Corn

Corn (Zea mays) is a domesticated crop originally from the Americas that has become one of the most widely used crops globally. It is grown as a food crop for humans, but is also used to feed livestock and as a biofuel. Additionally, its various components are used as raw materials in a number of industries. One reason that corn is being used in so many ways is that there are many different varieties of corn, each with unique characteristics that make it useful for specific purposes. There is flint corn, dent corn, popcorn and sweet corn - to name just a few. Corn likes sun, but not wind or weeds, and needs heavy feeding (especially nitrogen). There is a considerable list of pests that gravitate toward corn, including cutworms, European corn borers, earworms, bacterial diseases and animal pests. Your best defenses against pests and disease are to monitor carefully, keep your garden clean, cultivate in healthy soil and plant resistant hybrids.