needed to dig them out and move them further apart you could. Just do it at the end of the day so they have overnight to recover, dig out as much of the root ball as possible, and water with kelp emulsion to ease transplant shock. You might want to move the grow bag to the shade for a few days to let them adjust. Keep us posted on how it goes.

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