Spacing for corn

I garden organically using 4'-wide beds and lots of compost. My soil after many years of this is quite rich. How close together can I plant my sweet corn? I'd like to plant as many as I can in a given bed, without compromising the quality & size of the corn.

 

How large is your bed, you only mentioned one dimension? You need to insure you have a large enough group planted for pollination. The smallest and densest planting I've tried is 4' x 10' with 10" spacing. Depending on where you live also be mindful of field crops nearby that can cross pollinate and ruin the crop.

 

You probably shouldn't go any closer than 6" apart. Assuming it will have no lack of water.

 

Thanks, Pilot. I have various-sized beds, but all are about 4' wide. So I'm looking for a general guideline as to # of square inches needed per plant for healthy growth. I'm hoping for a scientifically (or otherwise)-determined amount of area needed per plant.

So you used 10" spacing in both dimensions, and got nice results?

 

I can provide all the water, compost, and mulch it can want.

 

I was assuming you are planting in rows... but I get the impression you want to plant like a grid.

At only 4 ft wide, that's probably 2 rows of corn max if the seeds are in rows 6" apart and you plant them 8" or so from the edge of the bed. Corn needs room to leaf out. Not scientific, just based on over 100 yrs experience, as grandpa was an avid gardener.

Commercial seed companies experiment with maximum population density, (such as double rows) but they are also using farm equipment. A garden is different. Still, with your sized plot I wouldn't go any closer than 12" if you plan to plant like a perfect grid. In this link they mention double row planting at just under 7.5" spacing. But those double rows are based on a 30" (on center) spacing. (See their photo)

That sounds like it would work for your plot width if you want a scientific basis. If that spacing doesn't work because it's too close to the bed edges, just do the math and base the spacing on a similar population in the same area as the Dekalb example.