Corn is eaten cooked and loved for its sweet flavor. Corn can also be dried and ground up for cornmeal, which is used to make foods like tortillas and tamales, or some dried kernels can be heated until they pop! Because of its high sugar content, corn can be used to make a sweetener called corn syrup, which is used in many products on the grocery store shelves.
- Good Companions
- Fauna attracted to Corn
- Diseases common with Corn
- Plant Origin
- Americas - grown as long as 10,000 years ago!
- Nutrition
- Vitamins: A, C Minerals: iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese Other: fiber, high sugar content
- Family
- Grain Family
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil
- Warmer, well drained soil is best.
- Water
- Drip irrigation
- Spacing
- 1 seed (kernel) per 1 foot
- Depth
- 1 - 1 1/2" deep
- Notes
- Thin when 4" tall, leave 1 plant every 10". Thin unwanted seedlings by cutting them off at soil level rather than risk disturbing others by pulling. Keep free of weeds in first month to preserve moisture and nutrients.
- When to harvest
- Leave for student harvest.
- Harvesting Tips
- Sweet Corn - ready about 3 weeks after silks appear, or when silks brown and begin to dry. Popcorn - ready when outer husks begin to brown and no milk comes out when pressing a finger nail into a kernel.