Topic: Sweetcorn & Cucumbers

[Tee Gee]

Thought you might like to see how quickly my sweetcorn & cucumbers have progressed in under a week;

The seeds were sown on Tues 21st April and the first picture is progress on the 25th.

Sweetcorn;



Same trays on the 27th;



This is them later on the same day;





I sowed 80 seeds to get the 70 I need, and to date I have potted on 74

Cucumber;

On the 25th;



Then on the 27th;



These are now potted up into 3" pots like the sweetcorn (for got to take a picture)

Note; the nine seedlings in the back tray! As I mentioned these are seeds that I have saved as an experiment and if it is a success it will be to hell with buying seed at up to a pound apiece!

BTW there are 3 Courgettes in the front tray (2 germinated) with the cucumbers

[Duke Ellington]

Hi Tee Gee :)

Did you use a heated propagator for your cucumbers and sweetcorn or in your unheated greeenhouse?

Duke

[Tee Gee]

Did you use a heated propagator for you cucumbers and sweetcorn or in your unheated greenhouse?

My hot bed in an unheated greenhouse!

[littlegem]

Hi there, I'm sure I am right in thinking that you will need to be careful with your sweetcorn, potting it on. They don't really like much root disturbance. and their roots grow like mad!  If they keep growing at that rate you will have to plant them out but protect them from a frost. you have nearly 80 plants so a cheap way of protecting them would be to use 2ltr pop bottles, cut off the bottom and put them over the plant, leave off the lid, some take the lid off in hot weather and put them back on when there is a danger of frost, but with nearly 80 you will be there for hours!  I sow my sweetcorn in loo rolls so when I plant them I plant the whole thing so as not to disturb the roots

[nilly71]

Great growing TeeGee, will you leave them in the square pots or re-pot into bigger pots?

I have the same pots but also rootrainers and wondered what would be best to use.

Neil

[Tee Gee]

Thanks for your concern LG

You say;

They don't really like much root disturbance. and their roots grow like mad!

I agree thats why I grow them in plugs and pot them on so quickly to avoid this!

Regarding loo roll and pop bottles I think I would be a very poorly man if I used 80 loo rolls and 160 litres of pop in order to grow my sweetcorn.  ::) ::) ;D....Just Joking  ;)

For the record I have 4 greenhouses and a tunnel at my disposal for frost protection, and this is a typical year on my corn bed;

[Tee Gee]

will you leave them in the square pots

Yes!

Having grown sweetcorn for so many years now I have my sowing/planting dates about right, so I am rarely affected by frost, and they will not be quite 'pot bound' by planting time ( unless the weather changes for the worse)

[Vortex]

I don't sow mine in modules so have to prick out into pots before they get to growing in the ground. Mine are slightly behind TeeGee's having only been sown in an unheated greenhouse 10 days ago. Will have to prick out this weekend, and as in previous years I'm not expecting any losses. Like most seedlings they're more resilliant than you think. With decent weather should be able to get them in the ground in about 3 weeks.

[Barnowl]

Hi TeeGee.
It might just be the angle of the photo, but those sweetcorn seem quite closely planted compared to typical gardening book/back of packet advice.  As I understand it the closer you plant the less likely you are to get multiple cobs per plant but beyond a certain distance there's no benefit. What do you reckon?

[calamityjayneuk]

hi Teegee

I see you are in Huddersfield, I am near Durham and was wondering when us 'oop north' will be safe to put sweetcorn outside. Do you grow all yours undercover?

[saddad]

I try to hold back until the start off June, here in Derby.

[Tee Gee]

those sweetcorn seem quite closely planted compared to typical gardening book/back of packet advice.  As I understand it the closer you plant the less likely you are to get multiple cobs per plant but beyond a certain distance there's no benefit. What do you reckon?

1) I usually ignore information on seed packets I find it is not specific enough, and I don't always take what is in books as gospel either although quite often this info is more accurate than the packet.

2) Regarding multiple cobs I have to admit I haven't heard of the association of distance and numbers. What is the optimum distances?

I plant mine about a foot apart (7 along an 8ft wide bed) along the row and about 15"-18" between rows.

OK I generally only get one 8"-10 cob per plant compared to perhaps 5"- 6" long cobs when I get two per plant.

as wondering when us 'oop north' will be safe to put sweetcorn outside. Do you grow all yours undercover?

Usually last week in May or 1st in June and No I don't grow them under cover.

I did once but never again the reason being was;

I grew them in a standard 12 x 8 greenhouse which is about 5ft high at the eaves.

The plants grew so high they bent to follow the roofline resulting in when the pollen dropped it missed the cobs so I ended up with cobs with more non viable kernels than good ones so have grown them outdoors ever since!

[mummybunny]

Hi tee gee.

I planted my sweetcorn around the same time and are looking like yours  ;D. My question is you say to plant last week of may or the first week of June. I'm off on hol's on the 17th may till the 4th June so which would you advise? Plant out before i go or after? Planing on planting them down the Lottie!


Thanks lucy

[Barnowl]

I plant mine about a foot apart (7 along an 8ft wide bed) along the row and about 15"-18" between rows.

That's further apart than they look in the photo and further apart than I plant them! This article on yield / spacing, says for supersweet seven to eight per square metre is optimal (and matches your planting density), but the number of cobs isn't addressed, it's the extent to which the cobs are filled, http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/EA9880787.htm, so although I'm sure I read about the number of cobs/spacing  somewhere reasonably authoritative, I may have got it wrong....... :-[

[Tee Gee]

That's further apart than they look in the photo and further apart than I plant them!

Probably the leaf content and mis-shaped stems is creating an optical illusion!

This article on yield / spacing, says for supersweet seven to eight per square metre is optimal (and matches your planting density), but the number of cobs isn't addressed, it's the extent to which the cobs are filled,

So I got something right which I would have to admit to is more luck than good guidance.

Like you say they are quoting stats on kernel fullness rather than cob size or density, which goes to prove that you can make stats to suit most situations hence my attitude on packet & book advice as mentioned earlier.

I do what I find is best for me!!

I often think the number of cobs is more 'variety related' than distance related. I say this because I normally grow three varieties (all sugar enhanced) and some varieties will throw out two cobs where others only produce one.

To show that even I, take on board information given on these forums (cross pollination), I am only growing one variety this year (Tuxedo) so I guess I have all my eggs in one basket (fingers crossed)

From the three varieties I normally grow (Kelvedon Wonder, Sweet Nugget & Tuxedo) I hope I have picked the right one! :-\

I'm off on hol's on the 17th may till the 4th June so which would you advise? Plant out before i go or after? Planing on planting them down the Lottie!

This is one of those 'crystal ball' replies, in other words I think it is unanswerable simply because of the vagueries of the British weather.

However! if I were faced with your situation I would plant out at the latest date possible and cover them with a fleece tent and hope for the best.

The type of tent I mean would be similar to what I use for my carrot fly protection(see picture) but taller; to give the plants growing space....say roughly 2ft high minimum

[mummybunny]

Thanks  ;D

[Barnowl]

I'm growing three extra tender : Swift, TZ6157 and Kite - allegedly early middle and middling-late - but I'll give a bit more space this year  :)

[tim]

Interesting stuff - as usual!  Lucky you live nearby, TG?

I was always taught deep pots -  eg root trainers - for Corn. So we'll go the other way this year.

In the end, it's worth while, isn't it!!

PS We grow mostly Honey Bantam. Typically 2 good cobs per.

[calamityjayneuk]

sowed some 'northern extra sweet' in root trainers yesterday and am crossing fingers. This year I have adopted a hedging bets approach and so am doing 2 sowings of everything, one early and one later to see which is better.

Some of the lads on my plot keep telling me I am doing things too early, others have heated greenhouses and all their stuff is miles ahead  ::)

[Kendy]

Got my sweetcorn in 3" peat pots - 18 of them.  Started them off on the windowsill in unheated propagators and took the lid off when they started growing.  Although some of them are now around 5" high, others are not doing too well and I think they are all slowly dying off.  I've watered them, put them outside in shaded area for a few hours over the last few days but I think I am losing them.

Any ideas please ?