Corn is one of those rare plants that doesn't easily burn from overfertilization ,it just turns greener,grows faster and taller. No need to widen distance between stalks for better production if nutrients are kept up throughout season.

for the last 6 years Nirvana is the only type of corn I grow now and the best! I never plant it a foot apart as directed on the package and shoot for 8 or 9 inches but a lot gets planted 6" apart without any issues. In fact I've let many doubles (2 seeds in the same hole) grow and they grow just as good.

I'm down to 20" apart for the rows now with barely enough room to get through, and because Corn is a grass you could plant the rows 6" to 9" apart and still get a good stand of corn with enough nutrients as Klem1 said. I just looked at my corn and one row has plants consistently 6" to 7" apart and are just as healthy, tall and green as another outer row which was half eaten by a deer and the plants are a foot to more than two feet apart.

If I only had a 4'x4' spot I'd plant 6" apart in rows 12" apart for a total of 5 rows with each row having 10 plants. That's 50 plants! Put down a healthy amount of starter fertilizer a few inches under the seed so the fertilizer isn't in contact with the seed before planting the seeds. Believe it or not I use ferti.lome new grass fertilizer , because corn IS a grass, and included in the NPK are trace amounts of Boron, Iron, Manganese and Zinc.

Odd thing, the University of Minnesota recommends 8" to 12" apart in rows 30" to 36" apart and I live close to the U of M Agriculture campus where they do the planting for students. I've stopped and measured their own planting of corn is it was always 8" apart in rows 24" apart. It's just a big overgrown modified grass developed over a thousand years of selective breeding, and whether you use U of M recommendations, the Three Sisters indigenous American agricultural method, Kevin's method or Roberts method it's going to grow. So how does it grow?

" The question is what number of stalks do I keep to get the most good quality cobs? Do I consider a second good ear on stalks as realistic?"

At that spacing - provided the site is in full sun -you should get one good ear per plant. The tendency to get a second ear varies between varieties, but you might get some smaller secondary ears... I usually use those for cut corn, or for "snacking ears".

" They can be successfully transplanted, but that usually slows them down."

Ordinarily corn transplants are unnecessary. But when every seed counts (or every plant counts) it might be good practice. For a small planting such as mentioned, with risks of losses due to animals or disease, it makes great sense. You can avoid open spots, and keep a few transplants as backups, to replace any losses with plants of the same age.

Because I am growing a seed corn variety this year that is hard to find (and every seed counts) I used corn transplants. Admittedly a bit of a PITA, but I'm less likely to lose plants than seeds, and the three 4 X 10 blocks are filled without gaps. I was basically planting in adobe gravel too, where seeds might not have fared as well.

About Nirvana Rob, I buy 1000 seeds (cheaper) and plant 2 staggered planting each year and use up the 1000 seeds over two years. Even on my best years under optimal conditions for corn I won't get many good 2nd ears from them, especially the later planting with little worth picking because of the cooler temps and sun intensity in the late summer early fall. I don't even consider the 2nd ears in my count and any good ones are a bonus.

This year I used up my extras, about 170 seeds and didn't order more so I only got one planting and still don't know why I didn't order more. Three year old sweet corn seeds is pushing it but they all did come up.

Thanks for the comments and ideas. At this point I will go with 20-25 stalks. Hopefully get multiple fresh picked meals. To me, this is a fun project.