We get a lot of questions about growing corn in Alaska, so we took a second to sit down with farmer Carol Kenley who owns and operates Kenley’s Alaskan Vegetables and Flowers. Carol, along with her mother June, has been growing sweet corn in Alaska for 50 years.
Growing corn in Alaska is a labor of love, says Carol.
“We love the taste of fresh picked sweet corn and we grow it because we can,” said Carol who annually grows 300 plants- enough to feed her family and give some away to extended family and friends.
Start By Growing Your Corn Indoors
The process for growing sweet corn in Alaska takes some time. You need to start seedlings around April 27th. Carol grows the seedling under grow lights or starts them in her greenhouse. After sprouting, they transplant the sweet corn out into the fields by May 10th.
But here is where it gets a little tricky. You can’t just transplant them into the ground. you need to dig a hole for them, transplant the plant and then cover them with clear plastic entirely. They will stay under the plastic until the end of May in order to maximize the warmth underneath the plastic. You cut them out of the plastic at this point and the plants will be about two feet tall. If you miss out on this stage of under plastic growth, you are missing out on a significant period of growth for this sun loving plant. The old-adage is that one day in May is worth two in late July. Corn growis successfully in Alaska because we have the daylight length even if we don’t have the soil temps.
Carol applies a pre-emergent to the soil so she can leave the plastic down for the whole growing season. If you skip this step, you’ll need to pull up the plastic to weed.
Choose Your Corn Varieties Wisely
Carol’s biggest recommendation is to choose your varieties wisely.
Look for the the very shortest day length corn varieties. Look for for 65 day varieties in order to get ears on before frost. In good years (read warm years) Carol has harvested as early as July 27, in colder, wetter years harvest happens in mid-August. If you choose later varieties, you could be harvesting as late as mid-September.
Give Yourself Enough Space For the Corn To Grow
If you have room, then you can grow the corn, but you’ll need plenty of space. For each hill of corn you need a 2’ x 2’ space. That is a lot of space for a home gardener but if you’ve got a big garden patch, it might just be worth it for you. Each hill of corn gets maybe 2-3 ears, so if you’re trying to be economical, you may want to consider growing potatoes instead.
Growing Corn In Alaska: Sweeter by Far
Corn is one of those unfortunate crops that converts all of its simple sugars (which makes the sweetness) to longer storing starches. It explains why grocery store sweet corn tastes so starchy in Alaska. New varieties on the shelves have started to come in that maintain some of that sweetness, but Carol still says that picking it straight from the fields is the sweetest way to eat your sweet corn.
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