« previous next »
Pages: [1]

Author Topic: Sweetcorn silk eaten away  (Read 1294 times)

tricia

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,224
  • Torbay, Devon
Sweetcorn silk eaten away
« on: July 12, 2008, 22:48:52 »
The silk on all my sweetcorn cobs was turning brown nicely but today I noticed that it has all disappeared. There is just a small round hole - full of woodlice. I broke one cob off and took a look inside. The woodlice seem to have eaten all the silk as far down as they could. The rest of the silk is still there but the kernels are not fully developed. Is there any point in leaving the corn standing? It is so disappointing as there are at least two cobs on each of the plants.

The variety is Peaches & Cream (Mackenzie's,US)

Tricia
Logged

saddad

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 17,895
  • Derby, Derbyshire (Strange, but true!)
Re: Sweetcorn silk eaten away
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2008, 23:10:34 »
Silks are usually eaten by slugs, and woodlice just follow up, if the silks had changed colour they have pollinated, keep your fingers crossed!
 :-\
Logged

tricia

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,224
  • Torbay, Devon
Re: Sweetcorn silk eaten away
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2008, 23:15:14 »
A little ray of hope then Saddad - will keep my fingers crossed till the end of next month!

Tricia
Logged

Sally A

  • Half Acre
  • ***
  • Posts: 132
Re: Sweetcorn silk eaten away
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2008, 13:08:38 »
The next inhabitants might be earwigs.  A bit of a shock to find them when you harvest, but I've never had them further into the cob than the pointy end which gets cut off before cooking.
Logged
Pages: [1]
« previous next »
 
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal