How to Grow Taller Corn

Corn is native to Central America and Mexico, but its appeal as a food source helped it spread to most parts of the world. It's an amazingly varied plant in kernel color and size -- corn kernels can be blue, pink, yellow, red or white and sizes range from a petite 4 feet to a robust 9 feet. If you want to grow the taller corn plants, select the right seeds and provide optimum growing conditions.

Seeds
Compost
Mulch
Fertilizer (fish-based or blood meal)

Instructions

- 1
  Choose a seed variety that produces taller corn. A hybrid sweet corn like Luscious F-1 or Brocade F-1 grows 7 to 8 feet and a traditional Wachichu flint corn can reach 9 feet.
- 2
  Match the variety to your growing season. If you live in a northern climate, you can count on 75 days of sun to ripen a Brocade F-1, but the Wachichu flint should be saved for southern climates with 100 or more warm days per year.
- 3
  Provide corn plants with the correct spacing; plants that are too crowded get stunted and plants spaced too far apart have a lower pollination rate. Follow the seed packet's recommendations.
- 4
  Enrich your soil. Gardeners refer to corn as a 'heavy feeder,' meaning it needs all the nutrients you can provide. Before planting, cover the soil with an inch of compost and when the stalks reach 6 inches (and again around 2 feet). Then side-dress them with diluted fish-based fertilizer or blood meal.
- 5
  Control weeds. Corn can't compete with them; for the first month of growth, cultivate regularly. After that, apply a thick layer of mulch -- like straw or woodchips -- to control weeds yet leave the plant's shallow roots undisturbed.

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