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| I'm going to grow a block of corn this year for the first time... basically just going to till a big swath of my lawn and transplant seedlings. I'd like to mulch around the plants with something beneficial to them, and I'm curious as to what some of your recommendations might be. I was initially thinking a cover crop of clover might be just the thing, but I'm also wondering if i could just use some of the copious amount of grass clippings I generate every week. Both would appear to have a nitrogen benefit... but my question would be whether the benefit will occur prior to the mulch being tilled in at the end of the season. Which would of course mean they do nothing for my corn this season. Thoughts? Suggestions? How would you go about fertilizing (organically, please) a new plot of corn? |
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| Before planting corn I fertilize heavily with a locally-produced organic poultry manure fertilizer (5-4-3). First I incorporate a standard application into the wide bed. Then I make parallel trenches for a double row, put more fert in the bottom of the trenches, and refill and plant seeds. A soaker hose goes down the middle. I hand weed until the corn is a foot tall, then start using grass clippings to mulch the outside edges of the double row. I usually get two layers of grass clippings on before moving elsewhere with my mulch. The middle of the double row is left naked so I can throw more organic fertilizer down every couple of weeks. The corn shades those row middles, so topdressing with organic fertilizer before rains keeps the plants adequately fed. If it doesn't rain, I can water the bed with the soaker hose and use a homemade liquid fertilizer preparation. I plant one double row each of early and midseason corn. With the early corn, cutting off the spent stalks makes it possible to use the rich middle of the unrenovated bed for great fall spinach, kale and other greens, which use up any excess N left from all that fertilizer. |
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- Posted by creativeguy Zone 6 Connecticut (My Page) on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 8:56
| You are right in my wheelhouse with that regimen,planatus. I live next door to a chicken farmer. Thanks for the tips. |
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