The corn that I planted earlier in the year, and wrote about in Corn Planting 2013, never sprouted. We think the issue was bad seed, as it was a couple of years old. We decided to buy new seed and replant with that. I did a few things differently this time, so wanted to do an updated post. I do not, however, think that any of the things I changed had been the cause of the other seed not sprouting.
The prep work was the same as before. I mowed the area, but did not do any tilling. I also did not apply any compost or manure, which I'm sure would have provided better results if we had either available.
Like before I dug four shallow trenches, using a Warren Hoe. I then poured undiluted urine along the bottom of each trench. I wasn't very exact with the urine application, but applied between eighteen and twenty-four ounces per ten foot row. Since we have plenty of seed, and since we had problems before, I went ahead and spaced the seed six inches instead of twelve. I'll go back once it sprouts and thin out the weakest plants. Before covering the seed I applied a small amount of bone meal between the seeds. I was very inconsistent with this, and can't even make a guess as to how much I applied. In hindsight I should have taken some sort of measuring device with me to use for this.
After covering the seed and watering I decided to go ahead and apply mulch. We had a terrible problem with weeds before, which made it difficult to tell if any of the corn was sprouting or not. We put down cardboard between the rows, which I hope will keep that area relatively weed free. I then mulched the rows themselves with straw.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have better luck this time. I doubt that we'll try again if it doesn't take this time, since its getting late in the year.
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