Zea mays Tasty sweet Trophy F1

Sowing sweet corn:

Sow the corn in full sun after soaking the seeds in warm water for 12 hours. In the garden, sow from April to June in well-warmed soil (at least 12°C (53.6°F)). You can install a tunnel over early sowings until the temperatures warm up enough. You can start sowing in pots, indoors, as early as March, and plant them in May-June in the garden. Remember to stagger your sowings to spread out the production period. Only sow one variety at a time, or two varieties with staggered flowering: corn hybridizes very easily and you would not harvest the variety you sowed. If your garden is less than 200 m (656ft) from a cornfield, you will need to protect your crop during flowering.

To sow in rows, dig furrows 3 cm (1in) deep, 70 cm (28in) apart. Sow thinly. After germination, thin to 25-30 cm (10-12in) along the row. If you are only sowing a small number of plants, sow them in a square rather than one or two long rows, pollination will be better ensured.

To sow indoors, place 2-3 seeds per pot in seed compost, mixed with a little compost. Then plant out the strongest seedling.

Cultivating sweet corn:

Corn likes rich soils: add manure or compost when preparing the soil, in the previous autumn, to enrich the area intended for sowing. The roots are shallow, so hoeing should be very superficial. To promote anchoring, hill up the corn when it reaches 20 cm (8in), then 40 cm (16in) in height. Water regularly if it does not rain (once a week), and cover the soil with mulch to retain moisture (grass clippings, straw...).

To facilitate pollination, when the female flowers (located two-thirds up the stem) turn beige, shake the plant. This way, the pollen from the male flower (located at the top of the stem) will fall onto the female flowers.

The corn borer caterpillar, a destructive moth of corn, sometimes burrows into the stems, causing them to break. As a preventive measure, crush the crop waste before using it (compost or mulch). Practice proper crop rotation by not growing corn in the same plot for 3 or 4 years. In case of severe infestation, you can spray a solution of Bacillus thuringiensis.