I'm going to try corn at 1/SF this year and what I've found in my research is as follows:

-Check with your seed company to see if you can plant those together without cross polination contamination.
-Corn needs tons and tons of nitrogen, coffee grounds and Miracle Gro come to mind as having good nitrogen components.

If we both try corn, we'll both find out together if it works. It should.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's gardening adventure

From the University of California/Davis: "Cross-pollination is achieved by wind and gravity dispersal of the shedding
pollen. Pollen is light and can be carried considerable distances by the wind. However, most of pollen settles within 20 to 50 feet (6 to 15 m) of the donor plant.
Under favorable conditions, pollen is only viable for 18 to 24 hours, with viability diminishing rapidly from desiccation."
Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Info on corn pollination

Apparently, recommended densities of corn plantings depend on the height of the corn. The shorter it is, the more closely it can be planted. I've seen these "informal" recommendations for SF Garden spacing of corn:

Mature Corn

5-6 feet tall, space 8"
7-8 feet tall, space 10"
9-10 feet tall, space 12"
Taller, more space

It appears to me as if spacing based on the height of the corn plant is related to the root space needed.

Thanks guys. I wonder if anyone has actually planted corn at one plant per square foot?

As for the cross polination, I time them so they don't tassel at the same time. Polka gets planted early. Then the slower Ambrosia.

I plan on planting all three of my varieties at the same time. Then two weeks later I'll plant them again, and again so I have corn as spread out as possible. That's why I called Territorial Seed Co. to see if my corn worked well together. As for cross pollination, they said bees pollinate so if a neighbor down the street was doing corn it could impact my crop. I'm sure wind is a factor, which is good since bees are few and far between these days.

Great information on the spacing. None of my corn gets over 6 feet tall so I can plant more! Yay! Thanks Anney!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's Garden

If you have good soil, nitrogen and water you can plant in 8" rows with spacing of 4". I have done it for 57 years when I lived in places with small garden plots.

In years long gone by, corn was planted in 38 to 42" rows to allow for cultivating and harvest with horses. Some planted pumpkins in the corn and the wide rows made it easy to harvest the pumpkins. Most corn today is planted in 26 to 30" rows with 4" spacing.

If you are going to plant 1ft spacing, you are wasting good garden space.

As far as bees polinating it's not a problem. Each grain of corn has one silk. For bees to affect the hundreds of silk on each ear is not likely. There is no sugar value there for the bees.

sinfonian, read earlier post by you about the potato bins that appeared in Seattle newspaper. This past weekend I built two and already have potatoes planted. Mine ended up about 30 inches square as that is the size of the lumber that I had on hand. Used rough cut lumber so boards would not line up exact to allow for drainage.
Thanks!

Shot

Last year I decided to try planting corn real close. I used Mesquakie Indian, which is a very sturdy, average of 8' tall variety. Normally I've planted this corn about a foot apart in rows about 3 1/2' to 4' apart, and it has produced very well.

This close planting was done on the West side of a duck pen, in order to provide afternoon shade. It worked admirably for shade. I planted four rows about 15' long and in a patch about 3' wide (or slighly more narrow). I only spaced the plants 3-4" apart in the rows. My main concern was that I would not be able to hill this corn, like I normally do, and I feared that it might blow over during a summer time squall.

Her's a link to a picture! I only lost perhaps 4 stalks to lodging. It produced quite well.

I think I like leaving more space between rows and hilling my corn. But close spacing did work. If one has limited space I would recommend trying it.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:24581}}

Thanks for the great info. I have 44SF for corn (4x11), so I can get TONS of corn in there at 8 inch spacing every 4 inches per Paulc Gardener suggested. It's also good to hear bees are not necessary. I will try to attract them but can't guaranty.

Shot, check out my Build-As-You-Grow Potato Bins page, I love the way they turned out! Glad you did some too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's site