How to Plant Sweet Corn in Florida

Choose a location that gets at least six to eight hours of sunlight per day. If you live on the beach, keep your garden as far from salt spray as possible.

Prepare the planting bed. Turn over the top 6 inches of soil to break up clots and aerate the ground. Drive a garden fork into the soil and pull back on the handle to lift a section of soil. Rake the area smooth.

Add 12-12-12 fertilizer to the planting bed prior to planting. Use 1 lb. of fertilizer for a 25-square-foot area. Work the fertilizer into the top 6 inches of the soil.

Make 1-inch-deep planting holes 8 to 10 inches apart. Drop one sweet corn seed into each hole and cover it with soil. Gently press down the soil with the flat of your hand. Corn is wind pollinated; plant the sweet corn in multiple short rows or clumps rather than a single long row to improve pollination.

Water after planting until the soil is damp to a depth of 1 inch. During Florida's growing season, water soil as soon as tjhe top 1/2 inch of soil begins to feel dry to the touch.

Weed the garden bed by hand. Sweet corn has a shallow root system and does not compete well with other plants.

Test the corn at harvest time. Sweet corn is ripe for harvest 70 to 90 days after planting the seeds. Test for ripeness by peeling back the husk on an ear of corn. Drive your finger nail into the kernel; a milky white sap emerges if it is ripe. Unripe corn emits a clear, watery liquid.

Break the ears off of the stalk by bending them backward until they snap free. Alternately, use a knife to sever the corn from the stalk.