Topic: Sweetcorn / lime

[Gobby]

anyone know if there's any adverse reaction to planting sweetcorn into limed soil? or should i look for somewhere else to plant them?

[terrier]

SOILS AND SOIL TEMPERATURE

A wide variety of soils are suitable. It is important that the soil be well drained and well supplied with organic matter. The optimum pH range is 5.8 to 7.0.

The optimum soil temperature range for germination is over 60 F. This is especially true for the super sweet and improved super sweet varieties where germination may be drastically reduced under cool soil conditions. Sweet corn takes about 20 days to emerge from 50 F soils, but only about 5 days to emerge at 70 F. Soil temperature is one factor in scheduling plantings.

This is a snippit from a web page, you can read the whole thing here:
http://hort-devel-nwrec.hort.oregonstate.edu/corn-pr.html

Hope that's some use to you.

[Gobby]

Ok thanks for the help, best find another spot  ???

 ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's too early to plant corn yet. Wait till around mid-April, strat it in the warm on a windowsill, then put it out under cover when we get some nice late spring weather.

[Gobby]

I'm not even close to putting it in yet, but i am planning where everything is going this year.

[PurpleHeather]

Corn is an avaricious feeder. It will take all the manure, Growmore and just about anything else you can throw at it.

Lime, granted, I am no expert on lime, but I was always told not to mix lime with other feeds in soil.

From that, I would say that corn and lime are not compatible.

Second point.

Corn comes from South America, where it is native. They do not have limey soil.

Personally, I would say that lime would have an adverse effect on corn growth but I am willing to learn from an expert who can explain where my rationalising is wrong.

[Robert_Brenchley]

You mean a continent the size of South America has no limestone?

[saddad]

 :-\

[tonybloke]

You mean a continent the size of South America has no limestone?

it appears that way?
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/South+American+geology

[Robert_Brenchley]

That appears to be a subscriber-only site. There's very little on the net about South American geology, but Machu Pichu turns out to be built of limestone.

[tonybloke]

how bizzarre! it was open access to me this morning! :o

[Robert_Brenchley]

It still wants me to register. This page only skims the surface, but there are several references to limestone.

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/ecuador/geology.shtml

[tonybloke]

So, the 'napo' range appears to have substantial limestone formations! an interesting read, Robert. thanks for the link. Don't know what happened this morning on that other site, but I got straight in!!
I have a mate who is a geologist for a living (oilfield), I'll ask him if there's any open source info in one of the journals he subscribes to., let you know if.
rgds, tony

[Robert_Brenchley]

I did a geology degree myself, but it was a long time ago!

[tonybloke]

Andy did his in Wales, also did marine biology.
that was a while ago, as well! ;D ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Marine biology goes very well with geology; I remember really getting into fossil marine ecosystems.