I want the sugar stuff myself. I have not grown corn in awhile. I only grew a few varieties. I need to grow more to form a solid opinion. I do know I don’t care much for heirlooms. I do like all corn, if a choice as I don’t consume it often is as sweet as possible. Illini Xtra Sweet probably was my favorite. A little less sweet Silver choice was good too, then again, so many, I may ditch them for others in the future. I only grow it about once every three years as Bob stated, the room needed etc is a problem.
1 Like
Simonet is my favorite, with Fishers Earliest next. Both OP, old time corn flavor, hardy and early (very important here). The sweet corn I grow is cross of many short season OP varieties as I’ve been saving and selecting my own seed for many years. But those two were the best of the originals (and probably highest percentage in my mix).
2 Likes
If you like really sweet corn, you should try honey select. We cut off the cob and freeze every year and when we have dinners people swear we must add a little sugar, but we dont. I have grow many varieties but settled on honey select . It is a synergistic hybrid, very sweet and ears stay good in fridge a couple weeks on the husk.
2 Likes
I’ll chime in just because I tried growing corn this year for the first time, and had instant success with Vision MXR (F1). Grew it in a 5’ x 8’ raised bed, 4 rows, about 9" apart. Mulched heavily with wood chips as soon as it sprouted. Kept it watered and fertilized it a few times since it was so close together. Put a fence around it to keep the critters out. Already harvested 18 ears and should get 20+ more. Really happy with the flavor.
1 Like
My mom would always plant iochief when I was young. I don’t see it around anymore but I think you can get it online. I agree that the old fashioned sugary varieties have the best flavor.
This year I planted se+ hybrids Trinity (68 days) and Delectable (80 days). I was impressed with the complete pollination of these two hybrids even with the early stuff. The flavor was better on the longer season corn. And overall they were good. But I never had any that got to the “chewy” stage.
1 Like
Thanks Jason, that cultivar moved to the top of the list! Next time I grow corn, I’ll try it.,
I grow a number of veggies I could get in the store, just because they are fun to grow. Sweet corn is decent here, in farmer’s markets, but the best I ever tasted came out of my backyard. Heirloom or hybrid, corn is worth growing
No doubt whatsoever…HONEY SELECT is the greatest sweetcorn EVER! It is one of the “supersweet” (SH2) corns that have much less starch and much more sugar by weight. For those who may not know, the “supersweet” corns were developed by U of Ill, contain 4-10 times more sugar that regular su sweet corn, and have a longer shelf life before the sugar turns to starch.
I picked 5 dozen ears this weekend and I ate 24 ears of corn in 2 days…no kidding! You will to if you grow this stuff. Actually, I can understand that someone (like Alan) might actually find Honey Select TOO SWEET, but for me that isn’t possible. So if you like a lot of sweet with your sweet corn, this one is for you. I pick mine just past the blister stage- very young- and even then its incredibly sweet and tender.
The only other sweet corn I’d like to try to grow is some of the BT’s that are genetically altered to resist bugs or some of the round-up ready sweet corns so I can just spray glycol right on them and the weeds without killing the corn. But neither are available to backyard growers like me.
Please resist the urge to go on a tirade against Monsanto and/or GMO’s and how they represent the end of the world. I’m not advocating for or against them, simply saying that I’d like to try them.
My favorite has to be “Silver King”! For the last 2 years and it is yummy!
I grew Illini Extra Sweet something like 40 years ago (where did the time go!) when Burpee had an exclusive on this first high sugar variety. It was love at first bite, and It took a couple of decades for me to go back to appreciating the taste of old fashioned sweet corn. I went through a similar cycle with Asian pears- turning from high sugar, low other flavor pears in my mid-40s. This is not an uncommon pattern- to turn away from high sugar in middle age. In another decade or so I will probably start to crave sweet-sweet again.
1 Like
Honey Select is very popular in these parts. Our pastor gave us a bunch last year and we ended up canning about 7qt. We grew it this year, but didn’t get a lot out of it or much from our other varieties. It is tasty, tho. We grew either Chief of Iochief plus Stowells Evergreen the first year and we had huge plants, some 8 feet tall. Production was good, but we left it on the stalk too long and it got a bit tough.
POPCORN! 
For me it’s all about the tenderness. I don’t grow it because every time I’ve tried I end up feeding wildlife and encouraging them.
I usually, once or twice a summer find wonderful tender sweet corn and I’ll eat 5-6 ears a day. But more often than not I find good corn that isn’t very tender and finish 1 ear and spend the next hour flossing. The rest ends up going to waste… Sadly
Scott
It’s not a sweet corn, but I just harvested this Glass Gem corn I tried out for the first time this year. It looks awesome! I’ll probably try to use it as popcorn.
3 Likes
Mirai corn is what I like, I’ve tried other super sweets and Mirai is sweeter.
1 Like
Mirai is excellent, only had it once though. I like Xtra tender 277A, I know someone who plants a row to attract raccoons away from the main field (of a bigger eared variety) so he can trap them easier.
How about any recs for corn devoid of the extra sweetness genes? I’d really like some help in choosing older varieties beyond the yellow bantom I’m using now. I’d prefer the higher flavenoid yellow types (I wish there was a high quality blue sweet corn just for the health benefit of flavs).
I can’t be the only corn lover here that hates the sweet sweets. It surprises me that they are so popular on this forum when so many members like higher acid fruit that isn’t just sugar with texture.
Maybe I should start my own sweet corn topic. “What’s your favorite not-so-sweet corn”.
1 Like
Do you want the su sweetcorn, golden bantom is one. My favorite, Incredible, is a se one gene for sweetness, tender kernals, not excessively sweet, SE types have 2 sweet genes. Both Harris and Stoke seeds have good explanation of the differing genetic sweetness genes.
The less sweet corn varieties are getting harder to find every year.
Incredible is still too sweet for me. I can always find a few varieties from seed houses that specialize in heirlooms- but they aren’t always very good here. Country Gentleman was a bust.
Here is a source for many varieties from a company that seems to know where I’m coming from in not being crazy about corn candy. I will try a couple of their varieties next season and let folks know if anything is outstanding for NY.
@alan - I think I’m in the same boat. I wasn’t impressed by the flavor of the se+ corn I planted this year. It doesn’t seem like the se+ types get that toothsome chewiness that the old fashioned varieties get. I remember I hated it when I was a kid, but I like it now. My dad still doesn’t like it, but that was what my mom liked. I can still remember my dad and me complaining about my mom letting the ears stay on the stalks too long.
I might go back to Iochief next year for some of the rows I plant. The other old-fashioned (waaay back in the 1980’s for me… ha!) that I remember us planting for a few years was NK 199.
I always remember NK199 as very good/great freezing sweet corn. Tasty fresh too. Tried to get it last yr. but was unavailable at my supplier. It was new to me way, way back in the 1970’s.