Key Points of Fruit Corn Planting and Management Techniques
How to plant and manage fruit corn? A detailed introduction. 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. There is no essential difference between fruit corn and sweet corn; ordinary sweet...
How to plant and manage fruit corn? A detailed introduction
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. There is no essential difference between fruit corn and sweet corn; ordinary sweet corn can all be eaten raw, only the taste varies in quality, and those with good taste are regarded by people as fruit corn. Therefore, there is no dedicated fruit corn variety for cultivation. The cultivation techniques for fruit corn are similar to those for sweet corn, and generally the following points should be well handled:
Sowing in stages: To prevent cross-pollination from lowering quality, fruit corn should be planted in isolation from other types of corn. Isolation can be achieved by planting distance (more than 300 m), flowering period (more than 30 days), or by using barriers such as hills, forests and buildings. Fruit corn has a short harvest period and is difficult to keep fresh, so sowing in stages can achieve harvesting and marketing in batches. Generally, sowing can be done from late March to early August. In early spring, if heat preservation facilities are available, sowing can be appropriately advanced, but sowing between late May and mid-June should be avoided. Corn sown in this period has its flowering and pollination period falling in the summer drought weather of July-August, which easily causes bald tips, missing kernels or empty stalks in the plants.
Sprout promotion before sowing: It is advisable to choose sandy loam fields with relatively high fertility and sufficient fertilizer and water for cultivating fruit corn, and the land should be finely prepared before sowing. Fruit corn seeds are shriveled, with small endosperm, low germination and emergence rates, and weak seedling vigor. To strive for uniform, complete and strong seedlings, whether direct sowing or seedling raising and transplanting, it is best to carry out sprout promotion before sowing.
Scientific fertilization: Fruit corn has flat leaves and a loose plant type, and the planting density should preferably be 3500-4000 plants per mu. In fertilization, base fertilizer should be applied appropriately, seedling fertilizer applied early, ear fertilizer applied heavily, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium applied in combination, and increased application of organic fertilizer is advocated. For fields of medium fertility, the total amount of chemical fertilizer should be controlled at about 15 kg of pure nitrogen, 6 kg of phosphorus (phosphorus pentoxide) and 6 kg of potassium (potassium oxide).
Fine management: Fruit corn has weak growth in the seedling stage and is prone to pest damage in the later stage, so field management work should be done promptly. After emergence, check the seedlings and fill gaps promptly, and remove weeds. In the seedling and middle stages, tillers and excess small ears should be removed. In the middle and late stages, pests such as corn borers should be well controlled. The harvest period of fruit corn is about 3 days earlier than that of ordinary sweet corn. About 20 days after pollination, the optimal harvest period can be grasped promptly based on the color of the silks and field tasting.
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