That’s some bold spacing! I find the closer i plant my corn, the higher it bolts and gets leggy and ends up flopping over.
3 Likes
I planted around the first week of March, the corn spacing is 12-14 inches apart and 4-6 inches deep to where the moisture horizon was in the sandy soil. Yes, its crowded, its the only growing space i have so far. One of the varieties is a container type that grows 3-5 feet tall, i planted it into the ground thinking it would have enough space. The GTS mix is already twice the size. The squash are thriving and just starting to bloom. The pole beans are in there two, they were put in late and may not get enough sunshine…
Here is a photo from March 12, all the corn came up good. Some of the seed was a few years old, mixed colored heirloom sweet corn.
3 Likes
Nope, 3-5 seeds per spot.
1 Like
I direct seeded the corn from GTS plus a packet I already had on March 22. Well, about half of it. Where there are gaps, I’ll plant more in a few weeks. So far, I’m not sure I’m seeing corn sprouting… I’ve got johnson grass popping up in that bed, too. But I’ll learn to distinguish! two weeks tomorrow, and nights have been cool, but most days are warm to hot, so hopefully I should see more soon!
2 Likes
That’s something I’m very interested in, corn you can grow in clumps like the Hopi. Seems like it might be the key to a successful 3 sister’s.
3 Likes
Yes, but also planting deeper too. Even though there are 3-5 planted in each spot, some have seven…but there are many tillers sprouting too. Not sure if its because of the varieties planted or just a corn trait. The greenhouse where they are planted has sides that roll up, that is the plastic, exposing mesh so the air and wind can pass through. Im still not sure how pollination will work, but at least i have three rows with multiple plants. The squash is doing well and growing nice leaves into the spaces under the corn providing shade.
2 Likes
Corn planted a little less than a month ago is coming up just fine from abt 6 inches down. First two sprouts showing this morning.
2 Likes
That’s very cool. Remind me, is this a variety (or landrace) that’s been specifically selected for planting deeply, or is that something I could get away with doing with all the popcorn varieties I’m going to plant in the next week, ish? 
2 Likes
No, most of this is sweet corn from the seed box and the gts mix. I included several other heirloom varieties. But plain old hybrid sweet corn came up from six inches as well. I suspect most corn would work.
3 Likes
Nice. 
'Cause, I mean . . . deeper planting of the seed means the plant will have far more access to water more quickly. That seems so beneficial in my climate!
2 Likes
That’s how the Hopi plant it. They don’t go by inches, they just dig until they fell moisture. They grow several in each hole and the corn comes up like a fountain/bush structure that shades the area around it.
2 Likes
I knew that, but I thought it was only the Hopi populations that could handle that. If it’s a common trait . . . 
1 Like
Yeah i kinda figured you knew that but these topics get dragged out so long that i can’t remember who said what about what variety in what climate etc…
2 Likes
Ha ha ha ha! Yes, that’s understandable. 
1 Like
Planting my flour corn mix tomorrow. Laid out my beds and did final selection of seeds. Two for each hole, will thin as needed.
My first time inoculating with endophytes following the Iroquois corn medicine concept outlined in Dr Whyte’s course. I used a combination of grasses growing nearby, including from the lawn and pathways directly adjacent to the beds where the corn will be planted. Soaked whole grass plants and also boiled some of the grass roots before returning them to the soaking solution. Would have liked to include some wilder grasses from the local forest, but didn’t get around to collecting in time. I’ll be curious if I notice any difference in vigor.
7 Likes
What a neat experiment! Please let us know if you see anything neat happen!
…I planted deeply of 6-10 inches in sandy soils, and Im growing in an arid climate. All grew marvelously and are tasseling and throwing pollen. Now, im thinking I planyed at least 4 varieties since I observe different heights and tassel times. The short container variety tasseled first, about two weeks ago and the GTS started yesterday. They are all dropping pollen, so they should mix up a bit. The container has yellow kernals while GTS has mixed color. Its hard to be patient to see what the harvest gives us.
2 Likes
I planted corn today, starting with the 2025 grain corn, then a selection of popcorns that includes popcorn from this year’s grain corn packet AND last year’s GTS popcorn mix.
I’m not planting much grain corn in my own garden, because I’m hoping to have a friend help grow out the rest in her larger space. Thus, I took the opportunity to put together small but roughly equal amounts of Painted Mountain Corn & Vibrant Earth Seeds’ Slime Corn with the most interesting and color complementary seeds from the Grain Corn mix. I’ll be succession planting some of the Painted Mountain to ensure I get some of those genetics into the mix, and I’ll be monitoring everything for the aerial/nitrogen-fixing roots to be sure to get seed to save and return, while getting some of my favorite colors in there, too!
The popcorns were assembled into color groups based on some long-term project ideas I’ve had bumping around my head, and planted in separate groups of clumps towards the other side of my garden to reduce risk of crossing with the grain corn. My mixes include 2024 GTS seed (with possible teosinte genes), 2025 GTS seed (the few popcorn looking seeds), Glass Gem corn from several different sources (with some intriguing differences), and a variety of colored popcorns. And if I can find the packet of separated-out Teosinte seeds from 2024, I’ll be finding a place nearby to put those, too.
Because the maturity dates range rather widely, I’ll be putting in a second batch of popcorn clumps in a few weeks so I can guarantee some mixing between some of the later varieties in the first batch and the earlier ones in the second. Other than that & putting in 3-sisters-style companions to help shade out the roots & reduce weed competition, these will be going unwatered and ignored until pollen drop.
3 Likes
Niiiiice. (Grins at the idea of planting that deeply.)
Ooh. Come to think of it, wouldn’t planting that deeply also make it harder for birds to fly down and scratch up all the seeds and eat them?
1 Like