How to Grow Sweet Corn: The Latest Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial
Fruit corn is a type of sweet corn suitable for eating raw. Compared with ordinary sweet corn, its main characteristics are thin skin, abundant juice, crisp texture and sweetness. It can be eaten directly raw or cooked, and is suitable for fresh consumption as well as processing into quick-frozen or vacuum-packed products. In addition, besides the edible ear, the stems and leaves of fruit corn are high-quality feed for livestock, so it has great development potential. Growing fruit corn can achieve an output value of about 3000 yuan per mu, which can adjust the agricultural planting structure and increase farmers' economic returns. However, it is highly technical. Through fruit corn cultivation in recent years, our farm has summarized the following fruit corn cultivation techniques.
Variety Selection
Fruit corn is mainly marketed as a fruit or vegetable for fresh consumption using its young tender ears, or used for canned products. It is advisable to choose varieties with strong adaptability, uniform ears, good quality and high purity, and to pay attention to matching early, mid-season and late-maturing varieties so as to provide a continuous supply of raw material to the market and processing plants. Choosing excellent varieties is crucial and has a great effect on crop yield and marketability. For example, Lima No. 1, Lima No. 2, etc.; these varieties have high sweetness and good quality and can all be planted.
Sowing Preparation
1. Isolation conditions
The sweetness of fruit corn is controlled by recessive genes. If it cross-pollinates with ordinary corn or different types of sweet corn, xenia will occur, turning it into ordinary corn, losing its sweetness and affecting quality. Therefore, fruit corn must be planted in isolation from other corn varieties. Isolation methods include spatial isolation, temporal isolation and barrier isolation. Generally, the spatial isolation distance is 300 m. For temporal isolation, sowing is generally staggered by more than 20 days. Villages, woods, hills and other barriers can also be used for isolation, but spatial isolation is best.
2. Land selection and preparation
Choose flat land with uniform soil fertility and good irrigation conditions, of medium to high fertility. Before sowing, water thoroughly to build up soil moisture; one week later, carry out fine rotary tillage and level the land so that the surface is flat and fine, with no exposed stubble and no raised clods, so as to facilitate smooth seedling emergence.
3. Apply sufficient base fertilizer
When plowing, evenly broadcast 50 kg of organic compound fertilizer and 40 kg of urea per mu, but be careful to keep seed and fertilizer separated.
4. Lay plastic film
Where conditions permit, film-mulched planting can be carried out. In places with dry springs, little rain and much wind, and with rainfall concentrated in July-September, film-mulched planting gives relatively good economic returns. This is because film mulching can both raise soil temperature and allow earlier sowing so that the product reaches the market sooner, and also prevent water evaporation, maintain soil moisture and reduce production costs. Plastic film can be laid manually or with a film-laying machine. Generally, the belt spacing is 100 cm, the ridge width is 80 cm, and the ridge height is 15 cm. The film should be pulled straight and tight and laid flat, with the edges covered firmly with soil. Every 2 m, press a windbreak strip of soil to prevent it from being blown up by the wind.
5. Seed selection
Before sowing, sun the seeds on a sunny day for 1-2 days to improve the germination rate and germination vigor, then carefully select them, removing mixed and damaged grains, and strictly preventing other seeds from being mixed in. If ordinary corn is mixed in, and the ordinary corn has strong growth and a large amount of pollen, after cross-pollination the quality of the fruit corn will decline greatly and it may even be impossible to sell it as fruit corn.
Timely Sowing
In order to improve economic returns, it should be brought to market during the off-season for vegetables as much as possible. In this way, determining the sowing date according to market demand and climatic conditions is particularly important. Generally, sowing can begin when the average surface temperature is stable at 13°C and the 5 cm soil temperature reaches above 11°C. The speed of fruit corn germination is also closely related to soil moisture. When the temperature is constant, within the optimal moisture range, germination is faster when there is more soil moisture.
If film-mulched planting is used, plant 2 rows per ridge, with a plant spacing of 35-40 cm and 3500-4000 plants per mu; for open-field planting, keep about 4000 plants per mu, ensuring complete and uniform seedlings and rational close planting. Because its seed coat is wrinkled, its starch content is low and its ability to push through the soil is weak, use manual dibbling or mechanical sowing, sowing 3-4 seeds per hole at a depth of 4-5 cm. Fruit corn is mainly sold as fresh ears or used for canning. When planting, sow in batches and stages so that fresh ears reach the market in early, mid and late batches, or reasonably arrange the sowing time according to the processing capacity of the factory and the required amount in different periods, ultimately obtaining relatively high economic returns.