OPEN-POLLINATED SWEET CORN 

We specialize in heirloom vegetable, flower, and herb seeds. Look here for vegetables bred in a day when taste was the primary selecting criteria. This is the place to go if you want to grow the best tomatoes you ever tasted!
	Ashworth CORN, SWEET 28g seed, USDA Certified Organic Check Latest Price (yellow) 69 days. An early maturing, widely adapted sweet corn with good flavor and dependability. Stalks average 5' with 1 or 2 ears (6 to 7 in. long) containing 12 rows of yellow kernels per ear. Pkt ...
	Ashworth CORN, SWEET 114g seed, USDA Certified Organic Check Latest Price ...
	Black Mexican (Mexican Sweet, Black Iroquois) CORN, SWEET 28g seed Check Latest Price (white at edible stage) 76 days. [Introduced in 1864.] 'Black Mexican' is a time-honored New England sweet corn. Despite its name, it appears to have originated in upper New York State, and was probably derived from Iroquois "black puckers" sweet corn. 'Black Mexican' arose from a northern black ...
	Country Gentleman (Shoepeg) CORN, SWEET 28g seed, USDA Certified Organic Check Latest Price (white) 93 days. [Introduced in 1891 by Peter Henderson Co.] Ears 8 in. long with tightly packed, round kernels, arranged in irregular fashion instead of rows. The deep kernels are sweet, white, and milky. Remains in the milk stage longer than many other varieties. A favorite for freezing and ...
	Golden Bantam 8 Row CORN, SWEET 28g seed Check Latest Price (yellow) 78 days. [Introduced 1902 by Burpee. Originated in Massachusetts.] Five- to six-foot stalks can be planted more closely than other varieties. Ears 6-1/2 in. long with 8 rows of golden-yellow kernels. The milk stage is short, and the ears must be picked without delay. Pkt ...
	Stowell's Evergreen CORN, SWEET 28g seed Check Latest Price (white) 98 days. [Introduced by Thoburn and Co. in 1856.] 'Stowell's Everígreen' is one of the oldest white sweet corns tracing back to American Indian stock. It was developed by Nathan Stowell of New Jersey in 1848 as a cross between Menomony soft corn and northern sugar corn. Ears are large, ...
	Luther Hill CORN, SWEET 28g seed, USDA Certified Organic Check Latest Price 82 Days. [Developed in 1902 in Andover township, New Jersey by Rutgers Univ. horticulturist, Luther Hill.] Produces two 6" ears on 5-1/2' stalks with some suckers. 'Luther Hill' is a home garden variety of white sweet corn adapted to the Appalachian foothills. Can be grown as far north as southe ...
	Chires CORN, BABY 4g seed Check Latest Price (75 days) The fancy corn seen in Asian restaurants! Plants usually have 3-5 stalks, with 8-12 ears per stalk. Ears are 2-3” long; harvest soon after silks emerge (within 5 days) to stimulate more ears forming. Planting: same spacing as other corn. Easy to grow, as corn earworms don’t have time t ...
Which is better: open-pollinated sweet corn or hybrid sweet corn? The answer to this question depends on what is important to you. Old-fashioned, open-pollinated corn is not as uniform in size and maturity as hybrid corn, but uniformity is not necessarily an advantage for the home gardener who wants an extended harvest of table fresh corn. Hybrid corn tends to mature all at once which is an advantage primarily to farmers. The new supersweet and extrasweet hybrid corns are sugary sweet and hold their sweetness in storage, but they may have weak seedling vigor, are more susceptible to ear damage by insects, and the seeds rot readily in cool soil. Standard, open-pollinated sweet corn is still preferred by many gardeners because of its true corn flavor. It is a fact that when pigs, chickens, horses, and cows are given a choice between open-pollinated and hybrid corn the animals invariably prefer the old open-pollinated varieties, possibly because of the higher protein content. For good pollination and ear development open-pollinated corn should be planted in blocks at least 5 to 6 rows wide, whereas hybrid corn should be planted in blocks at least 4 rows wide. NOTE: If open-pollinated corn is new to you we suggest planting less than 1/4 lb. until you are familiar with its characteristics. CULTURE: Sweet corn seed requires a soil temperature of 65OF (18OC) 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. Succession plantings can then be made 2 to 3 weeks apart. Sow seed 1" deep in rows 24 to 36" apart and thin to 9 to 14" 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 to 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' 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 or 28 g (about 115 to 210 seeds, depending on variety, sows 30 to 45 feet.