"texas_gardener" wrote in message
oups.com...
This kid that works for me (my "gardener," which sounds a lot more
pretentious than it actually merits), insists that to grow corn, it
has to be in full sunlight and you have to have at least three rows in
order for it to germinate. Is this true?

Thanks!


The "at least 3 rows" idea is a step in the right direction, but there's a
better way. The idea is that corn is pollinated by wind. It receives pollen
from its own stalks at the top of the plant, and from adjacent plants.
Sometimes, home gardeners plant just one row, and the wind blows much of the
pollen off to the side where it achieves nothing. So, at home, it's best to
plant in "hills". They're not really hills, just circles. Put 5-6 seeds
around the circumference of a circle about as big as you can make with your
arms. Make the next hill a couple of feet away, and so on. If you don't have
compost, scratch some grandular 10-10-10 fertilizer into the soil.

When I first grew it, my landlord was constantly bringing me fish he'd
caught, and he reminded me to bury the remains near the corn after I was
done filleting the fish. The result was 600 foot high corn. I might be
exaggerating, but not much.