Zanadoo Sweet Corn

Low-input Bicolour Sweet Corn 'Zanadoo'

Zea mays

OSSI-pledged variety

Seeds per packet: ~50

You know that old joke about the gardener spending $20 on compost and fertilizer to grow a tomato they could have bought in the store for $1? Hybrid F1 corn, which is virtually all that is commonly available now, exemplifies this. Bred under conditions of essentially unlimited fertilizer, water, and caretaking, commercial corn produces great yields under perfect, buckets-of-fertilizer conditions. Fertilizer, which, by the way, the corn breeding company also sells. It’s the agenda of Big Corn. What we need is a sweet corn that is less gluttonous than hybrid corn and tastes great. What we need is Zanadoo. Bred by the late, massively respected Jonathan Spero, Zanadoo is a bicolour sweet corn adapted to organic growing and “selected to produce without high fertility levels and without coddling.” Hooray!

The other thing about hybrid corn: it’s getting sweeter and sweeter. The complexity of traditional corn flavour is disappearing. But Zanadoo offers a reasonably sweet cob that has much more wholesome, fulfilling flavour. After eating Zanadoo, I find hybrid corn flavour inferior. Zanadoo's cobs will be an unpredictable mix of yellow and white kernels. Some cobs will be fully white, some fully yellow, and there will be everything in between. Cobs around 7” with 14 rows of kernels. One to two ears per plant.

Growing info: Approximately 85 days. Corn requires full sun. Best results will be in fertile soil. Transplant or direct seed. Start in early summer once soil and weather is warm, around June 1 in our area. Seed 2” deep, with plants 12” apart. Corn is wind-pollinated, so plant a block of corn, not a row, to ensure pollination. Fertilize with a nitrogen fertilizer. Consistent watering is most important starting when silks emerge and through to harvest. Harvest when kernels give off milky white fluid. Clear fluid means a bit too early to harvest. Flavour degrades in storage — eat quickly!

Dry growing info: I have not tried growing corn, including Zanadoo, without any irrigation. The best results I expect would be in a deep, fertile, loamy soil with good structure.

Thank you to Siskiyou Seeds for providing our stock seed

You have the freedom to use these OSSI-Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict the use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.