How to Grow Sweet Corn
Corn is a warm-season annual that is best planted after the soil temperature reaches 60°F, usually two or three weeks after the last frost in spring. Corn planted in cold, wet soil is unlikely to germinate. Corn grows best in air temperatures from 60° to 95°F. Corn can take from 60 to 100 days to reach harvest depending upon variety and the amount of heat during the growing season. Description. Corn is a tender annual and a member of the grass family that can grow from 4 to12 feet tall. One to two ears of corn form on the side of each tall, green, grass-like stalk. Flowering tassels form at the top of each stalk; pollen falls from the tassels onto silky threads growing from each ear below. Each silk is connected to an unfertilized kernel. Each ear of corn forms as many kernels as the number of silks that were pollinated. (Tassels are the male flowers of the corn plant. Kernels and ears are the female flowers.) Kernels of sweet corn can be yellow, white, black, r...