Interactive lesson

Maize, step by step

Interactive lesson: from a heritage variety and the right spot on the field, through sowing in stations, hoeing and the three sisters, to pure seed and the crib.

Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Maize module. Already bought? Unlock

This lesson is general guidance, not professional training. Local regulations and expert advice always take precedence. Read our disclaimer.

The whole lesson as text

1. Heritage varieties

Before sowing, decide what the maize should give you: meal for polenta and cornbread, grain for the animals, or popcorn.

Dent for meal — Dent maize has a dent on top of the kernel and softer starch. It is tall (often 2.5–3 m, 8–10 ft), later and needs a long, warm summer, as in the US Corn Belt; Reid's Yellow Dent and Bloody Butcher are examples. Its meal has a flavour hybrids lack.
Flint, the hard one — Flint maize has a round, glossy, hard kernel. It ripens earlier and copes with cool, short summers and hill land, so it is the right choice for the UK, Ireland, the northern US and Canada; Painted Mountain ripens in about 90 days. Good for polenta and grits.
Popcorn apart — Popcorn has a small, very hard kernel. Keep it well away from dent and flint: cross-pollination changes the taste and hardness of the kernel the same year.
Origin and hybrids — When you get seed, write down where it came from, from whom and what the cob looks like. Don't sow seed saved from hybrids (F1): next year the plants are uneven and the crop smaller.

Why: For the kitchen and livestock on a small homestead three groups matter: dent, flint and popcorn. Heritage varieties are less uniform than hybrids, but in a bad year some plants always crop, and you can save the seed yourself.

Hybrids are labelled by maturity: in lowland UK and Ireland only very early types (around FAO 150–220) ripen grain; in the US Corn Belt RM 100–115 is usual, in the northern states and Canada RM 75–95.
Sweetcorn doesn't go on the field but in the vegetable garden (H10-01).

2. Site and soil

Maize is a heavy feeder: it wants deep, warm, free-draining soil and plenty of food.

Sun and shelter — Full sun and shelter from wind. Put it on the north side of the field, so the maize doesn't shade lower crops.
Dig and feed — In autumn plough or dig to 20–25 cm (8–10 in) and work in 3–5 kg of well-rotted manure per m². In spring only rotavate or rake.
Rotation — Sow after beans, peas, clover or grain: after pulses maize gets free nitrogen. Never after maize, because pests and diseases build up in the soil and stubble.
Watch new grassland — Wireworms live in grassland soil and bore into seed and young plants. In the first year on a new field sow grain or buckwheat, and maize only in the second or third year.

Why: Tall maize goes flat in the open after a summer storm. Maize after maize is the main reason for western corn rootworm, whose larvae live in the soil and eat only maize roots. In the UK it is a notifiable pest: report a suspected find to APHA or DAERA/DAFM.

Maize goes on the north side of the field, so it doesn't shade lower crops.
Instead of manure in autumn, you can give 2–3 kg of compost per m² in spring.