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Ashworth Sweet Corn

$3.25

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Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Ashworth Sweet Corn

USDA ORGANIC

Out of stock

Zea mays

(yellow) 69 days. An early maturing, widely adapted sweet corn with good flavor and dependability. Stalks average 5 ft. with 1-2 ears (6-7 in. long) containing 12 rows of yellow kernels per ear.

How to Grow: Sweet corn seed requires a soil temperature of 65 degrees F to germinate well, otherwise seed may rot easily due to its high sugar content. Don’t rush your first planting; wait until after the first average frost-free date. An old saying is to plant corn when oak leaves are the size of squirrel ears. Succession plantings can then be made 2-3 weeks apart. Sow seed 1 in. deep in rows 36 in. apart and thin to 6-12 in. apart within rows. Later, taller varieties need wider spacing than early, shorter varieties. For good pollination and well-filled ears, plant in blocks at least 5 rows wide.

Harvest: After silk has dried and turned brown, puncture the skin of a kernel with your thumbnail. If a sweet, milky juice is released (milk stage) the corn is ready for harvest. Prepare corn for eating quickly after harvest. At room temperature, harvested ears lose 50% of their sugar in 24 hours.

Pests: Corn earworm can be suffocated by inserting a medicine dropper half filled with mineral oil into the silk after it has wilted and browned at the tip (4-5 days after silk appears). Corn borers can be prevented by composting corn refuse and stubble as soon as possible.

Disease: Corn smut forms large puffy, gray, irregular masses of fungus during dry hot weather. Corn smut is a delicacy in Mexico, but if you want corn rather than corn smut, remove and destroy the fungus; otherwise the black spores will re-infest your corn for several years.

Seed Savers: Corn is wind pollinated. Separate varieties by 600 ft. for home use, or 1/2 to 1 mile for absolute purity. Save at least 500 seeds from at least 10% of the plants to maintain vigor and genetic diversity of the variety.

Packet: 1 oz (28g) unless otherwise stated (about 110-210 seeds, depending on variety) sows 30-45 feet.