Baby corn is a cereal grain taken from corn (maize) harvested early while the stalks are still small and immature. It typically is eaten whole cob included. Baby corn is common in stir fry dishes.
Varieties
Panar, Baby Asian, Kalahari, Silver Queen, Extra Sweet, Early sunglow and kandy corn.
Ecological requirements
Altitude: 0-2400m above sea level.
Rainfall: 700-1000mm during the growing region
Temperature: 210-270C
Soils: Well drained fertile sandy loams with ph ranging from 5-7.
Land preparation
Plough the land early before planting; remove all weeds and other obstacles from the field. Harrow the field to a medium tilth desirable for corn production.
Apply 12.5 tons of well decomposed organic manure 30 days before planting and incorporate well in the soil.
Propagation and planting
Propagated through seeds, seed rate is 25kh per hectare. Spacing 75 by 25 or 75 by 30
Fertilizer application
125kg/ha DAP during planting, 250kg/ha CAN/urea during topdressing in two splits
Weed management
Keep field weed free, weed shallowly
Irrigation
Start irrigating when the plants are 8-15cm high, repeat at 2-3 intervals in cool areas and weekly intervals in warm areas and where there is light soils
Pest management
Cut worms: Spray using suitable insecticide eg Thurnder
Army worms: Monitor using army worm traps, spray using suitable insecticide eg volium targo
Stalk borer: Apply a pinch of suitable insecticide into whorl, spray using broad spectrum insecticide eg karate
Disease management
Smut practice good field hygiene, use certified seeds
Maize streak virus rogue infected plants, control vectors e.g leaf hoppers and grasshoppers using suitable insecticide e.g Engeo, Thurder etc
Harvesting
The cobs are harvested by hand immediately the silk appears on alternate days for 1-3 weeks. Yield range between 15-25 tons per hectare or 6-8 cobs per plants
Post-harvest handling
Remove all cobs with brown silk, malformed and diseased ones. Pre-cool to remove field heat and store for 2-3 weeks at 0-20C and 95-100% Relative humidity
Uses
The young tender cobs are eaten raw, cooked or processed through canning and freezing. The stalks are used as livestock feed.
1 comment
Good work.