Early Xtra-Sweet

Thursday, 24 September 2009 13:46

75 days An early super sweet corn with ears 18-23 cm [7-9"] long. This is the earliest maturing Sweet Corn variety of the so-called Xtra Sweet group producing large, 7-9 inch ears loaded with large, extra sweet, rich golden-yellow kernels smartly arranged in 16 rows. Doing well in cool, wet soil conditions, the plants are short and sturdy and less prone to wind damage. Easy to grow and perhaps best started indoors sown singly in small pots. One advantage of growing your own is that you can have them really fresh; have the water boiling before you actually pick them! Plant height 1.5-1.8 m [5-6'] Very high sugar content. •    Taste, sweetness and yield are the chief considerations of most gardeners when choosing corn varieties. We have carefully selected our varieties to cater to these demands. Approximately 5 seeds/gram. •    Hints: •    The ground must be warm and moist for the corn seed to start to germinate. Early planting does not increase yield. •    Corn can be transplanted. Peat pots can help avoid transplant shock. •    Plants 3-5 seeds approximately 30 cm apart and 2 cm deep in blocks of 4 rows for wind and pollination factors. •    Try 6-10 plants in large [25 litre] black plastic pots. It will keep the roots warm for earlier harvest. •    Harvest when kernels are full and the juice inside them is 'milky'. •    Must be grown in isolation from other corn Developed by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor John Laughnan. Illinois Foundation Seeds Inc. was the first seed company to release a supersweet sweet corn and it was called "Early Xtra-Sweet" but widespread use of the supersweet hybrid did not occur until the early 1980's. Go to table of corn varieties