Corn should be okay, as long as you can minimally disturb the roots. It is just another grass; and rice, wheat, and the others are often started in flats, then transplanted individually by hand, something I do not have the time & patience for.
When I plant corn, there’s always some ‘holes’ in the rows, and I fill those with seedlings that would otherwise be thinned, and they always grow fine, after a droopy day or two.
Well the corn is in degradeable individual compartments about the size one of the sections in an egg carton only deeper.
So I figure I just snip the bottom and the sides and plant them leaving the container otherwise intact hence not disturbing the roots hopefully.
I have always pre sprouted corn seed by laying it on and covering it with moist paper towels and then into “Speedling Trays” when the root tips show. Then transplant into the garden near the end of May. The soils around Humboldt Bay are too cool for direct seeding. I picked up 1 1/2 cu yards of fine pine bark mulch to cover the 140 sq ft of Seascape Strawberries yesterday and will complete that this between Nascar races this weekend. I have used rice hulls in the past as a mulch and slug deterrent.