M. D. Orzolek¹, W. J. Lamont, Jr¹. and Gavin Cowell²
Department of Horticulture
The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA¹  16802
Integrated Packaging, Victoria, Australia²

Abstract: The development of extremely thin clear plastic mulch has enabled the production of early sweet corn without having to cut the plastic or retrieve the film from the field after the sweet corn has been harvested.  The key ingredient in this system is the 6-micron film developed by Integrated Packaging, Victoria, Australia.  This extremely thin film does not have to be cut to allow developing sweet corn plants continued growth, instead, sweet corn plants are able to puncture the plastic and grow through it.  In addition, at the end of the season because of its thin composition, the film does not have to be retrieved from the field and completely disappears by years end.  Because of the thin nature of this film, standard mulch applicators cannot be used to apply the film in the field.  A specialized sweet corn planter with the X-TEND film applicator was developed by SAMCO Agricultural Manufacturing, Limerick, Ireland.  After 3 years of field testing here at Penn State, there is no doubt that sweet corn is able to penetrate the film at about the 4 to 6 leaf stage and continue normal growth.  With two years of field data, the X-TEND integrated crop system does not only increase the yield of sweet corn varieties, but also decreases the time to maturity by at least 7 days.  In both years, 1998 and 1999, wheat was successfully established in the field after the sweet corn was bush-hogged and the field lightly cultivated.  In 1998, only one sweet corn variety was used (‘Temptation”) in the study; in 1999, 3 sweet corn varieties were used (“Champ”, “Temptation” and “Wizard”) in the study.

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