Sweet Corn

Pests & beneficial insects

🐛 Prone to: Aphids

Aphids

Aphididae

Curled leaves, sticky honeydew and ants on patrol — usually with something already eating them.

, Caterpillars

Caterpillars

Lepidoptera larvae

Holes, droppings, and a pest you can simply pick off by hand.

, Cutworms

Cutworms

Noctuidae

A seedling lying beside its own stump in the morning, cut clean through at soil level.

.

Attract Hoverflies

Hoverflies

Syrphidae

The adults only drink nectar. It is the larvae that eat the aphids.

, Lacewings

Lacewings

Chrysopidae

Golden-eyed adults that mostly drink; larvae that hunt like small alligators.

, Ladybugs

Ladybugs

Coccinellidae

The one predator here where the adults hunt as hard as the larvae do.

, Parasitic wasps

Parasitic wasps

Braconidae, Ichneumonidae and relatives

Pinhead-sized, stingless, and lethal to aphids and caterpillars from the inside.

, Ground beetles

Ground beetles

Carabidae

Night-active ground hunters, taking slugs, cutworms and leatherjackets at soil level.

to keep them in check — plant African MarigoldGood, ChrysanthemumGood and StrawflowerGood nearby.

🌼 Beneficial companion — draws Minute pirate bugs

Minute pirate bugs

Anthocoridae

Two to three millimetres, and both stages hunt — thrips and spider mites, thirty a day.

, Predatory mites

Predatory mites

Phytoseiidae

Too small to see without a hand lens, and the main thing holding spider mites down.

that help control Thrips

Thrips

Thysanoptera

Silvery streaking with black specks — the specks are how you tell them from mites.

,

on neighbouring plants.

Growing from seed

Direct-sow Sweet Corn outdoors about 1 weeks after your last frost, keeping seeds in warm soil (around 20–25 °C). Seeds usually come up in around 7 days. Grow in full sun, spaced about 30 cm apart. Expect to harvest in roughly 80 days.

Sweet Corn seed rarely stays viable beyond a year — track what's still worth sowing.

Companion Planting

• 
  Wild Garlic
  

  Wild GarlicExcellent pair

  • ❧Wild Garlic attracts Hoverflies and Minute pirate bugs, which prey on the Aphids and Thrips that attack Sweet Corn
  • ❧Wild Garlic acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Sweet Corn
  • ❧Sweet Corn gives Wild Garlic sheltering shade in the heat of summer
• 
  Germidour Garlic
  

  Germidour GarlicGreat pair

  • ❧Germidour Garlic attracts Hoverflies and Minute pirate bugs, which prey on the Aphids and Thrips that attack Sweet Corn
  • ❧Germidour Garlic suppresses pests that trouble Sweet Corn
• 
  Alpine Strawberry
  

  Alpine StrawberryGreat pair

  • ❧Alpine Strawberry attracts Ground beetles, which prey on the Cutworms that attack Sweet Corn
  • ❧Alpine Strawberry acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Sweet Corn
  • ❧Sweet Corn gives Alpine Strawberry sheltering shade in the heat of summer

How to grow Sweet Corn

1. Sow1 weeks from frost
2. Germinates7 days
3. Space30 cm apart
4. GrowFull sun
5. Harvest~80 days

Water: High · Height: 250 cm · Soil: Rich, well-draining, warm — needs good fertility