Author Topic: Sweetcorn  (Read 4986 times)

Tiny Clanger

  • Acre
  • ****
  • Posts: 301
Sweetcorn
« on: August 25, 2021, 11:25:26 »
Growing "Lark" this year.  Growth has been good but when I tried one yesterday the kernels seem quite small.  Is this usual for Lark?  Are they not ready yet? or just a bit of a dismal yeild this time?
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

Duke Ellington

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,452
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2021, 16:46:47 »
Hi there I alway grow Lark sweetcorn and it’s always been successful. However this year probably my worst in eight years!! Mine have been very slow and the cobs small for this time of the year! I haven’t harvested them yet as mine aren’t quite ready! The kernels are never small just average size! I wonder if the weather has affected them? My plants aren’t as tall this year!
« Last Edit: August 25, 2021, 16:49:12 by Duke Ellington »
dont be fooled by the name I am a Lady!! :-*

Beersmith

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 892
  • Duston, Northampton. Loam / sand.
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2021, 20:30:26 »
Possibly a weather effect.  I grow Swift. It is meant to be one of the earliest types, but while it looks promising, the silks are still green.  So another couple of weeks before first pickings.  After a cool spring some crops seem to catch up. I wonder if Sweetcorn just lag behind because of slow growth earlier.
 
Not mad, just out to mulch!

Paulh

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 592
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2021, 08:58:21 »
Same with Swift for me, though I have found it being later for a few seasons now than it used to be for me.

gray1720

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 658
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2021, 09:25:17 »
My Earliking doesn't seem to be giving many cobs large enough to investigate - maybe just the weather?
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

tricia

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,224
  • Torbay, Devon
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2021, 00:02:41 »
I grow Swift or Lark. This year it was Swift, which produced only 1 cob on each of 20 plants. Fewer than usual  -  the second (lower) cobs not being pollinated at all, probably due to the strong winds dispersing the pollen before the silks had emerged sufficiently. Not really a problem for me as there are enough now in my freezer to satisfy my needs, but I only felt able to give friends 4 cobs this year.

They are a good size though,  18-20cm and fat kernels. My garden helper cleared the raised bed yesterday, chopped up the stems, bagged them and covered the bed with membrane to keep the cats off! That gave me a sense of the growing season slowly coming to an end - I've already stopped harvesting Cobra and Moonlight beans (freezer full!), so I'm hoping for a further crop of dry beans for soups and stews at the end of the season.

Tricia  :wave:

Tiny Clanger

  • Acre
  • ****
  • Posts: 301
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2021, 11:09:33 »
Sounds like a general problem with sweetcorn this year. Not seen anyone on our site with corn to ask. Must all be away or coming down at different times. Sadly two or three don't speak enough English for me to ask. I think the cobs on a second block looked a bit bigger. I will try one next week. All the silks are going brown now.

Butternut squash is an amazing size this year - but a fair few of  the pumpkins have managed to cross breed again   :BangHead:
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

ThomsonAS

  • Quarter Acre
  • **
  • Posts: 94
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2021, 22:03:31 »
I only started harvesting my sweetcorn (in Northampton) today! Rather later than usual. As you say, kernels on the small side. (Variety is Incredible, sowed April 23rd).  Good crop though -  most plants survived and many have produced more than one cob.

Beersmith

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 892
  • Duston, Northampton. Loam / sand.
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2021, 20:29:47 »
A very unhappy event.  I had harvested about two thirds of my sweetcorn. I went to pick the rest last Thursday but found I was too late.  Badgers had visited and eaten and demolished the lot.  I cursed them heartily.

Then on Sunday I visited to get some carrots only to find a dead Badger by the roadside near to the allotments. Obviously hit by a passing vehicle.  :sad1:

I found myself cursing again but for very different reasons.
Not mad, just out to mulch!

gray1720

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 658
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2021, 08:47:10 »
That's sucks, Beersmith - they may be a PITallotmeteer'sA but they don't deserve that. I killed one earlier this year - it ran out so close in front that I'd hit it before I got to the brake, and I was only doing about 45 - and was really quite upset. At least I middled it with the sump and killed it outright. 
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

gray1720

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 658
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2021, 08:48:54 »
Butternut squash is an amazing size this year - but a fair few of  the pumpkins have managed to cross breed again   :BangHead:

Several of my Sweet Dumpling squash have gone two-tone, pale on top and green underneath - I wonder if that's the same thing, but these were sown from packet seed... Might have to have a nibble when I harvest, see if it's bitter....
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

Beersmith

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 892
  • Duston, Northampton. Loam / sand.
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2021, 21:05:21 »
Butternut squash is an amazing size this year - but a fair few of  the pumpkins have managed to cross breed again   :BangHead:

Several of my Sweet Dumpling squash have gone two-tone, pale on top and green underneath - I wonder if that's the same thing, but these were sown from packet seed... Might have to have a nibble when I harvest, see if it's bitter....

Im finding this issue of squashes, courgettes etc getting cross pollinated confusing.  I thought that it just meant that you could not save seed for the following season because of the possibility the seed could be a cross with some unknown type.  So any cross pollination had no actual effect on this year's squashes, only on the seeds which wouldn't be eaten anyway. 

If a courgette, say, gets pollinated by another type is the fruit different?  I have often grown all the curcubit types - including cucumbers - in one large area, just buying new seeds each season.  Do I need to rethink that approach?
Not mad, just out to mulch!

gray1720

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 658
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2021, 22:05:06 »
AFAIK the fruit shouldn't be different - I'm just bemused that my sweet dumpling are a variety of shapes, colours and sizes, and I was clutching at straws!
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

Beersmith

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 892
  • Duston, Northampton. Loam / sand.
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #13 on: September 29, 2021, 21:54:34 »
AFAIK the fruit shouldn't be different - I'm just bemused that my sweet dumpling are a variety of shapes, colours and sizes, and I was clutching at straws!

I have had several rants this year about what was shown on the packet not being what actually grew.

Several cases of mixed seeds, where there were obvious variations in what grew including celeriac, mangetout peas and even beetroot.  Out of three types of squash two were fine but one was obviously wrong a very long thin type like a tromboncino, when it should have been a typical dumpy butternut.

Your experience is perhaps not unique.

I wonder if pandemic staff shortages meant that the seed producers could not maintain their usual standards. (Purely speculation on my part).
Not mad, just out to mulch!

gray1720

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 658
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2021, 08:34:43 »
I have had several rants this year about what was shown on the packet not being what actually grew.

I wonder if pandemic staff shortages meant that the seed producers could not maintain their usual standards. (Purely speculation on my part).

Not quite the same thing, but that was pretty much my thought when Kings substituted melon seeds for the onion seeds I ordered!
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

Tiny Clanger

  • Acre
  • ****
  • Posts: 301
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #15 on: September 30, 2021, 11:50:48 »
Ive had some VERY strange results from Sweet dumpling this year. Growing just as bush and with a "Pointy bottom".  All previous years they have had a dip at the stalk and a dimple at the other end.  They teast OK though but just not what I expected. On the other hand, I have grown White Discoid shaped Squash/Courgette for years.  I buy from Kings and Franchi.  This year seed from both suppliers did NOT grow as before. They were NOT discus shaped, but more rounded on one side with crenelations round the top instead of being a flattish fruit.  The skins were very thick and the taste was quite unpleasant we only ate half a one.  I have spoken to both suppliers to let them know but they are "mystified!" I reckon both firms have purchased from a different supplier due to Covid? Brexit?  Invasion by Aliens?  The rest of the squashes/pumpkins were OK - some were cross breeding but that's as normal.  Hope to do better next year.  Will not be growing the white ones again till they go back to being a true discoid fruit.
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

Paulh

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 592
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2021, 14:14:19 »
I grow "Custard White" and the seed I think is obtained by our allotment holders association from Kings. The young fruits (which is how I aim to pick them) are disc shaped and grey/green rather than white but if any mature (while I was on holiday for instance) they become larger, thicker skinned crenelated plates which are much whiter in colour (perhaps a bit like a custard pie!).  I had one this year which reached that stage more quickly, so perhaps it is weather related in some way too. We cut up and roasted that one. I haven't noticed anything different about the taste this year.

Plot22

  • Half Acre
  • ***
  • Posts: 188
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #17 on: October 03, 2021, 07:30:50 »
Last week I  picked 1 cob off 24 plants as a tester. Went to the allotment yesterday badgers had taken the lot off 4 allotments. Unbeknown to me they had visited the bottom half of the site early last week and saved the top half for their Friday night feast.

tricia

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,224
  • Torbay, Devon
Re: Sweetcorn
« Reply #18 on: October 03, 2021, 12:40:06 »
Heartbreaking!

The only 'predator' I have to worry about is the neighbourhood cats. Even walls and fences don't keep them out  :BangHead:

Tricia  :wave:

 

anything
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal