Planting out sweet corn

[tricia]

I have a small, sheltered, walled garden here in the south-west and would like to get my Tender & True and Ovation sweet corn plants into the ground before I go into hospital for back surgery next week.  Would I really be tempting fate to do so? :-\ The plants are already strong and most are about 9 inches tall. This is my first attempt at growing sweet corn. It will probably be the end of May before I can get out in the garden again - and then only to supervise what needs to be done ::). By that time the poor plants would be so potbound!

There is so much to be done in May that I would like to get as much done before Tuesday as possible. The greenhouse toms, cucs and peppers. will be going into their final pots over the weekend - all are strong, healthy plants. The aubergine plants are still tiny so can wait a couple of weeks. Thank heavens for my friend who will take care of the watering for me. :D

Tricia

[tricia]

[Svea]

the most important thing for the sweetcorn - and you know it's very early for it - is the soil temperature. if you can make sure that the soil they go into is warm, i.e. has it been covered in black plasic or something to prepare, this would mean they woud suffer less from transplant shock. other than that, if you have a kind neighbour who is willing to watch the temperature forecasts and throw some fleece on if needed.....

good luck  with it all

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is why I bought loads of Poundland polycloches, so I could get things out early without having to worry too much. As long as you take precautions, they should be OK down there. But they need warm soil and protection from late frosts.

[Motherwoman]

Well they wont do a lot if left in the pots so the planting out option has got to be better, use the fleece and you should be O.K.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you can't find anyone to look after your plants, it's probably the only chance. Give it a try, and let us know what happens.

[tricia]

Thanks everyone - on Tuesday morning, like it or not! - the sweet corn plants get planted out. It has been very warm here for the past several days so the soil should be warm enough.

My concern is lack of water. We've had no appreciable rain here in Torbay, apart from the odd short shower, for over a month. I have 5 water butts, two of which are already empty, two are less than half full and the other one is still full. I don't water the garden in general, but it takes quite a bit of water keeping the seedlings in the GH moist. I use all the used water from the kitchen and bathroom for watering the already planted out beetroot, kohlrabi, lettuce and peas. We don't have a hosepipe ban, our reservoirs are 80% full, but water is soooo expensive down here that being very conscious of water usage has become a way of life for me.

Tricia

[busy_lizzie]

Our sweetcorn are now out, under cloches.  We are monitoring there progress.  busy_lizzie

[Learner Gardener]

I still think it may be a bit early here to plant out. So mine are still in 3 inch pots in the conservatory.

Can I pot them onto 5 inch pots or will this cause some problems, I seem to recall that they do not like root disturbance, as the roots are starting to come out of the pots and they are re 6 inches high ?

[Alimo]

Tricia - my neighbour (him with the runners already planted) has also got his sweetcorn in the ground... ::)  Mine are still germinating!

I'm Pz - so not really any different to you, so get 'em in, and get your friend to keep their eye on them

Good luck with the op by the way.

Alison

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'm in the process of potting up my corn; it's going under cloches because I've nowhere else to put it. It'll be interesting to see how it gets on.

[jennym]

If you earth up well around the base of the stem, they will have a better chance.

[cowellen]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time growing sweetcorn (1st time growing food)

i've got 14 sweetcorn plants (indoors) some are about 7 - 8 inches high and some are
about 4"..

I have prepred a space on the plot for them - and covered it with black plastic. ;D

How long shall I harden them off  4 and when should i plant them out please ?

[telboy]

I would delay planting for two weeks. How big are the pots they're in?
Move them outside during the day on Tuesday(Monday is wet) & bring 'em in at night for a week. The end of next week is forecast as quite warm & if this continues, leave them out for the second week. Plant then, hopefully frosts/cold nights may be over by then.
I have only just planted seed in the gh. I leave planting 'tender stuff' 'til the third week of May.

[Crash]

Good luck for the op.

[Mrs Ava]

Agreed!  Very good luck with your operation.

My sweetcorn is only just germinating!  Been all behind and going nowhere these last few weeks.  However, plan to get them out by the second week of May.

[tricia]

Thank you, Alison, Crash and Emma Jane for your good wishes. I've been waiting since November for a bed, so I'll be glad to get it over and done with ::). Hopefully, I'll be able to do a little more in the way of gardening afterwards :). I'll post back on the subject of my early planted out sweet corn in a few weeks when I know for sure if they listened to my loving words and entreaties when my friend was doing the work I would dearly have done myself :P.

Tricia

[bellebouche]

Our sweetcorn (48 plants) went in the ground yesterday. I dug a bed 2m x 5m and we got them all planted out and watered in.

This year we tried something a little different...

It was initially planted in an experimental rig of a standard 200ml clear plastic drinking cup with a loo-roll inner stick out of the top... all full of compost. It took twelve days for the seeds to germinate, the roots to strike the bottom of the cup and to get to a 40mm/two leaf stage.

The seeds/cup/loo-roll combo were each raised in a small propagator so they've come on quickly.

My observations :- Good points

• Obvious benefits of checking germination
• The pre-germinated plants get a head start and go into a clear bed, ready dug.
• We'll be one step ahead of the weeds.
• We're a month ahead of the game based on this time last year

and the not-so-good..

• Planting out was a pain.. you need a very deep hole to get the stack into in the first place. the drinks cup+paper roll worked out at about 200mm tall in the end. That needed to go straight into well dug soil.
• The cup-plus-roll combo was a bit fragile... some of the plants had actually looped their main root round and round the bottom and I was a bit concerned about root disturbance
  

So, on balance I'd say the benefits for starting the seed off in these little rolls are good.. but it is a lot more work than just sticking the seed straight into the ground. If anything I'd say we'll probably try again next year but will go for tall kitchen paper type rolls or 'hand-rolled' newspapers.

Adrian

[amanda21]

I started off 15 sweetcorn and so far 12 have germinated.  How many cobs can I expect from one plant please?

[jennym]

I normally count on getting 2 cobs per plant on average.

[Tee Gee]

This is the position with mine, I pricked these out yesterday;



This is how I start them off, the one you see has popped up overnight, would prick it out now, but I am off to visit the family, will do it tomorrow before the tap root gets too long;