Vegetables

Are you think about plant corn and tomatoes in the garden this time of year ? Have you wondered whether these two plants make good neighbors , or are better off with some distance between them ? Here , horticulture expert Melissa Strauss explores the relationship between corn and tomatoes to determine whether they make good familiar or not .

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tomatoes with corn

If you look for for formula containing tomatoes and Zea mays , you will find out no shortage of delicious summer dishes that pair these two together . From tomato and corn salsa and salad to soups , pasta dish , and chili recipes , there is no question that these two make great fellow traveller in the culinary world .

If you ’re thinking about embed these two tasty vegetable in the garden , you might wonder whether it is fine to embed them together in the same space .

To shape whether these plant make good neighbour in the garden , we need to look at some factor smother their growth , care , and environmental motivation . lease ’s adjudicate whether it ’s a good idea to plant edible corn and tomatoes together in the garden or whether they are better off sticking to other companions .

A little girl gathers fruits of ripe tomatoes in a raised bed with growing corn and tomatoes. The girl is dressed in a mustard hat, red sweater and brown jumpsuit. The corn plant has long thin leaves with dry tips. Tomatoes are herbaceous perennials with compound, medium-sized leaves with a serrated margin and a slightly fuzzy texture. The fruits are small, rounded, juicy, covered with a thin shiny red skin.

The Quick Answer

No , corn and tomatoesdon’t make very good companionsin the garden . These two plant can both attract the same destructive pestilence , the cotton bollworm . They are also both susceptible to fungal infection . These plants will be well off keep their distance in the garden .

The Detailed Answer

comrade planting is the term we use when talk about plant two crop , or plants , together in the garden . It ’s an ancient agricultural drill that can serve many purposes , but ultimately , the objective is an increase harvest of one or all industrial plant involve .

Determining whether flora make right companions requires looking at how they grow and their environmental needs . Sometimes , plant that would n’t seem to go together can benefit from company , even helping one have a longer growing time of year . Some of the path that fellow planting can be good include :

Some plants are very attractive to pollinators . By planting these close to others , you may improve the pollinator bodily process on those plants and increase the yield . Flowering plants like borage and anise hyssop are capital examples of plants that draw in tons of pollinating dirt ball .

Top view, close-up of a young seedling of tomato and corn in loose, moist soil. The tomato seedling has complex leaves, consisting of oval serrated green leaflets. Corn has an upright stem with long, thin green leaves arranged alternately along the stem.

Plants like legumes and clover are considered nitrogen - desexualise plant . They compile nitrogen and pull out it into the dirt around their roots , defecate it available to other plants .

Some plants can help others by play as a keep or by shelter them from hot sun or substantial winds . Corn makes a gravid support structure for bean industrial plant , which enrich their soil for corn ’s welfare , making this a mutually beneficial fellowship .

Basil is reputed to improve the flavor of tomato when plant together , make these a enceinte twain in the garden and the kitchen .

Close-up of raised beds with growing tomatoes and corn in a sunny garden. The corn plant is tall, has long narrow leaves that alternate along the stem. The leaves are green in color and have parallel veins running from the base to the tip. The tomato plant has upright stems and compound leaves, medium in size with a serrated edge, bright green and arranged alternately along the stem.

Certain plants are very good at masking the olfactory property of other plant that are more vulnerable to pesterer . By imbed these , such as marigold , around your vegetables , your more vulnerable plants will benefit from this trade protection .

The most obvious welfare of companion planting is that it saves space in the garden for other crop !

For as many plants that make good neighbor in the garden , others in spades do not work together for the benefit of one another . When the wrong plants are put together in the garden , some of the less worthy effects they can have include :

Watering tomatoes in the garden. Close-up of a green watering can with a black spray nozzle watering growing tomato plants. The tomato plant has compound leaves that consist of oval, dark green leaflets with serrated edges. Tomato fruits are round, small, covered with a thin shiny red skin.

Not all plants have the same nutritionary needs or the same consumption of those nutrient . The amount of fertilizer that one plant needs could burn out another that need less . fleshy - feast plants can also deprive other plants of nutrients , resulting in a reduced output from one or both .

flora with unlike environmental needs , such as sun photo or soil sour , are typically incompatible . Seasonality is important as well . Most coolheaded - weather veggie do n’t make good companions for warm - atmospheric condition crops .

Plants that abide from the same diseases or are vulnerable to the same pests do not make sound companions . If dirt ball are drawn to one , they will quickly find their way to the other , and you risk losing both crops .

Close-up of a gardener’s hands touching the leaves of a young corn seedling in the garden. Corn seedlings have thick, upright stems and long, thin, narrow, ribbon-like leaves that are bright green in color with tapered tips. The soil is loose, dark brown.

Let ’s consider the penury and habit of our two plants : Zea mays and tomatoes . Keep interpret as we help determine their compatibility together in the garden .

Season

Corn and tomatoes are both warm - conditions crops . Tomatoes can be planted about four weeks after the last Robert Lee Frost date . They typically begin to mature in former summer , stay into the other fall . Zea mays is best planted in April / May and is ordinarily ready to harvest by belated summertime . They are compatible in this agency , as both are summer vegetables .

Sun Exposure

Both tomatoes andcorn like to be grownin full sun . This is likely compatibility . However , corn grows quite tall and can obstruct tomato plant industrial plant from receiving tolerable light .

Tomatoes adore the Sunday and produce the most flower and fruit when move over the right exposure . This is a disconfirming agent in their compatibility that would call for pull up stakes extra space between row to ensure tomatoes do n’t spend all day in the shade .

Moisture

Tomatoes need 1”-2 ” of water weekly and wish to receive it in daily doses . Their ground should stay continuously moist , particularly while the yield is ripening . Corn likes about the same amount of pee around the same time . The two are compatible in this way .

Soil

Corn require deeply loosen land with a slimly acidulent pH and plenty of constitutional issue . The idealistic soil type for corn is loamy soil with good drain but with enough constituent topic to continue some wet for reproducible H2O entree . Tomatoes have similar requirements , except that they prefer even better drain . Mixing some coarse sand into loamy soil will make these plants happiest .

Nutrients

Both Indian corn and tomato are heavy birdfeeder but with one particular difference . Corn get laid nitrogen , which is why it has a cracking relationship with bean . On the other mitt , Lycopersicon esculentum demand a low atomic number 7 fertilizer if you want to maximise fruit production .

Too much N will encourage undue green maturation in tomatoes , which draw in DOE away from fruit production . This area of incompatibility between the two could leave in a reduced yield from your tomato plant .

Space

Both plants can take up a decent amount of place above the ground . However , they are both perpendicular grower . This is not a peculiarly press issue in this family relationship , except where sun exposure is interest . If planted too close together , corn can cast a shadow on tomatoes , reducing the product of the tomato plant .

Pollinators and Pests

Here is where the not bad incompatibility lie between these two plants . Corn and tomato share a very destructive pest , thecotton bollworm , also known as thetomato hornwormor the corn whiskey earworm . This pesky larval plague can cause serious terms to both flora ; the closer they are , the less ground it needs to cover up .

In addition to the cotton plant bollworm , these two industrial plant are susceptible to the same fungous diseases and several other insects . Because of these factors , the two plants can have a disastrous companionship in the garden . There are bettercompanion plants for cornand for tomatoes .

Final Thoughts

Planting clavus and tomatoes as neighbor in the garden is not deserving the risk . While they have some area of compatibility , such as season , dirt , and moisture requirement , planting them together can have electronegative issue . Core plants can throw a shadow on tomato plant plants , and the atomic number 7 that corn needs for maximum growth can reduce the yield of your tomato plant .

The greatest incompatibility , though , lies in their vulnerability to the same pests and diseases . The cotton fiber bollworm is a particularly rapacious consumer of both plant . I consider it is better to keep these two separate in the garden and plant a good pest deterrent in between . tomato have proficient companion plant to reckon , as does Indian corn .

Close-up of a gardener’s hands in white gloves pouring fertilizer from a plastic pail at the base of a tomato plant, in a sunny garden. A young tomato plant has an upright stem with complex pinnate leaves consisting of oval, dark green leaflets with serrated edges.

Close-up of corn seedlings growing in a row in a sunny garden. The corn plant has upright stems covered with long thin leaves that alternate along the stem. These leaves are broad and flat, dark green in color. They are distinctly shaped with a pointed tip and parallel veins running from base to tip.

Close-up of ripe tomato fruits affected by Helicoverpa armigera (cotton bollworm). Tomato fruits are large, rounded, covered with a thin bright red skin. Another tomato fruit is unripe, green. In the ripe fruit there is a hole from which the cotton bollworm crawls out. The cotton bollworm is a destructive pest that infects a variety of plants, including tomatoes and corn. Cotton bollworm larvae have a cylindrical body covered with smooth skin, light brown in color, with stripes or marks along the entire length.