When the seedlings get to be 3 to 4 inches tall, remove seedlings (choose the weakest to remove, if you have the option) so that the spacing is now between 8 and 12 inches apart, giving the remaining plants enough room to mature healthily. If you have a vigorous variety, the larger spacing (12 inches) might be better. So, if you’ve planted at 4-inch spacing, remove every other to obtain 8-inch spacing; as a diagram, with uppercase 鈥淴鈥 being the plants you want to keep and lowercase 鈥渪鈥 for those you remove: X x X x X x X. Or, if you’ve planted at 4-inch spacing, you can also choose a larger spacing, such as 12 inches; in this case, you’d remove the 2nd and 3rd plant out of every 4: X x x X x x X x x X
Because some seeds may not germinate, some seedlings may be weak, some may be eaten by pests, etc., planting more corn initially, at a closer spacing (4 to 6 inches), gives you a better chance of getting the most corn for your space after thinning (8 to 12 inches).
When the seedlings get to be 3 to 4 inches tall, remove seedlings (choose the weakest to remove, if you have the option) so that the spacing is now between 8 and 12 inches apart, giving the remaining plants enough room to mature healthily. If you have a vigorous variety, the larger spacing (12 inches) might be better. So, if you’ve planted at 4-inch spacing, remove every other to obtain 8-inch spacing; as a diagram, with uppercase 鈥淴鈥 being the plants you want to keep and lowercase 鈥渪鈥 for those you remove: X x X x X x X. Or, if you’ve planted at 4-inch spacing, you can also choose a larger spacing, such as 12 inches; in this case, you’d remove the 2nd and 3rd plant out of every 4: X x x X x x X x x X
Because some seeds may not germinate, some seedlings may be weak, some may be eaten by pests, etc., planting more corn initially, at a closer spacing (4 to 6 inches), gives you a better chance of getting the most corn for your space after thinning (8 to 12 inches).