Zea mays Plomyk - Popcorn

Corn Sowing:

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

To sow in rows, dig furrows 3 cm deep, spaced 70 cm apart. Sow thinly. After germination, thin to 25-30 cm apart in the row. If you are sowing only a few plants, sow them in a square rather than in one or two long rows for better pollination.

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

Corn cultivation:

Corn likes rich soils: add manure or compost when preparing the soil, in the preceding autumn, to enrich the area intended for sowing. The roots are shallow, so hoeing should be very shallow. To promote anchoring, hill up the corn when it reaches 20 cm, then 40 cm in height. Water regularly if it doesn't rain (once a week), and cover the soil with mulch to retain moisture (lawn 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 tip of the stem) will fall onto the female flowers.

The European corn borer, a destructive corn pest, sometimes burrows into the stems, causing them to break. As a preventive measure, shred crop residues before using them (compost or mulch). Practice good crop rotation by not growing corn in the same plot for 3 or 4 years.