Pachypodium: care and propagation at home, rules for transplanting into a pot, placement features, watering, photo

What does pachistachis look like? Photo. Care

Pachistachis is a tropical plant. It is native to southern and central America and eastern India. On average there are 12 plant species. Pachistachis yellow is grown as an indoor flower. It is very rare to see red pachystachys. Home care is not difficult. The main things for him are light, warmth and humidity. And during active growth and flowering, you need to provide the plant with additional feeding.

Pachistachis has elongated dark green leaves. It attracts attention with its yellow inflorescences, reminiscent of golden ears or candles. They are often mistaken for flowers, but they are only pre-flowers. Pachistachys blooms with inconspicuous white flowers that grow perpendicular to the preflowers, and they quickly fall off. But the yellow ears last a very long time and give the plant an elegant, solemn appearance.

Where to place it?

The flower requires good lighting and warmth. The ideal location would be windows facing west or east. Pachistachis requires bright, but at the same time diffused lighting. You can place the flower on a south window, but then in the summer the plant needs to be shaded.

The most comfortable temperature in spring and summer is 20 0 C for the pachystachis flower. Care at home at temperatures above 24 0 C requires increasing the humidity. In summer, pachistachis can be taken out to the balcony and placed in the shade. In autumn and winter, it is necessary to maintain the room temperature within 16-19 0 C. Pachistachis is sensitive to drafts. It is also not advisable to place the flower near the battery.

Pachistachis requires maintaining sufficiently high humidity. For spraying, it is better to use soft water, filtered or settled. In winter, the flower needs to be sprayed every day. During flowering, you must be careful when spraying and not get it on the inflorescences.

Conditions for keeping pandanus

Even such an undemanding plant as pandanus will be pleased if the grower creates conditions for it that are similar to natural ones.

Table: seasonal conditions of detention

Pandanus prefers bright but diffused light

On many sites you can find information that pandanus and the street are incompatible things. You can take pandanus outside in the summer, but under certain conditions. The temperature should be consistently warm, without sudden drops at night. The plant will do well on a glassed-in balcony. You can enjoy fresh air during the day, and close the window at night so that the drop in temperature does not harm the plant. And yet, in such a secluded corner, wind and drafts will not be scary.

Pandanus and florarium

Due to its large size, pandanus is not suitable for growing in florariums. Even if it is placed there, the plant will experience difficulties, since it needs space for full growth. Grown in an unlimited space, pandanus looks great as a single plant or surrounded by other green fellows.

To reveal its potential, pandanus needs unlimited space.

Requirements for watering and fertilizing pachistachis

In summer, the plant requires abundant watering. The soil should always be moist. It is recommended to water the flower once every three days. Do not allow excess moisture, especially stagnation of water. In winter, watering must be reduced. It is necessary to moisten the soil approximately once every 2 weeks or a little more often when its top layer dries out. The soil should not be allowed to dry out.

During summer flowering it is necessary to feed Pachistachis. Home care allows you to use both mineral and organic fertilizers. The flower reacts especially well to complex flower fertilizer. Fertilizing is applied at the time of watering 1 or 2 times a month. Chicken manure or cow manure can be used as organic fertilizers. Both mineral and organic fertilizers have a good effect on the plant, so when choosing, you must be guided by personal preferences and capabilities.

Caring for corn in summer

Watering is desirable abundant and regular, as for most vegetable crops. Corn is quite drought-resistant, but prolonged drying out of the soil will have a very negative impact on the formation of cobs, and, as a result, the yield. Feeding. The first is carried out 10 days after planting the seedlings in the ground, and the second – two weeks after the first. If the seeds were planted directly into the ground, then the first feeding is carried out in the phase of appearance of 2...3 true leaves, and the subsequent one - when the ears are laid. The fertilizers used are organic (infusion of mullein or chicken manure) or a mixture of minerals (ammophos, superphosphate and potassium-containing). Weeding and loosening. Careful weeding of plantings, especially in the early stages of development, is necessary to prevent weeds from shading young plantings and taking all the beneficial substances from the soil. As the corn grows, it displaces them on its own.

Loosening is also important and is carried out at least three times a season to a depth of 5 cm. This operation allows for air permeability of the soil and prevents the formation of an earthen crust

Therefore, it is better to loosen after watering and heavy rains. Hilling. This operation is necessary because corn tends to form shallow roots to better establish itself in the ground. Therefore, soil is periodically thrown up to the trunks. Hilling helps plants not to lie down under their own weight, the weight of the cobs and in strong winds.

Crown formation

As you know, there are plants that require additional attention to branches and foliage. One of them is the indoor flower pachistachis. Caring for the crown of the plant must begin quite early. As soon as the flower grows to 10-15 cm, you need to carry out the first pruning. It is also necessary to pinch out the side shoots. To do this, it is enough to remove the 3rd pair of leaves. Pachistachis should be pinched up to 4 times a year. As a result, by the beginning of winter, a small plant about 8 cm tall with a large number of tops will form. After wintering, the flower needs to be cut again or the shoots pinched. There is no need to be upset that the plant will not bloom in the first year. It is better to devote this time to the formation of the crown, and enjoy the flowering next year. Each branch that fades will independently split into two, which will also bloom. Next spring, you need to pinch the shoots again in order to again enjoy how the pachistachis indoor plant blooms. Caring for the flower crown is necessary. The plant begins to branch only after it has grown to a height of 80 cm to 1.5 m. The result will be a long bare trunk and one flower at the top, which does not look very attractive.

How to collect your seeds

Corn for seeds is initially planted as far as possible from the general plantings to prevent cross-pollination. To obtain high-quality corn seeds, the healthiest and strongest plants are selected, and they have the largest cobs without traces of rot and other diseases. It is better to mark them separately in some way, usually tied with ribbon.

Here they wait for the moment of waxy ripeness, and not milky, as during standard harvesting, so they are left on the plant until the grains acquire a bright yellow color and hardness (cutting such cobs often occurs in mid-September).

After cutting, the corn cobs are sent to ripen for a couple of weeks, after which the seeds are removed and dried. Self-collected corn seeds can be stored for up to 5 years and still have excellent germination.

Reproduction and transplantation

Pachistachis propagates by cuttings. They appear during flowering. To propagate pachistachis, you need to cut a cutting 10-12 cm long and place it in water for rooting. After 2 or 3 weeks, when the roots appear, the plant can be planted in a small glass. As the pachistachis grows, it is transplanted into a pot 12-13 cm in diameter, and then into a large flower pot. It should be 2.5 liters in volume and low. Flower roots love space. It is also necessary to take care of drainage. This can be a layer of expanded clay or clay shards 1.5 cm high. Frequent replanting causes pachistachis to actively bloom.

You can immediately plant the cuttings in the ground. In this case, the soil is mixed with sand. If you cover the cutting with polyethylene or a glass cover, it will grow faster. With this propagation method, it is necessary to open the soil for 2-3 hours for ventilation 2 times a week.

Pests, flower diseases

Pachistachis pests can be:

You can deal with them using special products that are sold in stores.

In addition to pests, flowers can be affected by diseases:

1. Powdery mildew. The disease looks like a white coating on the leaves and stem. To get rid of it, you first need to remove the affected areas of the flower and spray it with special preparations. As a preventative measure, it is necessary to apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizer to the soil.
2. Curled leaves appear due to insufficient watering and moisture. If the earthen lump is dry, it needs to be soaked. To do this, you need to pour settled water at room temperature into a container and place the plant in it for 10 hours. Then you should increase watering and spraying frequency.
3. Yellowing tips appear due to lack of moisture.
4. Wilting of leaves. If there is enough moisture and watering, then you need to feed the pachistachis. Care at home requires adding organic or mineral fertilizer to the soil. In this case, nitrogen fertilizers will most likely be needed.
5. Falling leaves in summer is due to lack of watering and moisture, in winter – low temperature. Drafts may also be the cause.
6. Elongated small leaves appear when the flower does not have enough light.
7. Root rotting occurs due to low temperature and its fluctuations. If the roots are severely affected, then you need to root the top.
8. Slow growth indicates a clear lack of nutrition. In this case, the plant needs mineral and organic feeding.

Corn care

How to Grow Corn

Beginning gardeners consider corn to be an unpretentious crop and limit themselves to weeding and infrequent watering, however, insufficient care can lead to a poor harvest and depletion of the soil on the site. Growing corn requires regular care of the seedlings while they are not yet strong - they are watered, weeded and necessarily hilled so that the plants can acquire strong adventitious roots in the lower part of the stem, which will give them stability and help them grow and develop properly. In addition, it is necessary to loosen the soil between the plants several times, apply fertilizing and protect the corn from pests and diseases, of which it has many.

Watering corn

Corn is moisture-loving: it can absorb 2-4 liters of water per day, but waterlogging is difficult for it - in water-logged soil, due to lack of air, its roots die, it stops growing, the leaves become purple, and the corn harvest is in jeopardy. Therefore, the soil moisture in the area is maintained at 70-80%, that is, 1-2 liters of water are spent on each plant. If there are no conditions for regular watering, you will have to frequently loosen the soil around the plants in order to retain moisture in it for as long as possible - it’s not for nothing that loosening is called dry watering.

After planting the seedlings, watering should be moderate, but from the moment 7 leaves appear on the plants, water consumption and frequency of watering are gradually increased until the stage of mass appearance of panicles. When the threads on the cobs begin to darken, watering is gradually reduced to moderate.

The best way to maintain soil moisture in a corn plot is to use a drip irrigation system because the water and dissolved nutrients go directly to the plant roots, saving both water and fertilizer.

Corn feeding

A good owner must amend the soil with organic and mineral fertilizers before planting corn. However, this does not mean that there is no need to fertilize the soil during the growing season. The fact is that, unlike other crops, corn grows green mass throughout the growing season, so it will need fertilizing from spring to autumn. In addition, at each period of development, plants require certain nutrients, and if you fill the soil with the entire amount of fertilizer needed for the season before planting, then too high a concentration may turn out to be a greater problem than a lack of fertilizer.

Nitrogen must be added to the soil before the seeds ripen. But the plant must receive the main amount of the element in the period before the formation of inflorescences. The most intensive absorption of potassium fertilizers occurs in the first half of the season; in the second half, the element flows back from the plant into the soil. Corn needs phosphorus in much smaller quantities, but throughout the season. Phosphate fertilizing begins when preparing the site, and stops applying phosphorus after the grains ripen.

In addition to the three main elements, corn requires microelements - primarily manganese and zinc, and to a lesser extent boron and copper. Keep in mind that alkaline soils lack manganese and boron, while acidic soils tend to lack calcium. The lack of microelements is compensated for by foliar treatments of corn.

The first fertilizing is usually applied during the period when the third and fourth leaves appear, and it consists of slurry or a solution of bird droppings. The second feeding should consist of ammonium nitrate (15-20 g per m²), potassium salt (15-20 g per m²) and superphosphate (30-50 g per m²). If a deficiency of specific elements is detected, treat the corn with their solutions on the leaves. For example, if white stripes appear on the leaves, you need to spray the corn with a zinc solution, and if fertilization is delayed, a boron solution will be needed to treat the plants.

Where else can you find pachistachis?

This plant is grown not only at home. In the middle zone you can see how indoor pachistachis flowers are used in landscape design. Caring for them in these conditions is not much different. At the beginning of February, the cuttings are pruned, then they are planted in small containers for seedlings. The flower also needs good lighting, feeding and pinching of shoots. To prevent the plant from dying outside, it must be hardened off. At a temperature of 15 0 C, seedlings should be taken out into fresh air once a day. The procedure begins with 20 minutes and gradually increases to 3 hours. Cuttings are planted in the ground in the spring, when there is no longer frost.

It must be remembered that the pachistachis flower does not require difficult care, but at the same time it should not be left unattended. If you do not create favorable conditions for life for the plant, it will quickly die. And in order for pachistachis to delight with lush flowering, you need to pinch it, trim it and replant it in a timely manner.

Pachistachis is a tropical flower of the Acanthaceae family. It can be found in nature in Eastern India, on the Australian coast or in the tropical forests of America. Due to its origin, it is believed that at home the pachistachis flower is quite capricious and whimsical, but this is not at all the case. We invite you to take a closer look at the yellow pachistachis flower and learn about caring for it at home according to agrotechnical rules. How to plant, prune and propagate a plant - you can learn about all this from this article. In the meantime, look at the photo of Pachistachis yellow in all its diversity of flowering:

Translated from Greek, the word “pachystachys” is translated as “strong ear”, and the flower received its name due to its appearance. It looks like a shrub, the straight and thin shoots of which reach a height of about 1 meter (at home - about 80 centimeters). The leaves of the plant are dark green and pointed. The main decoration of the plant is yellow or red inflorescences, similar to spikelets, these are pre-flowers. Pachystachys flowers appear perpendicular to the spikelets and look like small white leaves. They quickly fall off, but the pre-flowers last a long time.

Peach palm description, beneficial properties and contraindications

The peach palm (lat. Bactris gasipaes) is a fruit tree that belongs to the Palm family.

Distribution of the peach palm

The plant is native to the jungles of Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. Since ancient times, the palm tree has been cultivated and distributed by Indian tribes throughout the Amazon, gaining its greatest economic importance in Costa Rica. In recent decades, the peach palm has been grown in Central American countries (in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, in the very north of South America, as well as in the Antilles. In the Philippines, the first palm plantings appeared in 1924, and in India in the 1970s .

In principle, the peach palm can grow in any country with a humid and hot tropical climate. It is found at altitudes up to 1200 meters above sea level. Very undemanding to soil. It reproduces both vegetatively and by seeds.

Biological description of the peach palm

The peach palm tree is tall and slender, reaching a height of 20-30 meters. Its entire length or only its upper part is surrounded by rings of long (up to 12 centimeters) black needle-shaped spines. By the way, they make it very difficult to harvest from trees.

The leaves of the plant are quite long (from 2.4 to 3.6 meters). They are pinnately complex in structure, have lanceolate, dark green leaves with spiny edges. The petioles are also dotted with spines.

The flowers are yellowish-white, small. Male and female flowers are collected in mixed clusters and are located under the very crown of the palm tree. The length of the inflorescences reaches 30 centimeters.

Description of peach palm fruits

The fruits are yellow, orange or red in color and hang in clusters of up to 100 pieces. They can be of various shapes (oval, cupped or conical), up to 6 centimeters long, and have six faint edges. The harvest begins to produce already 3-4 years after germination from the seed.

The skin of the fruit is thin, underneath it there is a sweet yellow-orange pulp that tastes sweet. There is one large seed inside the fruit.

Beneficial properties of peach palm fruits

The fruits contain a lot of vitamins A and C, starch and vegetable fats.

The fruits are not eaten fresh. True connoisseurs of fresh fruits are various species of parrots, whose numbers are declining as tropical forests in the Amazon basin are cut down. For human consumption, they are boiled in salted water for 2-3 hours, usually with the addition of vegetable or butter. But first the peel of the fruit is cut. Eat boiled fruits while they are still hot. The fruits are usually eaten as a side dish for fatty dishes or separately with some kind of gravy, since even the boiled pulp is a bit dry. Sometimes the pulp of the fruit is added to baked goods, and is also used to prepare a strong alcoholic drink, which is obtained by distilling the mash obtained from fermenting the fruit.

Gourmets also eat the kernels, which taste somewhat like coconut.

Carefully collected fruits (without dents) can be stored at room conditions for a week.

Other uses of peach palm

The soft core from the upper part of the palm tree trunk (palmetto) is also used, which can be eaten raw or used for preservation and preparation of a wide variety of dishes. The taste of the fresh core is somewhat reminiscent of the taste of celery stalks.

Peach palm wood is an excellent building material. The leaves of local tribes are used to make roofs for huts. The leaves can also be used to prepare a decoction that Indians drink for stomach aches and headaches.

Types of pachystachys for home breeding (with photos)

There are about a dozen species of pachystachys in total, but most often at home you can find varieties of yellow (Pachystachys lutea) or red (Pachystachys coccinea) plants. The characteristics of these varieties are the same, the only difference is the color of the pre-flowers. They bloom from spring to autumn. Look at the types of pachistachis for home breeding - the decorative capabilities of the plant are illustrated:

The flower is quite light-loving, although yellow pachystachys requires diffuse lighting. If you leave the plant in direct sunlight, its leaves will dry out or, as they say in common parlance, “burn.” In this case, the plant becomes small, stretches in height, and the leaves of the pachystachys curl. In winter, the flower will need additional lighting, since Soltsk sets early at this time of year.

Red pachystachys differs from the previous species in the color of its inflorescences. In this species they are dark green in color, from which red flowers appear. In addition, red pachystachys is taller and more colorful.

Characteristics of the screw palm

In its natural habitat, the evergreen, perennial flower screw palm can reach a height of more than thirteen meters, while the house flower pandanus, as a rule, does not exceed three meters in height.

You should immediately answer the question of whether it is possible to keep and care for this palm flower at home - definitely yes, since in terms of care and ease of growing, pandanus is often recommended for beginners. Pandanus, despite its tropical origin, is very unpretentious and easy to care for, so it is considered almost the best option for beginners.

However, it is worth keeping in mind that if you have small children or pets at home, then you may want to refrain from keeping this flower in your home. It's all about the sharp thorns located along the lower central vein, and the rather prickly leaves of the plant, if you get injured on them, nothing terrible will happen, but itching, redness or even an allergy may occur due to the natural poison contained in the leaves of the flower

It is also important to remember that pandanus grows quite quickly to large sizes and as it grows it becomes more and more like a full-fledged palm tree

Planting and propagating pachistachis indoors

Pachistachis is propagated by cuttings; spring and summer are ideal for transplanting them. For planting, you need a spacious, voluminous flower pot with a volume of at least 3 liters. To plant several plants, you can use a low pot with a wider top. Planting pachistachis indoors can be done in spring and autumn. Propagation is most often practiced by cuttings during flower pruning for decorative purposes.

Pachistachis needs light, breathable soil. Both a store-bought mixture for ornamental plants and your own “assembly” are ideal here. The soil can be prepared according to the following ratio:

• 1 part leaf soil;
• 1 part peat;
• 2 parts clay-turf;
• 1 part humus;
• 1 part sand.

Do not forget that the flower loves moisture and it is necessary to ensure high-quality drainage.

Care Tips

Despite its large size, pandanus does not require painstaking and complex care. In order for the palm tree to please the eye with the rich color of its foliage and grow normally, it is enough to follow the simple recommendations described below. The plant needs proper watering, regular fertilizing and timely replanting.

Watering

Pandanus reacts negatively to soil that is too wet, so it should be watered sparingly. It will take time for the top layer of soil to dry out.

Let's consider the basic rules for watering a flower:

• in summer, water once every 2–3 days;
• in winter, watering is carried out every 3–4 days;
• water only with settled water at a temperature of about +35°C;
• It is better to use the bottom watering method - pour water into a tray on which to place the pandanus pot. The plant absorbs moisture through drainage holes located at the bottom of the container. After 30 minutes, drain excess water from the pan.

Top dressing

Even if grown in nutritious soil, the screw palm needs fertilizer.

The frequency of feeding depends on the time of year:

• in spring and summer, fertilizers are applied every 2 weeks;
• in the cold season, it is enough to feed the plant once a month.

Trimming

The screw palm does not need pruning. Sometimes, if not properly cared for, the tips of the plant's leaves may turn yellow, which spoils the appearance of the pandanus. In this case, you can carefully trim the yellowed edges of the sheet.

When growing indoors, pandanus sometimes forms so-called stilted roots. This often happens when palm trees are grown in a room with high humidity.

These roots spoil the appearance of the flower, but cutting them is strictly prohibited, as they help the plant maintain stability. To prevent the aerial roots of the screw palm from drying out, they are covered with moistened peat or sphagnum.

Important! In order not to cause the leaves to dry out, you cannot cut off their green part.

Transfer

The best time to transplant a flower is the end of March or the beginning of April. The roots of young plants grow quickly, so they need to be replanted every year in the first 2–3 years of life. After this, the procedure can be performed once every 2-3 years.

When the roots of a flower begin to stick out of the ground in a flowerpot, this indicates the need to replant it in a larger container and fresh soil. Perennial pandanuses growing in huge flowerpots are difficult to replant. Therefore, if necessary, add fresh soil to the flowerpot or partially change its top layer.

To replant the plant, you can buy standard soil for palm trees or prepare the soil yourself using the following components, taken in equal proportions:

• leaf soil;
• turf land;
• sand;
• humus.

The new flower pot should be slightly larger than the old flowerpot. You cannot choose a container that is too large - in an excess amount of soil, the pandanus roots quickly begin to rot.

Did you know? Pandanus leaves have a sweet taste and are used to make tea.

The process of transplanting a screw palm:

Tie and secure the palm leaves so that they do not accidentally break during transplantation and the thorns do not scratch the skin. Place coarse sand at the bottom of the flowerpot for drainage, and sprinkle some soil on top. Carefully remove the pandanus from the old pot along with the earthen ball around the roots. Transfer the plant to a new pot and lightly sprinkle the roots with soil. It is not recommended to bury them deeply, so as not to provoke rotting of the root system.

The upper roots should be slightly visible through the soil layer.

If you replant a flower often, it will grow faster. To slow down the growth of pandanus, you need to replant it less often into new soil and pot.

How to prune a plant to form a bush

In order for the plant to maintain its beauty, it needs regular pruning and pruning. Nature has it in such a way that in the first years of a plant’s life, growth occurs in one trunk, without branching. After growth stops, active formation of lateral branches begins. At home, this process can be controlled. Before pruning a plant to form a bush, it is important to think about the future shape of the crown.

Experts advise shaping the plant from the first year of life; the first pruning should occur at a height of 10-15 cm. The third pair of leaves should be removed from the buds of the side shoots and repeated throughout all tiers of shoots. It is necessary to repeat pinching 3-4 times in the first year of life - this will allow you to get a well-groomed, fluffy and low bush.

Pruning of all tops should occur in early spring, before the active growth stage begins. The procedure must be repeated every year.

Breeding time

Pachistachis propagation occurs through cuttings 10-15 cm long. You can replant them when it is convenient for you: they take root well at any time of the year. In order for the cuttings to take root as quickly as possible, they are placed in an earth mixture or simply in a glass of water. Rooting takes place within three weeks, all this time you need to care for them in the same way as an adult plant: monitor the air and ventilation of the soil, regularly spray with clean water.

After the roots appear, the young pachistachis can be planted in a small pot with a light substrate. If the cuttings have not taken root, it is necessary to trim the leaves and leave it in a warm place, preferably under a hood. Flowering will begin no earlier than six months after the roots appear.

Possible problems with the plant

Threats to pachistachis include aphids, spider mites, mealy bugs and scale insects. If you notice insects, you must immediately spray the plant with a chemical and, if possible, isolate the affected plant from other indoor flowers. Affected shoots and leaves will have to be removed.

Pachistachis is threatened by the following possible plant problems:

1. yellowing of leaves - usually due to lack of moisture;
2. leaf falling - the cause can be not only drafts, but also low temperature, lack of moisture in the leaves or soil;
3. Root rotting occurs due to temperature changes. If the roots are severely damaged, it is necessary to shorten the top;
4. powdery mildew (white coating on the stem or leaves) - as a preventive measure, it is worth adding phosphorus-potassium fertilizers to the soil. The affected parts of the flower must be removed.

Pachistachis is a luxurious and spectacular flower. You can see a photo of indoor pachistachis once and fall in love with this exotic shrub so much that you must grow it on your windowsill.

Latin name: Zea mays (Zea mays var. saccharata)

varieties "Sweet corn"

Description

Sweet corn is the only “domesticated” species of the genus Corn from the Poa family. The plant is native to Central and South America. According to research results, this cereal came into cultivation almost nine thousand years ago, and even then it was cultivated in the fields by Indians. Corn, like potatoes, came to Europe after the discovery of the New World, and reached Russia directly in the second half of the 18th century. To date, a sufficient number of varieties and hybrids have been bred, which allows the plant to be grown in different climatic zones of the planet.

Sweet corn is a herbaceous annual with a fibrous root system. The roots penetrate to a depth of over 1.5 meters. A strong, erect stem, unlike most cereals, without an internal cavity. Often, aerial roots appear at the first internodes, extracting moisture and nutrients from the air.

IN THE PHOTO: The stem of Corn grows up to 2–3 m in height, but there are varieties with six-meter shoots.

Long narrow leaves with pointed tips are alternate. In a monoecious plant, male flowers, collected in paniculate inflorescences, are located at the top of the stem. The female cobs—cobs with bunches of pistillate columns—are located in the axils of the leaves.

Corn varieties

Presentation Geranium - indoor plant

Nowadays, there are quite a large number of productive varieties of corn with different ripening periods. Several of them with the most optimal characteristics for planting in all regions of the country are given below with brief descriptions:

Spirit F1

Refers to hybrid varieties of very early fruiting. The cobs ripen and are at least 20 cm long; the grains have a delicious taste. The height of the stem reaches 1.9 m, the lower ear is laid at a height of half a meter.

Violetta F1

Also a hybrid variety. An interesting feature of this corn is the combination of purple grains and pleasant taste. They say that it is purple sweet corn that has a wider range of substances beneficial to humans, therefore, by planting such corn, you can not only decorate your garden with an unusual plant, but also receive an additional dose of vitamins when consumed.

White Dakota

An early ripening variety of corn with white grains. The cobs are formed about 15 cm long. The stem grows up to 1.8 m in height.

Growing

The time for sowing sweet corn in open ground depends on the climate and weather conditions: you need to wait until the soil warms up to +12°C. The seeds are pre-soaked for 12 hours in warm water, then germinated in a damp cloth.

It is recommended to plant Maize in two to four rows with a row spacing of 40–60 cm. Place two or three seeds in each hole, to a depth of about 5 cm. The distance between the holes is 30–35 cm. The grains are covered with moist soil and then dry.

IN THE PHOTO: After germination, weak seedlings are removed.

In regions with short summers, it is better to use the seedling method. Seed preparation remains the same (soaking, germination). The grains are planted one at a time in peat pots or seedling cassettes filled with a mixture of compost, peat, sand (2:1:1). The containers are placed in a bright place.

IN THE PHOTO: Shoots appear quickly; care consists of moderate watering and maintaining the air temperature within +18–20°C for a month.

1.5 weeks before planting in the garden, you should feed the sprouts with a weak solution of complex mineral fertilizers. Handling must be done very carefully so as not to damage the root system. After planting, the plants are watered and the soil is mulched.

You can only get your own seeds from varieties; the result from propagating hybrids is not predictable. To do this, several ears are left until fully ripe - the wrapper of modified leaves is removed from them and placed in a warm place.

IN THE PHOTO: After a month, completely dried seeds are removed and stored in paper bags.

Corn harvesting and storage

Harvesting of sweet corn begins selectively when the cobs reach milk maturity. How do you know when it’s time to remove the cob? Look out for the following signs:

• the outer layer of the wrapper has shrunk and its color has turned light green;
• the threads hanging from the cob have turned brown and dried out;
• when pressed, white juice is released from the grains;
• The grains on the cob are smooth, yellow, closed in dense rows, without wrinkles or dents.

If you are late in harvesting corn, it will become overripe and lose its taste and nutritional qualities; the grains will wrinkle and become poorly cooked.

Preparing corn for long-term storage includes the initial cleaning of the cobs, then drying and cleaning from grain and weeds. Undamaged cobs are sent for drying. They are freed from the leaves, but the wrapper is not cut off, the corn silks (thin threads enveloping the cob) are removed, the cobs are braided with leaves and hung from the ceiling until completely dry in a well-ventilated dry room. Drying of corn is considered complete if the kernels fall out of the cob with gentle shaking.

If you are going to store corn for a long time, the grains need to be husked and poured into plastic or glass jars, cardboard boxes or fabric bags. Corn for popcorn is stored in plastic bags in the freezer, and if necessary, placed directly frozen in a frying pan.

Dairy corn intended for cooking should be kept in the refrigerator at 0 ºC for no more than three weeks. When stored at higher temperatures, corn loses one and a half or more percent of sugar per day - the higher the temperature, the greater the loss. It is best to keep milk corn frozen or canned because this way the nutritional value of the product is preserved. Moreover, if the freezer allows, you need to put corn in it right on the cob. To prepare corn for storing, prepare two large containers - one with boiling water, and the other with cold water and pieces of ice. First, the cob, cleared of the wrapper and stigmas, is dipped in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then in cold water for the same time, after which the corn is dried on a cloth, each cob is wrapped in cling film and placed in the freezer, where it is stored for up to 1.5 years without loss of quality.

Secrets of success

For sweet corn you need to select a lighted area. Good predecessors include legumes and melons, as well as potatoes. It is permissible to grow a plant in one place for two to three years.

The grass does not tolerate waterlogged and acidic soils. Liming is carried out in the fall, at which time the soil is dug up, weeds are removed and compost and superphosphate are added. In the spring, before planting seeds, potassium and nitrogen fertilizers are added to the soil.

Sweet corn gets along well with cucumbers, beans, potatoes, grapes, and pumpkins. Tall stems and long leaves provide light partial shade, saving neighbors from the scorching rays of the sun. Celery and beets should be placed further away.

Caring for the plant is not difficult. One of the main conditions for obtaining a decent harvest is the destruction of weeds. Corn is quite drought-resistant, but it cannot do without watering at all.

IN THE PHOTO: Moisturizing is especially necessary during the formation and ripening of cobs.

After rain or watering, you need to carefully loosen the soil so as not to touch the roots. In addition, it is necessary to promptly remove side shoots.

The first feeding is carried out in the phase of five to eight leaves (potassium salt and nitrate or a solution of bird droppings 1:15). The second time the plant is fertilized with potassium and phosphorus before flowering, the third time with complex minerals when the cobs appear.

To extend the harvest period, it is recommended to plant varieties of different ripening periods or resort to the conveyor method: sow grains every 1.5–2 weeks.

Sweet corn is harvested at the stage of milk ripeness, when the wrapper turns yellow and the silk threads turn brown. It is best to selectively pick the heads of cabbage early in the morning and immediately begin cooking or canning.

Preparing seeds for planting

First of all, it should be noted that corn is considered a heat-loving and light-loving plant. Its seeds germinate within 15 days only at temperatures above +12C. Naturally, the higher the temperature, the faster the seeds will germinate (the optimal temperature is +20-25C). Frosts are very dangerous for corn during seedling growth and flowering, so it is better not to plant it in northern regions with changeable weather. In addition, the plant is very demanding of moisture during the period of grain formation, but at the same time it tolerates drought well and does not tolerate waterlogging of the soil.

How to grow corn in the country? First of all, you need to decide on the varieties of seeds, among which the following are the highest yielding ones:

• variety “Aurica” (ripens within 80-95 days and has high taste);
• variety “pearl” (ripens within 85-100 days and has two ears on each stem);
• variety “Golden Fleece” (ripens within 72-75 days and is intended for fresh consumption);
• “favorite” variety (ripens within 75-79 days and has an elongated grain).

To plant corn seeds, it is necessary to thoroughly cultivate the soil, so digging the ridge takes place in two stages (autumn and spring) with the addition of fertilizers (manure, superphosphate, nitrogen and potassium additives). Remember that corn likes to grow in places where potatoes, cabbage, beans and squash have previously grown. Sweet corn can be grown in two ways:

• Seed method. This method allows you to grow corn in the middle zone, when you make a hole 10 cm deep in the garden bed and put 3-4 parsed corn seeds in it. The number of holes will vary from the total number of seeds, but the distance between them should not be less than 30 cm in a row.
• Seedling method. Growing corn at the dacha consists of precisely this method, as it allows you to grow corn seedlings in room conditions ahead of time. This is done simply: corn seeds are planted in a tray at a certain distance from each other, and after they sprout, they are transplanted into separate yoghurt or kefir boxes.

After planting, the corn will grow very slowly, but gradually the growth rate will gain strength (up to 10 cm per day), and when the plant blooms, stem growth will stop. Corn is a tall plant, the length of which can range from 110 to 300 cm.

Corn care

The technology for growing corn consists of the following manipulations with the plant throughout the entire period of growth and development:

• Loosening. The soil on which corn grows must be constantly loosened so that a crust does not appear. In addition, when the plant has only 3-4 leaves, thinning should be done in each hole, leaving only 1-2 strong and strong stems.
• Hilling. This procedure is usually carried out after rain in order to simultaneously free the soil from the crust and enhance root nutrition. Hilling promotes the development of strong corn roots, and therefore improves the growth and development of plants.
• Stepsonning. This is necessary in order to allow the plant not to waste its energy, but to direct it to the formation of cobs. As a rule, stepsons 15 cm long are removed immediately, and no more than 3 ears are left on the plant itself.
• Feeding. This is one of the main components of caring for any plant, including sweet corn. Growing it directly involves 2-3 feedings during the entire ripening period. So, at the initial stages, corn can be fed with bird droppings or manure with wood ash, and later superphosphate, potassium chloride and ammonium nitrate will do.
• Pollination. This procedure must be carried out to completely fertilize the ears by shaking the flower panicles. As a rule, after 2-3 such procedures, the corn cob becomes fully grained. It is especially necessary to carry out such manipulation with the plant for those who grow corn for grain.

Corn harvesting takes place when the cobs are in the period of milk maturity (approximately 25-30 days after flowering). Collected cobs are stored for a relatively short time, so they should be immediately placed in the refrigerator or processed.

Now you know how to grow corn correctly. Follow all the instructions, and you will receive a long-awaited, rich harvest.

Possible difficulties

The best protection for cereals from diseases and pests is seed treatment. If the planting material has not been processed at the seed plant, immediately before sowing it is necessary to soak the grains in a solution of fungicide and insecticide.

Observing the foliage will allow you to timely determine and compensate for the lack of minerals. Yellowing and drying of leaves is the result of a lack of nitrogen. Redness indicates an urgent need to add phosphates. The stem stops growing, and the edges of the leaf blades seem burned due to potassium deficiency.

Collected seeds cannot be stored at low temperatures and high humidity. In this case, they become moldy.

To get cobs with strong grains, sweet corn needs help with pollination. During flowering, you should gently shake the plant so that pollen from the male flowers moves to the female ones. It is advisable to carry out the procedure several times and preferably in the morning.

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