3 ms·

I'm not sure this is even worth the effort. The claims about efficient use of land area and water with this technique is questionable. I tried this myself, and

by NL807 3y ago

I'm not sure this is even worth the effort. The claims about efficient use of land area and water with this technique is questionable. I tried this myself, and some of the major issues I found is that corn seems to out compete companion plants for light, water and nutrients. The situation is even worse when your companion plants are melons or pumpkins, which also demand a lot water and light. So in the end, you'll end up with diebacks, lanky growth and low yield produce - or mostly just corn crops, because it would win the resource competition. To prevent the above issues from happening, you'd have to space out corn so sparsely, that the corn crop amount you're getting will be hardly worth it, or you need to use a bigger garden area to make companion cultivation worthwhile in terms of results. And if you are using more land area, you might as well just partition out the companion plants into their own separate fields and get more yield that way, without any competition.

Avshalom 3y ago
Yeah, modern plant varietals probably aren't a great fit for a lot of old techniques.
horsawlarway 3y ago
We didn't really have problems with the corn outcompeting. At least in our zone (7B/8A) as long as you're properly succession planting them (Corn first, then beans, then squash, each delayed a few weeks after the other) they tend to grow well. The corn stalks were going dry around the time the beans were popping off, and the beans were slowing down around the time the squash really wanted the light. Admittedly - we used smaller varieties than you for the squash (heritage summer squash) so maybe the melons need more. Our biggest issues was just that you need a LOT of corn to get the correct pollination. 10 plants absolutely did not cut it. We needed at least 30 in our space, or the ears were half empty. --- To be honest - it's probably still not as productive as partitioning each out and then carefully cultivating them. But it is super low maintenance once you get the hang of it. Nice for a family with young kids & jobs who are gardening on the side.

by NL807 3y ago

Avshalom 3y ago

Yeah, modern plant varietals probably aren't a great fit for a lot of old techniques.

horsawlarway 3y ago

We didn't really have problems with the corn outcompeting. At least in our zone (7B/8A) as long as you're properly succession planting them (Corn first, then beans, then squash, each delayed a few weeks after the other) they tend to grow well. The corn stalks were going dry around the time the beans were popping off, and the beans were slowing down around the time the squash really wanted the light. Admittedly - we used smaller varieties than you for the squash (heritage summer squash) so maybe the melons need more. Our biggest issues was just that you need a LOT of corn to get the correct pollination. 10 plants absolutely did not cut it. We needed at least 30 in our space, or the ears were half empty. --- To be honest - it's probably still not as productive as partitioning each out and then carefully cultivating them. But it is super low maintenance once you get the hang of it. Nice for a family with young kids & jobs who are gardening on the side.