July means sweet corn harvest has arrived, and some Virginia farmers are predicting a successful season.
Grown throughout Virginia, sweet corn typically appears in farmers’ markets and grocery stores in June and is available as late as mid-October.Aaron Goode, owner of Chesterfield Berry Farm, said his sweet corn is ready for picking after a relatively smooth-sailing growing season.
“It was pretty dry for a while, but the crop looks good,” he said. Goode added that rain showers in late June helped his Supersweet variety bicolor corn withstand dry conditions earlier in the month.
Mike Cullipher of Cullipher Farm in Virginia Beach similarly reported “unseasonably dry” conditions in May and early June, which he managed with irrigation. The biggest hurdle was a prolonged, cooler spring.
Sweet corn prefers a sunny, warm environment, thriving in temperatures between 60° and 75°, according to Virginia Cooperative Extension. In early June, daily low temperatures dropped to the 40s and 50s in V...