Author Topic: lament of sweetcorn!  (Read 3180 times)

vague

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lament of sweetcorn!
« on: September 21, 2014, 21:49:59 »
  Ive had issues in the past with growing sweetcorn.  Last year I grew corn on my allotment, happy that I finally grew some healthy plants.  However, once they started to produce cobs (or is it ears of corn?) I watched in dismay as one by one plants were snapped and trampled on and the cobbs eaten before they were ready to be picked.
  So I figured that this was probably the work of badgers, so this year I put a large fencing around the corn, probably just under 4ft tall, and watched as my corn grew into nice tall plants.  Of course this did not last long.  Something has been actually peeling the husks back and gnawing on the kernels inside!  There are no holes been burrowed and the fencing is in tact. Clearly next year Ill have to cage then in and maybe stand guard!
 Just wondered if anybody had any ideas as to what may have caused this? I was wondering about birds but i would have thought they would have shredded the husks more? 
 :BangHead:

Duke Ellington

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2014, 22:29:17 »
Mice and rats will eat sweetcorn especially if the cobs are over ripe. They know when the corn is sweet.
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goodlife

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2014, 22:37:23 »
Yep..I've had mice/voles eating mine before. They do quite a lot of damage in very short period of time if the corn is not collected in time.

galina

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2014, 07:55:38 »
And so do squirrels.  They can make short work of ripening sweetcorn  :BangHead:

goodlife

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2014, 07:59:04 »
....and...and... :laughing7: :tongue3:

If you don't get the corn...something else will...fist come, first served.....unfortunately.. :BangHead:

ancellsfarmer

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2014, 20:09:57 »
What you need is a "Jolly Green Giant"!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ilBsr9n3o
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winecap

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2014, 21:48:26 »
Don't know if this will be helpful or not, but I've noticed on our site that the plots down one side adjoining a small copse have a lot more trouble than I do with squirrels eating the corn. The squirrels prefer not to travel too far out into the open.They like to commute along the hedges which divide our plots, and so I get more problems when I have planted corn up to the hedges. In short, if you are able to put your corn in a more exposed spot where the rodents feel less safe they may choose to eat somebody else's instead. We have several cats that regularly eat rats and squirrels if they catch them. Just thought that may be worth considering.

Mortality

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2014, 09:44:38 »
Birds will eat it too, some of my sweetcorn has been eaten down one side :(
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Robert_Brenchley

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2014, 18:09:34 »
Grey squirrels do like cover, like any small rodent, but they'll live quite happily away from trees. We used to get a few on the Cornish moors. I was once covering a lesson, and there outside the window were a couple of squirrels going in and out of the pipe under the drainpipe opposite, apparently living underground like rats.

vague

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Re: lament of sweetcorn!
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2014, 14:02:45 »
Thanks for all the replies! Just thought, although I grow my corn in a fairly open space, there are houses behind my plat that have a lot of bird feeders that squirrels go through my plot to get to...I end up with nuts buried all over the place! Didnt even realise they like corn. :BangHead:

Well I think Ill definately be caging them next year....or get a Green Giant to stand guard.  :toothy10:

 

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