Topic: Sweetcorn

[cornykev]

Squirrels had the back end of mine last year.  :'(     ;D ;D ;D

[real food]

What stage had the corn cobs reached when they started to be eaten?

[cambourne7]

Hi Gang,

Growing sweetcorn (full sized and mini) and popcorn this year.

The mini sweetcorn is only about a foot high and is not really doing anything.

The full sized popcorn and sweetcorn are doing ok. There all over 2 foot high most have the bits at the top that look like wheat ( i am sure there is a proper name but no idea ). I have now started to see silky bits growing out on some of them :-)

Last year when i harvested the corn there was some small white worms in one of the cobs i tested so i chucked the lot. Decided to try again this year and see if i can get sweetcorn whats ok.

Cambourne7

[saddad]

My minipop has shot up to 7' in this last fortnight and is starting to produce...
The odd corns, bloody butcher and Aztec black are about three foot and have pollen and silks..
The Ovation (maincrop) has just started the male bits...
 ;D

[cambourne7]

i have mine planted around my pumpkins so it will lift some pumpkin leaves while i can still get there and see what i can see  ;D

[keef]

Mine look fine even though the weather has been bad this year. The maize in the fields round us looks fine too. We normally pinch a few cobs of maize - actually quite edible !

[tim]

Hate to say this, Marg, but the bottles will be the perfect nest for Earwigs - cornkillers!

This is how we're doing up here........

I rather like the contrast of red & white tassles & silks?

There are 9 Squashes in between the blocks.

[OliveOil]

Grew fab sweetcorn last year - this year is a disaster... they are only about a foot and a half high and tasselling.

[debster]

my corn are looking fab so fingers crossed just two questions,
i believe i have to wait for the  tassles on the ears to go brown before picking is this correct?
and second what is the safest way to pick them to avoid damaging the rest of the plant?
thanks

[vicki]

thats right debster - wait till the tassles are dark brown then you can peel them open, stick your fingernail into a kernel and if the juice is creamy then it's ready! We've had several of ours over the last week and its delicious!

[Barnowl]

I aim to grow about 30 sweetcorn but had so many seedlings fail this year (for some reason the birds went for them and I admit I dropped a cloche on a few others  >:(), I've just planted another eight seedlings in as good a block as I can in the spare space in the bed.

This was probably a pointless act given the normal time to ripening, but they seem to be growing twice as fast as the others did at the same stage so just need a very mild Autumn (and Winter and Spring?)  :D

[theothermarg]

but tim i am a desperate woman mmm earwigs or anon nibblers :-\
barnowl off topic but courgetts doing well
marg

[Barnowl]

Glad to hear it, Marg :)

[cambourne7]

sneeked up and checked and some of my sweetcorn has got one and some two cobs growing. These are still quite thin so is it just a matter of watering to help them bulk up?

[cornykev]

Had a check on mine today, I had to stake some up as it was really windy, most have two cobs but a few have three or four.  ;D ;D ;D

[cambourne7]

i am going to have to steak a few of mine as they have blown over last night.

[Tora]

Checked my Northern Extra Sweet yesterday. Most plants are forming two cobs per plant but there was a plant with four cobs! ;D