Hi, I'm Heidi Rader, here in the Alaska Garden.
I'm with UAF Cooperative Extension Service and Tanana Chiefs Conference,
and I'll be talking all about growing vegetables, flowers, and berries in your garden and farm.
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Growing corn in Alaska is a pain.
If you're lucky, the summer was hot, and you get a few ears.
If you're not lucky and the summer is cold and rainy,
you get zilch.
Either way, a lot of effort and garden space
went into your attempts, with mixed results.
Still, Alaska gardeners' eyes light up
when you talk about growing corn in a way you don't see when you
mention, say, kale, which is more reliable, more nutritious,
and higher yielding.
Maybe the challenge is part of the allure of growing corn,
or that it's about 10 times sweeter than kale.
If your eyes light up when you hear corn growing talk,
here are some things you should know.
First, you'll want to choose a variety that matures in 70ish days or less.
You'll also want to consider the genetics of the corn
variety you're selecting, and not just for curiosity's sake.
It's important for predicting cold hardiness, sweetness,
seedling vigor in cold soils, the shelf life, or rate that sugar turns to starch, and isolation requirements.
I'm not going to lie. It's a little bit confusing.
But check out the links below for more information on genetics.
For Alaska, synergistic varieties are a good bet.
They are tasty, have vigorous seedlings, and a long shelf life.
In corn with longer shelf lives, the sugar is not converted to starch right away,
as opposed to normal, or SU sugar corn, which basically has no shelf life.
Of course, when you grow your own corn in Alaska,
you're probably not going to be harvesting so much that you need to store it.
You can pick it and plop it on the table directly.
But if you did want to grow a large area of corn,
like if you're a farmer, then you might want to consider shelf life.
Sugary enhanced, or SE corn, has a better shelf life
than normal SU corn, and a creamy, tender texture that some consider mushy.
And generally, I would say stay away
from that super sweet types or other types
with lower seedling vigor and longer days to maturity.
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In trials in Fairbanks, Early Sunglow and Earlivee,
both normal sugary SU varieties, lived up to their names and were the earliest.
Legend, Cafe, Espresso, Sugar Buns, and Sugar Pearl had the highest yields.
Sugar Pearl, Sugar Buns, Sweetness, and Espresso scored well on taste tests.
There are several ways to give corn a jumpstart and optimize its chances for maturity in our short growing season.
If direct seeded, plant seeds about eight to 12 inches apart
in rows 30 to 36 inches apart around mid-May.
You can plant at ground level, but I've
heard some people use a bulb planter to dig a hole that
allows the plant a few inches of growth
before hitting the clear plastic that you'll
want to cover your seeds with.
When the plants are about 6 inches tall--
taller, if you planted them in a hole--
cut slits into the plastic to allow the plants to emerge.
Leave the plastic on the corn throughout the summer.
Be forewarned, clear plastic will also help your weeds grow.
Alternatively, start seeds indoors two to four weeks
before transplanting outside around May 15 to June 1
into a plastic mulch, preferably one that is infrared transmitting,
meaning that it warms up the soil while blocking the weeds.
Keep frost cloth handy if you plant closer to May 15th,
or cover the seedlings with additional clear plastic
supported by wire hoops until the corn outgrows it.
Don't plant just one row of corn.
Plant in a square or a block to improve cross pollination.
Corn needs a lot of water and a lot of fertilizer.
Drip irrigation or soaker hoses are the easiest way
to water plants under plastic mulch.
Watch your corn and note the date when about half
of the corn has tassled.
That's the half silk date.
They should be ready to harvest about two to three weeks
after the half silk date, if the moose don't get there first.
I won't waste my limited garden space on growing corn,
but if you want to, go right ahead
and be the envy of other Alaska gardeners.
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