No, I start under grow lights. I only start certain plants, some need the help, some don't. Some are much better direct sown as they do not like the transplant process. I can give you my list of what to start indoors and what to start by direct sow if you're interested. It's fairly simple to start your plants indoors and build your own grow light stand.
If you start from seed, they generally don't produce the first year. I have found the best way is to plant them in a pyramid or in a long row box. Plant in spring, winter over with heavy mulching (straw and such dry fodder, this is really important in cold areas) and next year give them a healthy dose of manure. Add phosphate after first blooms appear to promote extra fruiting. They generally produce well for 3 to 5 seasons of harvest.
Bwa ha ha ha!!
Yeah, we've done the flame thrower too... Just didn't mention it, thought it was a bit "do not try this at home"
All you need to do to keep the ear worms out is put a drop or two of vegetable oil on the silks where they join the husk. Any larvae inside will be smothered, and any future larvae won't go in. Corn can be grown at 1' spacing in the row, with 2 rows 1' apart, followed by a 2' spacing, then 2 more rows. It's a super easy way to pack a lot of corn in a small space. I don't hill corn, merely give it a nice deep mulch. You could also start the seed in a trench, level out the trench when it's tall enough, and then do the deep mulch. Also, corn and potatoes are good growing buddies, so I often plant 2 rows of corn, a row of potatoes (be sure to leave room to get at the potatoes for mulching and bug control) and 2 more rows of corn.
You could probably renew your patch, as long as the plants aren't diseased. transplant some of the best plants to a new spot that has been amended and heavily fertilized. They'll take off and grow like crazy, you should be back in business with a good strong bed in 2 years.
