Crop
Irrigating Sweet Corn on sand
Sweet corn is a popular summer crop on the Swan Coastal Plain with high quality crops of supersweet varieties produced for fresh consumption. There are some critical growth stages at which moisture stress can have major impact on the yield and quality of sweet corn. The ears (cobs) are initiated as early as the 5-leaf stage, and the ear size is determined in the 3 weeks prior to tasselling/silking.
Water requirement (mm) = Evaporation (mm) x Crop factor
| Table 1: Crop factors for irrigating sweet corn on sandy soils in Western Australia | ||
| Growth Stage | Weeks after sowing 1 | Crop factor |
| Sowing to 4-leaf stage | 0 - 2 | 1.0 |
| 4-leaf to 8-leaf stage | 3 - 4 | 1.2 |
| 8-leaf stage until tasselling | 5 - 7 | 1.4 |
| Tasselling until harvest | 8 - 12 | 1.4 |
1 Indicative weeks after sowing are for a mid November planted crop, cultivar Crunch, near Perth, with harvest at 12 weeks after sowing. Maturity for October and February sown crops can exceed 15 weeks
