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Comment by refibrillator | Hacker News Reader

I’ve attempted the 3 sisters technique in an urban environment and one difficulty I’ve struggled with is the fact that corn does not seem to grow strong in pots or raised beds.

Recently I learned from a farmer that many popular corn varieties require exceedingly deep roots to be sturdy. More than several feet deep in many cases - depending on corn variety, soil and weather conditions, etc.

This wouldn’t be much of an issue if I planted directly in the ground, but the trouble is I don’t trust the soil or water around here quite frankly.

This year I’m building up a mound of dirt around the base of the maturing corn stalks to help support the weight of the plant. We’ll see if they stay upright through the late summer storms. Would love to hear if anyone else has successful workarounds.

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I have a small raised bed dedicated to my first Three Sisters growing right now. Just planted beans a few days ago now that corn has had a head start. Rookie gardener, but hoping for at least some visual interest if not production. The beans are supposed to fix nitrogen which helps the other plants, but does anyone know if this requires a year to pass where the old bean plant decomposes into the soil? Or is merely bean plant presence enough to share nitrogen?

Interesting point, never thought of it before, although I knew about nitrogen fixation. Google the term, Wikipedia may have the answer. I will too.

My understanding is that the nitrogen-fixing is actually done by bacteria that they have a symbiotic relationship with. How cool!

I think they have to die and turned into compost, so the benefit is for the next season.

It’s similar for notill techniques — it can take five seasons before it hits a threshold and the soil becomes more productive than with conventional methods.

It's bacteria that live in the bean roots that do it continuously. Read more about rhizobia here: https://www.gardenbetty.com/a-look-at-legumes-rhizobia-and-r...

For those who don't want to read the article, it's important to note that if rhizobia are not present in your soil, you may want to inoculate your soil with it to get things going. It doesn't come along for free with a bean or pea seed, although some rhizobia are present in most soil.

I actually had great success raising corn in a raised bed in western Washington state. Probably one of the easiest things I've grown. At the time we had galvanized steel mesh about 10 inches underneath the surface to keep moles out, so maybe that gave it extra grip if you're having a root issue.

Sounds like OP has a barrier beneath their planter box and doesn't want to grow plants in the native soil for whatever reason.

I sow directly in ground, but it's not great soil, so probably 6-10 inches below ground, the soil starts to get crap fast... lots of clay and rocks. Hard to build up good deep soil.

That, plus lack of proper nutrients (sun, rain, minerals) led my corn to be thin and short, and they quickly topple over from the beans. You can still string them up of course, but it's annoying, and the corn ears are small and sometimes under-developed. The squash also didn't seem to fare well.

In the US, your local County Extension office may be able to help with such issues.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/extension-search

I think there's only 1 cultivar of corn that does okish on containers.

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