If you grow a pumpkin underneath your corn then now's a good time to shovel on some extra compost, or add fertilizer. Both these plants really like lots of fertilizer.
Last edited on 17 Sep 2026. View history
Corn
How to sow corn: Direct seed outdoors
Sun requirement for corn: Plant in Full Sun
Corn is a large grain plant, or tall grass, first domesticated about 10,000 years ago by indigenous peoples in Southern Mexico. The leafy stalk produces ears after pollination. Depending on the variety, the corn can be eaten fresh, or dried and ground into cornmeal.
- 44
- plantings
- 11
- harvests
- 8
- seed packets
Corn facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
290cm × 60cmRow Spacing
76cmGrown for
other harvested 6 timesCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For corn, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 10°C and a shortest growing cycle of 65 days at its best temperature, about 1008 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your corn will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing corn
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before sowing
- Water regularly at sowing every week
- Thin the seedlings 2 weeks after sowing
- Weed between the plants 3 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Mulch and hill soil round the stems 4 weeks after sowing
- Feed with a nitrogen fertiliser 5 weeks after sowing
- Pick the cobs at first harvest
- Pull out the stalks 2 weeks after first harvest
How members grow corn
Sunniness
Planted from
Harvested for
Varieties of corn
bloody butcher corn
early gem corn
golden bantam corn
heritage bi colour corn
Hokianga red and yellow corn
kāanga mā corn
Manaia maize
popcorn
corn popping mini black
strawberry popping corn
rainbow Inca corn
silver platinum corn
sweetcorn
Plant corn with
Photos
Corn crops
Corn plantings
Corn harvests
Corn seeds
Video
Where corn grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about corn
How to save seeds
by shiny,
Beans, peas and corn: remove husks and allow seeds to dry out – this may take a couple of weeks, then remove casings and store.
Pumpkins and melons: seeds need to be washed and set aside to dry for a week or so before …
beans
peas
corn
pumpkins
melons
lettuces
celery
parsnips
carrots
leeks
onions
radicchio
cucumbers
tomatoes
zucchini
capsica
Read more
Who's planted corn
- shiny Aro Valley · Wellington, NZ
- johnmc Eastern patch · Cranbourne North, Vic
- CloCkWeRX 08 - Rosewater Backyard Right · Rosewater, South...
- Sandman3582 Back Yard
- llemar97 Hide House Community Garden · Milwaukee, WI
Corn harvests
-
CloCkWeRX harvested 2, weighing 0.3 kg.
almost 3 years ago
-
CloCkWeRX harvested 4, weighing 0.5 kg.
almost 3 years ago
-
Batchelor harvested 2 .
over 6 years ago
Find corn seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Nutritional data
A summary of nutritional data per 100g for Corn, fresh on cob, raw.
| Energy | 366.0 kJ |
|---|---|
| Protein | 3.6 g |
| Fat, total | 1.8 g |
| Carbohydrate | 12.5 g |
| - Sugars | 5.4 g |
| Fibre | 3.8 g |
| Sodium | 19.0 mg |
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Zea mays L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Commelinidae Cyperales Gramineae |
|---|---|
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
Learn more about corn
Resources outside Growstuff.