Acupuncture Your Sweet Corn

Acupuncture your sweet corn CROPS New Techniques 9-4-5 Try This For Sweeter Corn ù Here's an intriguing idea that just might make your garden corn sweeter and help it ripen quicker. It's acupuncture! The ancient Chinese gardening technique has been tried with some success, according to reports in national gardening publications. One publication reports that the technique was used in an experiment in which four rows of Ashworth corn were given identical care except every other row got the acupuncture treatment. The results: The acupunctured rows matured a week earlier than the others and their ears had markedly sweeter flavor. Here's what you do: While the cornsilk is still green, drive a round toothpick through the base of the ear stem and into the main stem just above the joint (See sketch). The theory behind this is that wounding the plant this way forces it to send healing sugars to the affected area. When you puncture the ear stem, sugars are forced into the ear, causing it to mature earlier and be sweeter. If you try this, let us know what kind of success you have. (Reprinted from Carolina Country.)

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