How to Plant an Acre of Corn

Prepare the Soil

• 1

  Take a soil sample of your cornfield for testing. Corn requires extremely fertile soil in order to grow and produce a crop.

• 2

  Fertilize the planting area according to the recommendations made by the soil-testing lab. Spread the fertilizer evenly.

• 3

  Till the soil with a rotary tiller. The tiller can be a walk-behind model or tractor-mounted, and can be rented if you do not own one. Till the area so it is level and smooth with no bumps, mounds or clumps of plant material. This will ensure your seeder will work properly.

Seed Amount and Spacing

• 4

  Calculate the amount of seed you need. Divide the plants per acre by the number of seeds per pound. Plan for 17,000 to 25,000 corn plants. The number of seeds per pound can vary from 150 seeds for some field corn varieties to more than 3,000 for sugary-enhanced (se) sweet corn.

• 5

  Mark out straight rows in the corn plot. Start at one corner and measure two feet or so in from edge. Drive a stake into the ground at that point. Do the same at the other end of the plot. Draw a straight line in the soil from stake to stake to mark the first row.

• 6

  Adjust your push-type seeder to drop seeds 8 to 10 inches apart. Adjust the planting depth setting to 2 inches for field corn, or 3/4 to 1 inch for sweet corn.

Sow Corn Seeds

• 7

  Measure the soil temperature with a thermometer. Plant field corn when the soil temperature is above 50 F, usually in late April to early May. Plant sweet corn when the soil temperature is above 60 F, usually about mid-May.

• 8

  Fill the hopper on your seeder with seed corn. Place your seeder at the first stake. Adjust the row marker on your seeder to 38 inches to mark the next row. Push the seeder forward to the opposite stake following the line you made in the soil.

• 9

  Continue seeding each row following the line drawn in the soil by the seeder's row marker until the plot is planted.