Behind my property is a 125 acre corn field and I became interested in doing some of my own corn testing after seeing the farmer's feed-corn crop fail last growing season because of the lack of rainfall and chemical fertilizers used in the field.

I found some certified organic sweet corn seeds at a local seed supplier and set up two different "test areas" in my backyard. One area was amended native soil using "Scotts products" and the other area was heavily amended using Howard's organic bed preparation formula that included compost, volcanic rock powders, and sugars.

When I planted the seeds, the "Scotts area" was simply hoed into rows and the seeds were covered up at a depth of about 2 inches like corn is normally planted.

In the organic area, I planted the seeds slightly differently to help them germinate. I sharpened a stick that was about the same diameter as the corn seeds and poked it into the soil in rows, then dropped a seed in each hole. The kicker was that I back-filled each of the tiny holes with "Rabbit Hill Farms" earthworm castings to help "jump start" the germination.

Here is a comparison of the difference using a bottle of Garret Juice Plus for a size reference:

Scotts area:


Not bad, but the chemicals in the Scotts products have taken their toll on that corn area.

Dirt Doctor formula prepared area:


The difference is quite stunning! Almost TWICE the height!
I will be most interested to see if the organic corn plants grow more than the normal 2 ears per plants VS the "Scotts plants". I suspect that they will. {chuckle}
Note that the "Scotts area" had far more weeds..

You said "notice the scotts area had more weeds"... But I noticed that the scotts area was not mulched, but the organic area is? Great experiment any how. I also noticed the organic corn has a different color green to it. Is that just me? I can't wait untill they start making corn. Keep us updated? This is great.

Very true Dirt Face, One aspect of the experiment that I was curious about was how effective mulching would be on weed control. The mulch that I used is called "Texas Native" that can be found at any Home Depot. It is made in the Austin area out of shredded organically grown trees and composts beautifully!

BTW, the organic corn DOES have a lighter shade of green. Nice observation!

When I first moved into my newly built home three years ago, I had no clue about planting and organics. The property was raw dirt and we did the usual St. Augustine sodding and planted a few basic shrubs:



Yes, we watered with "Miracle Grow" for the first year and the grass did not really spread much. While listening to my radio one Sunday, I stumbled across the "Dirt Doctor show" on 660 AM out of Dallas and began to listen and learn. I stopped using chemicals on the front yard and went to a pure organic program for my grass and shrubs and after only 1 1/2 years the front yard looked like this:



I have been absolutely SOLD on the organic method and now enjoy healthier plants wherever I'm growing them. It's quite amazing!

My neighbor Larry, is still scratching his head because all of my plants and turf have NO stress related conditions. {chuckle}

Today's photos of the Scotts vs Organic corn plants.
This is the "Scotts plants" shot this evening after a thorough watering early this morning:



They have been needing a LOT more water to keep the leaves healthy. I had seen a little "closing and shriveling" of the leaves that appeared to be water starvation related and they responded a little to the morning watering. I had watered them Sunday and they ALREADY demanded more water after only 3 days!
On the other hand, the organically grown corn did not receive any water since Sunday and are looking quite robust:



The line of plants in front of the corn is a row of onions that are also looking pretty good in the rich organic environment.
I still cannot believe the differences in the leaf sizes between the two corn test areas and the watering requirments of those areas!
~N2O~

The organic corn looks shorter in height, but leaves are definately thicker. The scotts corn is thin compared to the organic. P.S. I used that same mulch that you mentioned. It is sold as "mulch", but there is compost mixed in for sure.

Photos of the Scotts VS organically grown corn!
The corn has been getting larger, so I used one of my sprinklers as a size reference this time.
The sprinkler stands about 1 1/2 feet tall in the collapsed position.

Here is this evening's "Scotts" corn area:



Looks like I need to water it and weed the area AGAIN! {chuckle} Weeds just LOVE a soil imbalance.

Here is the organic corn with the same sprinkler.
Note that they are growing much higher than the sprinkler's height and the sprinkler towered above the "scotts" corn:



They say, "a photo is worth a thousand words." I agree.
~N2O~

This is great. How often are you using the garret juice on your organic corn?

Dirt Face, I drench with Garret Juice & Thrive twice per month and water weekly. With each weekly watering I also spray with Plant Wash while the plants are still wet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3D5lujoMpY
A fast paced look at plants, critters, birds, and landscaping at my new home.
The surprises that I see every day never ends!
Enjoy!
~N2O~

When my new home was built, the contractor left this mess in the backyard:



After finding the Dirt Doctor show on the radio and learning about organics, I was able to do an entire property "organic detox" that included over 100 lbs of activated charcoal to tie up any chemicals and about 3 cubic yards of high quality compost as a base soil amendment.
Two years later after a LOT of work, the backyard looked like a putting green on a golf course:



The Bermuda seed loved the rich organic environment and grew like crazy!
Yes, the organic method WORKS!

The best "success story" from these photos has been the native Hackberry tree that we marked to not be cut down. It has received the full "sick tree treatment" and has grown from a little 4 inch diameter tree into an 8 inch diameter beauty in only 2 years!
Gotta love organics!
~N2O~

My organic corn is flowering a full week ahead of the synthetic corn and is out growing the synthetic corn by almost 12 inches!
Here is a shot of the best of the synthetic corn plant's flower pods:



Yes, it is hard to see so we will look at one of the organic corn's flower heads:



Is that something else? What a difference!
Now I will compare the current growth sizes of the corn plants.
Here is the latest photo of the synthetic corn plants:



Here is the same sprinkler in front of the organically grown corn plants:



The photos tell the story well! Organics not only works, but works very well!
~N2O~

A photo is worth a thousand words.. Organics VS Synthetics:



Looks like organics is winning the "corn race" by a bunch!
The organic corn got a boost of "Alpha Bio Thrive" this weekend and is growing at a rate of 1 inch per day since it has bloomed.
The Scotts corn is just sitting there with only one plant that has grown an early and somewhat underdeveloped flower pod.

This little experiment is getting more surprising each day!
The "chemical corn" just sits there and does nothing. On the other hand, the organically grown corn has a new surprise for me every evening when I get home from work and inspect all of my plants in the backyard.
It's quite amazing..
~N2O~

The ongoing organic VS synthetic corn experiment has taken a most interesting twist this week!

The synthetic corn finally started setting some blooms as pictured below:



Not bad at all! BUT.. Look what the organically grown corn is doing at the same time that the synthetic corn is just starting to flower:



Yes, the organic corn is already growing cobs in various stages of development almost 2 weeks ahead of the synthetic corn such as this little guy:



This experiment is getting MOST interesting!
~N2O~

This is too awesome!! Thank you for sharing.
Organic works very well