Secrets to Successful Corn: Grow the Juiciest Cobs

Everybody loves sweet corn! Which is why it's so disheartening when there are gaps left gaping in our cobs' kernels, like unfulfilled hopes and dreams. It's sad. It's frustrating.

Thankfully, Ben is here to tell us what to do about it, so that we can have the corn of our dreams; full, juicy and oh-so-delicious!

For our other videos on growing corn, see Perfect Corn Every Time:

And Growing Sweetcorn from Sowing to Harvest:

If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
and many more...

[connieblack]

When I was a little girl, my grandmother let me run around in the corn patch... now I know why! 🤣

[theborderer]

I hand pollinate my sweetcorn. Living in the North of England you have to give it every chance! But I take a brown paper bag, put 2 or 3 tassels, still attached to the plants, into the bag, then agitate them. This way, the pollen falls into the bag. Then take a soft artist's brush, dampen the bristles, dip into the pollen in the bag, and stroke onto the silks. It's tedious, but every year I've had nearly 99% full cobs, so I can recommend it. This method has the added advantage that you can go back to tassels several times, which you can't do if you cut them off, and of course, you continue to get 'natural' pollen drop..

[DavidWhelbourn]

We are growing corn this year (Peaches and Cream) and practicing the "Three Sisters" approach. The corn is planted in a circle on a mound. Under the mound is a whole fish (herring in our case) and as the corn grows you plant some pole beans(that use the corn to climb up and put nitrogen in the soil) and finally a squash (that provides ground cover to keep off weeds). These three work in harmony. - Well we shall see this year. Last year we did the rows thing and had terrible pollination.

Great video thank you for your help.

[yuji]

I have 60 corn plants, planted in 5 blocks of 12 ( I am in Zone 7 in Oklahoma) 5-7 days apart. I put the corn transplants - I use toilet paper tubes for seed starters and a bulb planter to dig holes for the tubes to go right into the ground - and then the last two blocks are direct sowed seeds. This gives us several weeks of corn to enjoy, as long as I can beat the squirrels to them. :)

[downundervlogs]

We love wrapping ours in tin foil and putting on the barbie. Great tips of the pollinating process.

[ritzileclaire]

I planted 12 and then 29 starts of Temptress F1 sweet corn in Chicago zone 5b in succession. I have grown it before with varying degrees of success. In-ground planting did not thrive as much as indoor plant starts (I have a propagation station and grow room in an spare bedroom). The outdoor seed starts also did not do as well. This year I started everything indoors. I even used kernels from 2019 and every one sprouted in a mixture of potting soil and coco coir (I poured boiled water over the potting soil to kill fungus gnats prior to mixing with the coco fibre). I planted them approx 10” apart. I live in a suburb, and parents love pointing to the corn when they take their kids on walks - I grow on the south side of my house in a garden that’s 5’ wide by 100’ long. I always enjoy your videos. Thank you for all that you do.

[JHS]

I never handpollinated my corn but this year I will do it. I planted it in a bloc! The variety of my corn is Sweet Nugget. First time this variety.

[toniedalton]

I planted corn for the first time in years. But now I will go back and plant more now. It’s still been cool here so it will grow quickly. I like the Silver Queen corn. It’s so sweet.

[Wosiewose]

This year I decided to grow out some seed stock of Cascade Ruby-Gold flint (polenta) corn, so I started the seeds early on a wet paper towel in a plastic bag and planted the ones that sprouted (since the seed was 7 years old, I really didn't expect very many to germinate, but most of them did!) into a plug tray, later planting them out into the garden. The idea was to have at least a 4-week timing difference with my husband's Kandy Korn sweet corn, as both varieties are about 85 days and I didn't want the flint corn to cross-pollinate with and mess up the sweet corn. All went well at first, but a "freak" heavy snowstorm in late May (okay, not totally out of the blue, since this is Colorado's Front Range and we often get Mother's Day snowstorms) decimated the Ruby-Gold, leaving quite a few good-sized gaps among the 40-ish surviving plants. So I plan to hand-pollinate them when the time comes. Planted beans in the gaps so that the space wouldn't be wasted.

[fuubar]

Trying my hand at a three sisters garden and block planted [3 blocks of 15 corn each] of Damaun KS Super Sweet Corn. I got the seeds from Baker Creek and I'm very excited to see how this goes! Happy Growing!

[valoriegriego]

Hello Ben and cute little Rosie!👋 I've been growing corn successfully for years and yet I learned something new from you today. Thanks!🙂
This year I'm just growing popcorn. I usually grow sweet corn too.
I'm growing Mini Blue and Japanese Hullless popcorn.
In our long growing season I'm blessed in that I can do 3 plantings of corn.
I'm already looking forward to next week's video.😀

[billyblunt]

First year of growing sweetcorn so this is a bit of a godsend. Growing Lark F1 as it seems a bit of a balanced grow.

[vicmazzaro]

I’m learning something from you everyday yes I’m growing corn and plant 3 rows with about15 stalks in each row. But in the past I would only get half ears. I would take the top and put some of them on the silks. Now I will try your suggestion and let you know what happens. My corn is about waist high now. I’m 76 years old and still thanks to you still learning. Thanks again

[zopi]

I am growing Silver Queen here in Northern New Mexico. This is my first attempt at corn. We have had a good monsoon season for a change as we are in a megadrought situation. Thank you for the pollination tips! I will definitely use them.

[Dan-bcnx]

I’m growing three corns this year, hopefully one of them will be good this year

[GarryRobertson]

Here on the west coast of British Columbia, Vancouver area - zone 8a, we are growing some Pink Popcorn (CN365). Growing it to dry on the cob then use for popcorn. First time with this variety.

[lizzroberts]

Hi Ben! Here in the northwest corner of Washington State, zone 8b, I’m growing a container style corn called On Deck Hybrid in a 24” diameter canvas grow bag. I can remember my dad pollinating his corn in just the same ways you suggested! I’ve been doing it, too. Thanks for bringing back great memories of my dad and for the info on how temperature affects pollination - learning something new every day! ♥️♥️♥️

[cathywelch]

I'm growing sweet corn for the first time this year. The name of it is Silver Queen. I used to eat it all the time when I lived in Virginia. I'm in Illinois now so wish me luck! This video was very helpful as your videos always are! Thank you!

[madgalactic]

I live in a very warm climate (coastal South Carolina, US) and we've been growing corn for 3 or 4 years (just a personal patch for 2, maybe 20 or 30 stalks). We did know to hand pollinate but did not know each silk needs to be pollinated for each kernal! Also, I was doing it wrong. I was kind of tapping on the tassels but not the stalk, and not using an entire tassel to wipe on the silks. We do often have spaces missing. We just got our tassels this year and are waiting on our silks! Thank you! Will try this! We love Silver Queen and are also trying Bantam this year.

[LiftingPhysicist]

We're growing glass gem corn! This video was very helpful; we didn't know any of this!