White corn is a hybrid of a yellow variety of culture without lutein, which is responsible for the coloring of the pigment. It has several advantages and can provide the farmer with a decent harvest, provided that all the rules for its cultivation are observed.
White corn
Soft and juicy white corn kernels
White corn is cooked no more than 8 minutes
Culture features
All types of corn, including white corn, have become and are known to the world thanks to farmers in South America, where it has been cultivated since prehistoric times. Outwardly, white corn differs from yellow only in the color of cobs, the plant itself also reaches 1.5-2 meters in height.
White corn contains easily digestible vegetable protein, and the sugar content in it is supposedly higher than in yellow. At the same time, white corn contains many useful substances, such as calcium, chromium, magnesium, selenium, sulfur and vitamins.
All this makes the culture especially valuable for those who, for whatever reason, abandoned the animal protein in the diet.
Yellow corn also has a lot of useful properties, but because of the rather rigid structure, it is not recommended to eat for people suffering from gastrointestinal diseases. White corn grains are slightly softer and juicier, so you can make exceptions for it from time to time. Due to its soft structure, white corn needs to be cooked no more than 8 minutes, due to which more beneficial properties are preserved.
Albino corn is used in the same way as regular corn: it is boiled, baked, grilled, and flour and butter are made.
Popular varieties
There are several common varieties of white corn:
- Mermaid. The variety belongs to mid-season, the crop can be harvested after 90 days. The height of the plants reaches 2 meters; the ears are cone-shaped. The weight of one ear can reach 300 grams. The little mermaid is resistant to drought and many diseases.
- The Snow Queen. The variety is famous for its unusual cylindrical shape of cobs and high productivity. The length of the ears reaches 35 cm, and the weight is 350 grams, and this is a record size for corn. About 100 days elapse from sowing to harvest.
- Medunka. The variety ripens quickly enough, in just 70-75 days, reaching a height of slightly less than 2 meters. The fruits of this plant are quite miniature, up to 20 cm in length, weighing about 150 grams. At the same time, the grains correspond to the name: very sweet, a quarter made up of sugars. The variety tolerates temperature extremes.
- Snow White. By maturity, this variety is second only to Medunka, it matures in 73-80 days. The plant reaches 2 meters in height, heads of cabbage are about 20 cm long, the weight of one ears is up to 250 grams.
When choosing a suitable variety of white corn for growing, you need to consider the local climate. Sometimes, in order to finally decide, it is worth planting 2-3 varieties and choosing the best one to your taste.
Planting white corn
It is important to correctly determine the timing of sowing the culture, select and process the soil, prepare and plant planting material.
The timing
The process of planting corn depends on local climatic conditions. In regions with a warm climate, culture can be planted directly in the ground, at the end of April-May. It is important that the soil warms up to 10 degrees. Although corn can withstand short frosts, when the cold is too long, the seedlings do not appear together or do not germinate at all.
Planting corn too late is also not worth it: it should gain green mass before the onset of steady heat. Otherwise, due to lack of moisture, the plants will be weak, with twisted leaves and without a good harvest.
Soil preparation
Before planting, you need to prepare a bed, and it is better to do this in the fall. The site must be selected in a sunny, sheltered from the winds place. The soil should be neutral or slightly acidic, loamy, sandy loam or peat.
In autumn, you need to mix the soil with rotten humus, and a day before planting, thoroughly loosen it.
Preparing planting material
Hybrid seeds can be purchased on the market, the package must be marked “F1”. You can collect seed from existing plants: choose one or two strong ones, on which you need to identify and leave the strongest ears, and remove the rest. They can be collected only after full ripening, that is, when the kernel becomes solid and when pressed with a fingernail, the juice does not protrude. From the selected ears you need to select the largest and most healthy seeds.
Seeds before planting should be soaked for 6 hours and treated from pests and diseases (for example, a weak solution of potassium permanganate).
Seed planting
It is necessary to make rows with shallow furrows. The distance between the rows should be at least 70 cm. Seeds are sown to a depth of 10 cm at a distance of 5 cm from each other.
Planting seedlings
In the northern regions or to obtain an earlier crop, corn can be grown through seedlings. This is best done in early May, and plants should be planted in the ground after 25 days.
First you need to germinate the seeds at room temperature. To do this, put them in a container of warm water, wrapping in gauze or filter paper. After the emergence of sprouts, the seeds are planted in pots, 10-12 cm wide, to a depth of 5 cm. 2-3 seeds can be put in each pot. When real leaflets appear, you need to leave 2-3 of the strongest seedlings. Immediately after this, you need to connect additional lighting with a fluorescent or phytolamp.
After 2-3 weeks, plants can be planted in the ground. No need to overexpose the plant in pots: this will negatively affect growth and productivity.
A week before planting, you need to start hardening: take it out into the street in a shady place, gradually increasing the time spent in the fresh air. Immediately before planting, the plants should be on the street around the clock.
Crop care during cultivation
After the first 3-4 leaves have appeared, the plants sown immediately into the soil must be thinned out, leaving a distance of 20-30 cm. Further care involves standard measures.
Watering
The corn is moisture-loving, therefore it is necessary to provide sufficient and regular watering. At first it should be moderate, but when 7 leaves appear on the plants, the volume of water must be gradually increased, up to 2-3 liters of water per plant. During the growth period of brooms, watering should be reduced, and when the threads on the cobs begin to darken, gradually reduce to moderate.
If it is not possible to provide systematic watering, the earth between the beds needs to be loosened more often: this way the water will leak out better.
Filling the plant is also not worth it: due to stagnation of the fluid, the root system will not receive enough oxygen. This may be indicated by the appearance of a purple hue on the leaves.
Top dressing
Even if during the preparation of the soil all the necessary fertilizers and organic matter were introduced, the plants need additional top dressing, as they are in the process of constant growth until the cobs fully mature.
In the period from the moment of planting to the formation of inflorescences, the culture especially needs nitrogen. Also, from the time of planting to the middle of growth, corn actively consumes potassium, but in the second half of the vegetative period, it returns it to the soil. Phosphorus is introduced into the soil from the moment the site is prepared and up to the appearance of grains.
Hilling
This procedure should be carried out when forming aerial roots or a little earlier. Hilling will strengthen the root system and increase the efficiency of irrigation due to the fact that moisture will be better retained.
Harvesting and storage
White corn is better to collect a little earlier than yellow. Signs of plant maturity are:
- drying of the outer leaf layer on the cob;
- the threads on the cob darkened and dried out;
- the grains are smooth, convex, tightly adjacent to each other.
It is better to eat white corn boiled without exposing it to long-term storage: it is more juicy than yellow, therefore it is stored worse. For a short shelf life, it is better to leave it in its natural “packaging” and place in the refrigerator, where it can be stored for up to 2 weeks.
If the grains are supposed to be dried, the leaves of the wrapper must be tucked down, braided into a braid and hung from it in a dry, ventilated room. When the cob dries well, the grains will sleep from it even after a light shake. Dried grains can be stored in glass, plastic, cardboard or canvas bags.
The best in terms of the preservation of useful elements, the method of harvesting corn is considered to be freezing. To do this, prepare 2 volumetric containers: one with boiling water, the second with ice water. The peeled ears are placed in boiling water for 2 minutes, then in ice water for the same period. After that, the corn is dried on a cloth and placed in a freezer. So it can be stored for more than a year.
A good harvest of white corn is easy to grow and preserve. The culture as a whole is not very demanding, but tasty, healthy and can be a great alternative for the yellow variety.