How do you grow sweet corn? An old hand shares his growing experience

Yuan Guojun, a villager from Guanmiao Village, Yuanlaoxiang Township, Shangshui County, Henan Province, planted 3 mu of early spring corn this year. A single fresh young corn cob can sell for 1 yuan; a boiled one can sell for 1.5 yuan each. He reckons this is far more profitable than selling corn that ripens with the seasons.

Yuan Guojun is an old hand at farming, known to everyone as an “old hand”. A few years ago, Yuan Guojun discovered that boiled early spring fresh young corn was especially popular, and young corn sold in the cities in particular was in short supply; so Yuan Guojun began preparing the land, fertilizing, watering, deep plowing, and laying plastic film for sowing right after the Spring Festival. When the seedlings grew to ankle height, he built a plastic arch shelter over the corn seedlings to keep them warm. By the end of March, he also intercropped potatoes in the corn field under plastic film mulch. Entering late June, the early spring corn gradually developed young kernels, and it could be picked selectively for harvest. Yuan Guojun said: “Growing young corn has its own particular requirements. First, you must choose a plot with fertile soil and good water conditions; second, increase the planting density —— normally when growing corn, it is about 3500 plants per mu, while growing young corn requires about 5000 plants, because it is sold by the number of ears, and compared with selling by weight per mu, it can increase income by more than 2000 yuan per mu. The remaining corn stalks can also be sold, adding more than 300 yuan per mu.”

Led by Yuan Guojun, Guanmiao Village planted more than 200 mu of early spring corn, with more than 10 growing households, each increasing income by tens of thousands of yuan.