advice on growing corn

[beammeup]

Hi I am trying to grow some organic corn for personal use. I tested the soil and found the PH level to be at 5.0 -5.2 a little too acidic? I have no idea what the other minerals are, can someone give me an idea what fertilizer to use. I live in the south near the east coast (500m). I will likely lime the soil slightly. Should I plant at the end of the rainy season or in th middle?

[loong]

I would have thought that PH just over 5 would be almost perfect.

I understand that more acid soils, below say 4.5 can bind the phosporous in chemical fertilisers to the soil to make it less available to the plant. But if you are growing organically, this shouldn't be an issue.

You could contact Isaan Aussie about his organic fertiliser.

I haven't grown much corn (I'm assuming that you mean as in "corn on the cob") and it does better during dry season and early rainy season

[IsaanAussie]

The numbers on pH for corn seem to vary with the type but it appears between 5.5 and 7 is acceptable. The ideal conditions for organics is a pH between 6.3 and 6.8 at which soil biology is at its most active. The good thing about organic material compost is it will tend to move to that range as it matures. My compost is in the top end of that range 6.5 to 6.8.

Liming is a general term and you can get get three different forms here at most ag. suppliers. Agricultural lime which yields the calcium needed only. Or gypsum will feed sulphur as well and dolomite will give the manganese and most other trace elements. Personally I use more dolomite than the others.

However I do not use any form of liming to just adjust pH. What the soil needs is organic matter. If sandy it helps hold moisture, if clay it helps break it up and give drainage. To me "now" is the time to work whatever organic materials you can get into the soil and wait for the rain to help break it down. The moisture content will be higher and decomposition faster, add some EMA to boost the microbe population.

Test the pH level again before you plant. Corn is thirsty and hungry, for your area go talk to the agricultural extension officers in you local area for planting dates. They will possibly be able to give you their recommended NPK crop requirements and then you can work out what fertiliser regime you will need.

How much corn are you going to grow?

[beammeup]

I am only planting around 2-300 plants. I have tilled an area about 10 square meters, lots of roots from surrounding trees, I used a hoe, a lot of work my back is still sore. I sprinkled some ag lime, about 5 kg. I am planting dent corn a heirloom variety. I will wait about 6 weeks before I ad fertilizer and plant the seeds. I'd like to use some organic fertilizer but don't know what I'll find around here.

[tingtong]

10 m2 and 5 kg lime?

that equals to 800kg/rai....sound a lot to me.

also, the density seem to be bit of the high end.

but i guess that is organic agri in its best

i have about the same amount of corn spread around on maybe 20m2. no scientific planning, but organic, as that what they have for fertiliser only.

mixed success due to hungry ants.

[loong]

10 m2 and 5 kg lime?

that equals to 800kg/rai....sound a lot to me.

also, the density seem to be bit of the high end.

but i guess that is organic agri in its best

i have about the same amount of corn spread around on maybe 20m2. no scientific planning, but organic, as that what they have for fertiliser only.

mixed success due to hungry ants.

Maybe Beammeup meant 10 metres square instead of 10 square metres?

That amount of plants in such a small area would only allow 20cm spacing, and I am sure that is not enough

[beammeup]

Sorry slight miscalculation, 75 plants 2 x 5 meters 20cm spacing 3 rows. I used about 0.5 kg of lime per m2. Just a sprinkle like icing sugar on a cake. This seems to be the general consensus on the internet for quantity of lime. Its hard to get info which is why I am asking here. What I would like to know is generally what the soil is lacking so I can start to plan my fertilizer, and how long I should wait after liming before I add the fertilizer, or any other useful information if anyone else has tried this.

[tingtong]

75 plants makes more sense, though on the other hand wont make much corn for you...

but every once in a while needs a pet project to spend the time on.

as for your fertiliser planning... you said organic; do you have some sort of animal around that can take care of this maybe?

or just take a plastic back and a scoop to the cows route, and i am sure they provide you with fertiliser for the 10 m2, for free

[beammeup]

I can get plenty of grass fed cow poop. I dont need much corn. More of a pet project. I think its around 1 pound of corn per plant so 75 pounds of corn will give me lots of Tamales.