Martian Jewels Sweet Corn
Zea mays
Certified Organic
Jaw-dropping, high-contrast, white sweet corn with a dark burgundy husk, and bi-color green and burgundy foliage. Not only is the contrast evident in peeling back the husk, but once you take a bite, the deep scarlet cob is revealed too! Sweet and delicious in addition to its stunning looks. An original series of crosses made by Alan Kapuler of Peace Seeds, Martian Jewels contains flour corn, sugary corn, and sugary enhanced corns in its parentage. This sweet corn also multi-tasks in the kitchen, and can be used as a cooking and flour corn .
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Growing instructions
Growing corn is pretty easy if you provide your seeds with highly fertile soil. Seed can be sown in early- to mid-May depending on the year (corn likes a slightly-warmed-up soil for germination). For continued harvest all season, sow crops at two-week intervals until mid-summer. Drop seeds into furrows about 1 inch deep. Begin with spacing of three to four inches and thin the plants once up to a spacing of six to eight inches. Rows should be a good 30 or 42 inches apart with this spacing, which matches common widths of garden beds.
Some years corn needs very little attention, but in dry years it will need irrigating. It thrives during the summers when subtropical weather settles in for a couple months. Many critters love to munch on corn, including rodents and, most notoriously, raccoons. Avoid growing corn near chicken coops or pest attractants, and be sure to surround your garden with a good critter fence.
When ears fill out, check regularly for sweetness; open-pollinated corn does not last long in the field at peak ripeness. Peel back the husk and press your thumb into a kernel; if it pops open and yields a sweet milky fluid, pluck a dozen and throw them in a pot. It's hard to beat sweet corn fresh from the garden--even the freshest ears from roadside stands do not compare.
Product Details
| Days to Maturity | 75 days |
|---|---|
| Days to Germination | 4 to 6 days |
| Width at Maturity | 6 inches |
| Height at Maturity | 72 to 96 inches |
| Sun Conditions | Full Sun (8+ Hours Sun) |
| Planting Depth | _ inch |
| Row Spacing | 24-36 inches |
| Plant Spacing | 12 inches |
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Easy to grow! I didn’t hand pollinate or spray with BT, I never even hand watered it, it was on a timed system. No worms, great pollination, good size ears, 2 ears per stalk. will be growing again next year
Grew quickly in a grow bag. Can’t wait to try it!
Grew this corn in my raised bed for the first time. It germinated and shot stalks up quickly and beautifully. Some stalks were as high as 12 feet… We were a bit shocked. I was excited to try this new corn because the burgundy stalks were really beautiful and I had no idea what to expect inside the husks. When ready to pick, I was pleasantly surprised to see all of the yellow and white kernels fully developed. But as I husked them, I discovered a problem… Corn worms had gotten into the cob and done their damage. Fortunately, it was only at the top of the cob so we cut that portion off and cooked the rest.
Both my husband and I were disappointed with this corn. The kernels were starchy and chewy,
It tasted like corn, but was not exceptionally sweet or flavorful. I will not grow this corn again and I’m discarding the remainder of the seed package.
It was a good trial and I enjoyed watching it grow, Had lots of comments from my gardener friends and family on how beautiful these extremely tall corn stocks were.
I should have taken a photo of this last season when I grew it. Martian jewels is a great corn to grow.
Stalks were 5-7 ft, leaves dark green with purple mixed in. Stalks are dark burgundy , ears are dark purple burgundy , tightly wrapped. Kernels are white with a great sweet flavor. The contrast with the dominant purple coloring make it gorgeous to look at.
I will grow it again, this is a fun corn to grow, yields tasty gorgeous ears, a pleasure to grow and eat. Edible art if there ever was.
Striking and delicious
We grew this for the first time this year. All our corn is in raised beds and planted far closer than is recommended but it works for us. We had excellent germination and it grew well considering this has been a weird year weather-wise. I like unusual plants (no Kentucky Wonder or Better Boy for me) so this was perfect. The plants are gorgeous-the burgundy and green is a lovely combination. The kernels are pearly and it has good flavor, not crazy-sweet but very good. We didn't get a lot of full-size ears because the four-footed marauders got to it so I had to take it early. I'm planning a cage for next year. The plants grew tall and strong and liked a side-dressing of triple 10 and did not require hilling to stand up to the wind.
This will not be everyone's cup of tea. The deep burgundy husk is striking and the cob is the same dark color under the white kernels. The effect can be unsettling to those accustomed to 'regular' sweet corn. I think it's one of the coolest things I've ever grown. We're starting to call it Creepy Corn but we're also planning to grow it again. The husks and cobs will stain your fingers but that's all part of the fun. The stalks are going to be great for Hallowe'en.
Thanks to Hudson Valley Seed for offering this. It's sold out now but I'm buying two packs the minute it's back in stock.