Content
Planting corn seedlings is a profitable and interesting activity. It is especially pleasant when the result pleases with the early harvest of juicy, young ears. Two and a half months are enough for milk heads to form from the seeds of hybrid varieties. And early planting of seeds in the cells will make it possible to enjoy the taste of boiled corn a month earlier.
Timing for planting corn seedlings
Growing corn in seedlings is practiced if you want to harvest an early harvest. Compared to planting seeds, planting seedlings shortens the interval before harvesting the first ears.
Seedlings begin to be sown in specially selected containers in the last ten days of April. It is worth noting that properly prepared seeds give good germination. They begin to plant corn seedlings in the ground when the temperature stabilizes and in a thickness of 10 cm it is not lower than +12 oC.
Sowing seeds in greenhouses under film without additional heating is carried out in early April: the grains are planted 3 cm deep. You can speed up the harvest by soaking the seeds before planting.
Soil preparation and selection
The choice of soil must be taken seriously. In order for the plant to fully grow and develop, the grains should be planted in a mixture of turf and humus.
Before planting corn, it is important to carefully consider the location of sowing the seeds so that transferring them to a permanent location does not prove detrimental to the seedlings. When choosing soil, acidity does not play a decisive role: the emphasis is on the looseness of the soil. You can improve the quality of the land yourself.
Humus is used as a leavening agent. To ensure air circulation and unhindered flow of water to the root system, it is recommended to add peat and coconut shavings to the soil mixture.
Selection of capacity
To plant corn seedlings, special-purpose containers with many sections are used.
Damage to the root does not have the best effect on the further growth of the plant, so the grains are planted in peat cups or humus-earth bags. Thus, a non-picking, non-traumatic method of planting seedlings is used.
It is important not to disturb the corn root, so it is recommended to plant it in the most convenient containers. These can be small containers divided into cells, cut-off plastic bottles, cardboard milk cartons, and plastic glasses.
Preparing corn seeds for planting
Before you start growing corn at home from seeds, you should pay attention to their caliber. To get an excellent harvest, large, ripe, whole grains are selected for sowing. If you plan to plant large plantations, the seed material can be soaked in salt water. This test allows you to discard useless grains that float to the surface.
It is also necessary to ensure that the plant is not exposed to fungal infection. Before planting the seeds in the ground, pre-treatment with a saturated solution of manganese will be required, which will protect the seedlings (a quarter of an hour is enough).
Corn seeds that have passed the test are wrapped in burlap or fabric that allows air and moisture to pass through. If the volumes are small, then a layer of cotton wool or cosmetic cotton pads will do. In order for the seeds to swell, it is enough to keep them in a humid environment for up to 12 hours. You can improve the taste of the cobs by soaking the corn in an ash solution (2 tablespoons per 1 liter).
It is worth noting that sowing corn seedlings after heating the grain for a couple of days in the sun guarantees good germination.
Planting corn seedlings in various ways
The choice of how to plant is made depending on volumes and preferences.
Through trial and error, farmers came to the conclusion that growing corn from seedlings should be done using one of the methods suggested in the video and in the descriptions:
Into nutrient soil
In order to plant sprouts in nutrient soil, follow the steps:
- Sprouted corn grains (3 pieces) are placed in one pot, to a depth of 4 cm.
- The surface of the earth is leveled.
- The soil is irrigated using a sprayer.
- It is recommended to thin out seedlings when three true leaves appear.
Into the sawdust
If you plant seeds using the second method, it is recommended to use a wide tray. Sawdust soaked in water is placed in it.
Algorithm of actions on how to plant and grow corn:
- Deepenings are made in the tyrsa and seeds are planted to a depth of 3–4 cm.
- When the first shoots appear, add a layer of loose, saturated soil.
- Move to a lighted room where the temperature is maintained at 18 - 20 o
- To maintain sufficient humidity, the sawdust is irrigated with a spray bottle every 3 to 4 days.Important! Do not allow the sawdust to become waterlogged, otherwise the seeds may rot.
- After the seedlings have germinated by 3-4 cm within a week, they can be moved to good light conditions, for example, in a greenhouse without heating. Over the next 2 weeks, they are watered and fed with complex herbal preparations.
- Seedlings 10–13 cm tall are planted in open soil.
If sawdust is present, the process does not require energy and gives excellent results.
Into the snail
Corn can be planted as seedlings in a snail. This is a creative method that has been tested by many summer residents and pleases with good seedlings:
- A kitchen towel is laid out on a flat surface.
- The second layer is a plastic bag, slightly smaller in width than the fabric.
- The third layer is toilet paper.
- The paper tape is generously moistened with water from a spray bottle.
- Place corn kernels at a distance of 10 cm from each other.
- The polyethylene is rolled up to form a snail.
- The resulting structure is lowered into a container of water.
- Corn sprouts can be planted in open ground.
You can learn more about the method of growing corn seedlings without soil in the video:
Caring for corn seedlings
To get strong shoots and subsequently an excellent harvest, you need to work a little. Growing corn through seedlings at home requires compliance with certain requirements.
Lighting
Corn seedlings are photosensitive. If you do not provide sufficient lighting, they will begin to stretch, lose their strength and subsequently lose their ability to resist the action of the wind. The fact that there is not enough light can be seen directly from the corn seedlings - the leaves turn yellow and lose their vitality. The lack of adequate light causes the plant to wither and become pale. To grow corn from seedlings at home, it is advisable to add lighting using a fluorescent lamp at the beginning of growth.
Ventilation
In order to avoid stress when growing corn seedlings, it should be gradually accustomed to the ambient temperature. Ventilation is carried out starting from 5 minutes, gradually increasing the time to 15 - 20 minutes.
Temperature
The most comfortable temperature for growing is considered to be 20 – 24 oC. Under such conditions, the trunk grows strong and tall. And this, in turn, will contribute to the full development of the root system.
Watering
Corn is considered a drought-resistant crop. Consequently, it can do without moisture for a long time, but the full development of the plant to obtain a harvest will be ensured by watering at the stages of emergence, throwing out panicles, and forming cobs.
Each person must determine for himself how many times to water the seedlings. It depends on the temperature and humidity.
Top dressing
During the period of rapid seedling growth, seedlings are fertilized twice with Terraflex or Polyfide. Kemira Hydro or Master fertilizers are allowed to be used. How many times to saturate the soil depends on the condition of the plant. Water-soluble fertilizers can be applied as early as a week after sowing. They should include up to 30% nitrogen. If corn seedlings are planted in conditions with unstable temperatures and periods of cold, then the plant should be fed with phosphorus in order to prevent its growth from stopping.
Diseases of corn seedlings
If at some stage you disrupt the technique of growing corn seedlings from grains, you can create all the conditions for the appearance of common seedling diseases:
- Fusarium: a fungus that attacks the stem, seedlings and cob. A grayish-ashy coating is detrimental to plants, therefore, it is worth paying serious attention to the pre-sowing treatment of planting material and observing crop rotation.
- Stem and rhizome rot: grows intensively throughout the plant and is explained by the creation of too humid conditions (high rainfall, excessive watering, swampy soil). The outcome of the disease is the death of the culture. To solve the problem, the approach must be comprehensive (use of fungicides, crop rotation, limited watering).
- Rust: practically untreatable. The fungus infects the plant and leaves no chance of saving the crop. Usually such seedlings are burned to prevent the spread of the disease.
- Dusty smut: is widespread.It affects the plant completely, stopping the growth of the plant and destroying most of the crop.
Most diseases lead to irreversible processes, which is why the issue of crop rotation and seed preparation should be taken seriously. It is necessary to plant corn grains only after pre-treatment.
When and how to plant corn seedlings in open ground
Corn seedlings begin to be planted in open ground when the danger of return frosts has passed. The soil should be warm and the seedlings should be strong, with three good, strong leaves (25 days from the date of sowing). At this stage, the root system of the seedlings is well developed and has every chance of successfully taking root in its permanent place.
In the photo of picking corn seedlings when moving them to a permanent place of residence, you can see that they try to preserve the earthen food and prevent it from crumbling in order to protect the roots during transplantation.
Before planting corn at home, final preparatory work is carried out: a sunnier place with light soil is determined, fertilizing is applied and holes are prepared for planting. For complete pollination and fruiting, it is recommended to plant seedlings in at least 5-6 rows, maintaining a distance between seedlings of up to 40 cm, and between rows of up to 60 cm. Since there is more than enough free space, you can plant melons in the area between plantings.
After the seedlings are planted, they must be well watered and covered with a layer of mulch. If we are not talking about hectares of plantings, the plants can be covered with cut plastic bottles until the weather stabilizes.
Conclusion
Planting corn seedlings, following all the recommendations of experienced agronomists, is not difficult, and the result will certainly please you with the early ears of aromatic corn.You should not ignore all the preparatory activities, since the final result can depend on the little things.
