Author Topic: Tassels at last  (Read 2655 times)

Digeroo

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Tassels at last
« on: August 21, 2015, 12:47:05 »
Big thanks to Jayb and the glass gem corn has been getting taller.  It was very slow to get going but now some are nearing 7 feet tall very bonny looking plants at the moment.  And finally there is a sign of some tassels.  :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers:
I was getting worried there are only two growing months left.
Some of them have four or five tillers so I planted them too close, but they did have a lot of manure and have been well mulched with weeds.
So how do you get the mix of colours do you have to spread the pollen about between the plants?
Though no sign of silks yet but now the tassels are showing I hope they will not be far behind.

Gavin63

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2015, 16:52:50 »
My sweetcorn is coming on nicely now after a slow start.

ACE

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2015, 17:24:48 »
Planted mine late, but they have plenty of cobs growing, even though the plants are only about 5' tall. One chap down the plot has plants that must be 10' tall he is so proud of them as he got the seed from his wild bird food. I haven't the heart to tell him it's probably maize.

Silverleaf

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2015, 22:28:49 »
Sweetcorn is maize, surely?

galina

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2015, 22:35:55 »
Sweetcorn is maize, surely?
Yes it is - and perfectly edible and nice too.  As students we did pilfer the odd fodder corn cob from farmer's fields.  If picked young they are perfectly palatable.   :wave:

ACE

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2015, 23:57:50 »
Sweet corn is what it says on the box 'sweet' the sugar content is a lot higher than maize. Both edible but soft maize is not very nice, unripe corn really. Maize when it is dried can be made into a flour, sweetcorn when dry, because of the extra sugar goes too hard to mill properly so it is best used straight away, or bottled/canned or frozen if you are keeping it for later.

Silverleaf

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2015, 01:04:31 »
What I'm saying is, sweetcorn is a specific type of maize. Sweetcorn, popcorn, flint corn, Galina's scrumped fodder corn - they are all Zea mays, all the same species. Different chemical composition and uses, sure.

His "bird" corn is maize. But so's your sweetcorn!

ACE

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2015, 16:06:30 »
My post explaining the difference was really just for gardeners new to the game. 'Sweetcorn is maize, surely' could be misleading, us old'uns know they are different. So not teaching granny to suck eggs, just stopping the newbies from making the same mistake as my neighbour.

Digeroo

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2015, 18:20:51 »
I am not sure the glass gem corn is for eating.  Pictures of it are truly amazing.  They come out in a huge variety of colours (perhaps since they come from America that is colors).  They are sort of translucent so sort of shine.   I am not sure you eat them, I think you admire them, and use them for decoration.
I presume that the sugar content and the toughness of the skins  and eating quality presumably did not come into the mix when you are selecting for colour.

http://growfood-notlawns.com/grow-famous-glass-gem-corn/

Problem is that the best red coloured one did not germinate, so I will presumably have no red.  Anyway really looking forward to the result.  Almost every seed was a different colour.  I choose one of each from the pack.   

I though that maize and sweetcorn are basically the same but one is selected for the quality of the flour it produces and the other for the quality of the niblets or maybe as cattle feed.   Like the difference between cooking and eating apples and crab apples.   

The sheer size of the plants is already something of a talking point.   They are now topping 8 feet and the tassels are coming out of the top.    Apart from the one where the tillers are taller than the main stem, not sure what happened there.  Mind you the world record is about 30 feet, and they certainly try grow it taller than mine for the maize mazes.

 
 

Duke Ellington

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2015, 18:23:59 »
I totally understood your explanation ACE. A few years back I was on holiday in Portugal and one member of the family "acquired" what they thought was sweetcorn from a field. I tried to explain to them the difference between sweetcorn and maize and said I wouldn't be eating it. it was so awful that they couldn't eat it either.

duke
dont be fooled by the name I am a Lady!! :-*

Digeroo

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2015, 19:40:58 »
There also might be some that do both.  I grew a variety I thought was sweetcorn and ate it quite happily.  Not the sweetest but actually a very good flavour, better than some of the supersweets.  Very nice, but later found out it was a polenta variety. 

The plants were very pretty too with red veins to the leaves.  And red tassels. They ate well as baby corn as well.


Digeroo

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Re: Tassels at last
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2015, 09:17:22 »
And some of the tassels are pink it is really pretty.   :icon_cheers:

 

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