CORN @ HIGH ELEVATION

2025 UPDATE

Below was my original post about my attempt (2017) to grow corn here at 9,000 feet. It did not do well, and I never tried it again.

I have heard of other people growing corn successfully around here, so this year (2025) I’ll be trying it one more time. Here are my reasons:

Every year is different. It is possible that my first trial just wasn’t a good year for corn.
This is my 9th year gardening here in the Rockies. I have a lot more experience under my belt, and a better feel for gardening in general.
The first year’s trial was done in one of our raised beds topped with hoops & shade cloth. I was therefore forced to choose a short variety. Perhaps that variety wasn’t right for this climate. (See below.)
Since I only tried that corn in ONE of our raised beds, there wasn’t much of it, and perhaps not enough for it to pollinate each other well. There also weren’t many pollinators around that first year–they have increased along with our consistent garden.
We now have a fenced outdoor area in the ground for growing, primarily intended for squash. Since I have no vertical space requirements in that area, I can now choose from many more varieties.
I was reminded of the “three sisters” method of growing squash, corn & beans together. In the new garden space I have room to attempt this combination.

The variety I’ll be growing is “Ignition”. It’s bred to be an early variety, so hopefully there will be enough time during our short summer to get a harvest of corn.

That said, I’m ready to plant corn & beans with my squash. Wish me luck!

CORN: FIRST TRIAL 2017

Q: Can corn be grown at high elevation?
A: Well, perhaps some folks have been successful, but not us.

Our first year of gardening here, I wanted badly to prove the naysayers wrong. I was convinced that if I chose the right varieties, provided protection from the weather when necessary, and did everything I could to encourage success, I could grow just about anything—even corn. So I gave it my best effort. I suppose it was worth a try, but I’ll never waste my time or garden space on corn again.

I looked for varieties than might be suitable for our environment in our raised beds, and chose Yukon Chief corn. The description states:

55-70 days. Developed in 1958 by the University of Alaska. Yukon Chief sweet Corn is cold resistant and early maturing making it a perfect for colder mountain or coastal climates. Yukon Chief grows about three to four feet high, producing slightly tapered yellow 4-7 inch ears with 12 rows of kernels. Plants produce about two to three ears per plant. Can produce as many as 6 ears on multiple tillers for each plant. This corn would be great for gardening in small spaces or containers. This corn would make a great addition to a school garden or for gardening with children.

I thought this would be the perfect corn for this location in my raised beds. Since it is shorter, I knew it would fit within our framework and I could cover it as needed to keep it warm. We wouldn’t want our poor little corn to get chilly! I thought that having been bred in Alaska, it might be a good fit for us: Alaska being cool with a short season.

The Yukon Chief corn we grew produced the shorter corn plants seen here, with very few ears of corn. All the ears were small, as expected, but they were not filled with kernels, as seen above.

I suppose it was worth the try. Corn, along with a few other things, isn’t suited for our climate or this high elevation and latitude. I don’t think other methods of protection from the cold would help.

What I didn’t take into account when I considered Alaskan corn is that Alaska has LOTS of daylight in the summer–you know, the midnight sun? The Anchorage area has about 19.5 hours of sunlight per day, in comparison to our 16 or so. I think this may make a big difference, even though their moderate-to-cool temperatures are similar to ours.