Topic: Sweetcorn protection

[bupster]

What do you do with them with the spuds?  ???

[theothermarg]

Are those the 2 litre bottles that lemonade comes in. I was saving the 1 litre ones but perhaps they will be too small. I have used all the milk containers and 2 litre bottles recently for putting in the ground for the potatoes.

yes they are 2ltr ones,it gives room for the air to circulate. I put them on when the corn was swollen but before it was ripe enough to get nicked
marg

[Fork]

In all the years I have been growing sweetcorn I have never had them ravaged by anything other than my wife  ;D

However,now this topic has cropped up you can bet that the birds,mice or whatever will want their share.

So Im going to take up on the brillaint advice and use "pop" bottles to protect mine.

[norfolklass]

someone climbed over my fence and helped themselves to mine last year and left big boot prints in the soil >:(
the only consolation was that because it was my first year and I was behind, the corn never ripened so they wouldn't have been able to eat the cobs they took. not really the point though!

[jennym]

Thanks for the info, very helpful.

[Hillside Harvester]

We like the pop bottle approach but can you give any tips on how best to get the bottle over the cobs without damaging them - presumably you have to cut the bottle to open it up enough - do you then seal it again with tape?
Do you think it matters if the bottles are light green?
At what stage in the cobs' growth did you put the bottles over?
Thanks,
Nick

[Digeroo]

Milk containers as opposed to clear plastic bottles can be a menace on your plot.  After a while they disintegrate and you find yourself having to pick hundreds of bits of them out of the soil.   

The clear ones even outside last for years.   I have a 5ltr one I brought back from Spain in 1999 and it has nurtured a courgette every year since. 

I normally use bottles in the spring to protect the plants, until they poke out the tip, I like the though of protecting the cobs.  Something has been chewing mine.   

We have a thief but they come armed with a knife, I know when they go because I tend to break things off rather than risk leaving a knife about the place.    So they do not chew the cobs in situ so I presume it is the deer.