- Oh my gosh.

Yeah, this is not going to make it to the inside the kitchen.

All right, today we are planting some corn.

The first mistake that people do when they plant corn is they put it in shade.

Number one, corn needs all the sun.

Second mistake that people make is they'll only plant one row of corn.

The way corn pollinates and you're able to get those juicy kernels is it has to have from the tassel, all that pollen needs to fall down on the silks.

So you want to pack corn in at least two rows, ideally two to three, four rows.

The tighter it is, the more success you're going to have with corn.

Now the next thing that people like to do is overseed.

Corn needs to be spaced between, when I seed, about five, six inches.

When it comes up, I will actually pull one of those out to give each corn stock about a foot apart.

So I'm going to put a row here.

I'm going to put a row here.

I'm going to leave this center open just because it won't get water, but I'll draw my, I use my stick to make my line.

Get it nice and deep.

With corn, you want to get it about an inch in the ground.

The cool thing about corn, and what I like to do is succession plant.

So once I get one row of corn going in June, I'll plant another row of corn in about three weeks and then I'll keep planting.

Another very important thing to do when you plant corn is don't mix your varieties.

This is the one time you don't want to try, like you do with tomatoes, five different kinds of tomatoes.

With corn, you want to stick with, the week that you plant, the same seed.

If you use and mix different corn, say an ambrosia with a super sweet, it will cross pollinate and it won't taste good.

So I plant my corn about an inch deep.

And when you water, you want to water real deep for the first five to seven days.

In the summertime, when it's nice and hot, it's going to pop up a lot faster than it does in the springtime.

So about five to seven days, we're going to see this corn come up and then I'm going to back off my watering.

All right, our corn is growing and now it's time to fertilize.

Yes, fertilize.

Corn is a heavy feeder.

It needs a lot of nitrogen.

It's part of the grass family.

And to get those beautiful, beautiful, delicious ears of corn, you need to make sure you feed it.

But there's a certain window of time that I like to feed it.

And I learned this from an old farmer long ago.

I've been doing it for about 17 to 20 years, and I've always had successful corn.

So see how high this corn is?

The right time to fertilize is about 12 to 18 inches or right when it about hits your calf to your knee.

Now here's the key.

Nitrogen comes in all sorts of forms.

In Utah, it's really hard to get nitrogen to stay in the ground because we don't have a lot of rainfall.

What we do have is a lot of potassium and phosphorus.

At least my soil does.

If you don't know what your soil has, please get yourself a soil test.

It's a huge benefit to understand what needs fertilizer and what does not.

So with my corn, I'm going to give it straight nitrogen.

Now, nitrogen is the top nutrient a plant needs to grow.

It's what makes it big, green and luscious, right?

With nitrogen, it can come as a soluble or a non-soluble.

What we want for corn, because we're trying to shoot it up and get it excited right away, is we need soluble.

That means it's going to get that nutrient right fast, okay?

Think of it as that shot of caffeine that you need in the morning.

But you know, on a fertilizer package how it has three numbers on it?

Those numbers represent NPK, your macronutrients that you're going to get for your plant.

Now, with nitrogen, I like it to be at 20%.

If you are an organic grower, which sometimes I am and sometimes I'm not, today I'm not going to be.

But if you're an organic grower, I highly recommend a fish emulsion or something that is fast.

Make sure it's soluble.

Now, fish emulsion, generally I see it come in as a five, one, one, nitrogen being at 5%.

We want that number to be 20%.

So what are you going to do?

Just like in any kind of recipe, you're going to four times it, okay?

So for me, because my soil is so high in potassium and phosphorus, I don't like to use fish emulsion because I'm not trying to add any more potassium or phosphorus into it.

So I actually use urea.

It doesn't have any salt in it.

Yes, it is a conventional type of fertilizer.

But I prefer that instead of adding more nutrients that can actually hurt my soil than help it.

But just make sure that when you apply your nitrogen, whatever form it is in, that you are side dressing it, you're not putting it directly on the plant.

The best time to do this is either really early in the morning or at night.

And then you're going to water it in deeply because nitrogen, it's hot and it will burn your plant.

Okay, so for me, I like just to do a first water and then I'm going to get the sprinkler on it.

So if you've ever had short corn or you see the kernels and they're not fully developed, that's partially because of pollination.

And another part is of nitrogen.

So after I fertilize, these plants have grown, they got well watered, and here we are, time to harvest.

I'm going to find my good guy right here.

These ones are a little older than I like, but what you're looking for is the corn is showing dried silk.

See how it's kind of like crusty.

I also kind of like to feel on the edges just to make sure that I'm feeling the bumps of corn and making sure that it's full.

I might even just take a little peek.

Just a little.

Oh yes.

This is ready to go.

It's going to be so good and delicious.

So now it's time to break it off.

Look at this corn.

Look how beautiful and delicious that's going to be for dinner tonight.

Or if you're like me, truly, there's nothing better than fresh corn.

I hope you get to grow some fresh corn this year.

It's so good.

And until then, we'll see you next time.