Yukon Chief Sweet Corn
Price: $4.45
SKU: 3140271155 days — 'Yukon Chief' is a very good choice for home gardeners who have limited space, want to try corn in raised beds or containers, or for folks gardening in locations with cooler, shorter growing seasons. As you can see from the reviews below, it is quite popular. At 55 days, it is one of the earliest maturing sweet corn varieties we know of. The stalks are dwarf (three to four feet tall) and produce six to eight inch, yellow, sweet ears that are slightly tapered, average four to five inches in length, and have about twelve rows of kernels. As illustrated in the photo above, some ears will reach six inches.
Bred by Dr. Arvo Kallio of the University of Alaska, Agricultural Experiment Station as a cross between 'Gaspe Flint' and an unknown variety, 'Yukon Chief' was introduced to gardeners in 1958. It was developed specifically to germinate and grow well in cooler soils where sweet corn generally cannot be grown. Our original seed was sent to us in 2008 by our gardening friend, supporter, farmer, and late in life homesteader, the late Richard L. "Skip" Kadow of Delta Junction, Alaska. Each 0.5 ounce is approximately 70 to 75 seeds.
Sow seeds about 1½ to 2½ inch deep, 3 to 4 inches apart, in rows spaced 24 to 30 inches apart. Thin to 6 to 12 inches apart.
Customer Reviews:
By Ruth Ann Rogers on February 6, 2016
I tried this because the name implied it could get off to an earlier start while it was too cool for regular sweet corn. It was almost funny picking ears from such a dinky little plant, but they were good and mostly had two ears per stalk.
By Paula Beach on January 13, 2016
This corn has intense, savory corn flavor. It isn't sweet and I'd say the flavor is more like corn chips. Some of us don't like a very sweet corn, so this is fine with me. In my garden, this corn grew to about two feet and put out one ear per plant. The biggest ear was only two inches long. The kernels are irregular in size and don't form rows. They put out very little pollen, so I had trouble getting full ears. You do need to plant these as close together as possible so no pollen is wasted. They were extremely early; I could have gotten two crops in even with my short season.
By Patrice Lewis on October 19, 2014
Because of our northern location on the high prairie, corn is an enormous challenge. We get high winds and very short growing seasons. We often cant get seed into the ground before June 5 or so, and can expect our first frost around Sept 15. Additionally, taller breeds of corn (including the faithful Golden Bantam) get knocked down by the rip-roaring winds we often get. I admit I was skeptical about the claims of the Yukon Chief variety, but its been absolutely outstanding. It began tasseling while very short perhaps two feet high but it bore ears prolifically. It matured well within our short growing season. It got knocked flat three times over the summer by violent thunderstorms, and sprang back each time. The biggest ears are four or five inches long, but theyre sweet and delicious. In all, we harvested about 600 ears (some small, some big) from our garden. At this point I cant see ever growing anything else, and Ill pass on the recommendation to friends and neighbors who face similar challenges in growing corn.
By Michael Rundquist on August 29, 2014
Super fast corn was up and picked is less than two months. Corn was not the sweetest but has an excellent corn taste. Germination rate was great. Plants stood at about four feet. Each plant had one ear about six inches long it has very small kernels. It did best planted very close together about four to six inch spacing. Will plant again.
By David Emigh on July 19, 2013
Perfect germination. Totally indifferent to the rotten weather--from sub-freezing to parching to drowning. Zero pest or disease problems despite. Right on time fruiting, but no report on the flavor as the racoons beat me to every single ear. Maybe next year...
