Sweetcorn

[Gazfoz]

Shall I sow now or wait a bit longer?
I plan to sow in peat pots and plant in blocks under membrane and mulch as I have still got lots of twitch in the ground this year.
I will be using Swift F1.

[Gazfoz]

[davyw1]

I have just put my seed in, i always go for the last two weeks of this month and the next two of next month for an early Sept crop

[Gazfoz]

What, you mean successional sow? Interesting i was just going to sow the lot.
Is the Summer long enough typically to do that. I am in the Midlands.

[Tee Gee]

I sowed 85 seed this morning in four varieties

I sow them all at once and plant out altogether,then keep an eye open for when they are ready for eating.

If I have a glut at any one time I freeze them.

[Vortex]

Mine are now 3" high. We pricked out 100 or so on Saturday evening.

[davyw1]

What, you mean successional sow? Interesting i was just going to sow the lot.
Is the Summer long enough typically to do that. I am in the Midlands.

No i sow the lot in one go i work on figures like sowing 100 gives me a block of 10 x 10 but reduces on failures

[Gazfoz]

TG.

You plant out 4 varieties together? Don't they cross pollinate?

[L8starter]

yes, they cross pollinate, not brill in my experience. equally not really able to compete with twitch and suchlike. sweetcorn are greedy and need no competition. if i grow them i only put them in the best position with the cleanest soil otherwise waste of time here in  norwich. we have very light sandy soil, can't comment on clay cousins

[calendula]

sowed mine on saturday, 2 varieties and about 40 seeds, in the greenhouse and put them into plastic bags to keep the mice off

[norfolklass]

otherwise waste of time here in norwich

sorry to hijack the thread!
being nosey, whereabouts in Norwich are you L8starter?

[twinkletoes]

I've been having problems getting mine to germinate.  Have re-sown a couple of times now - get a few each time.  Am waiting to see what latest batch do.   :(
twinkletoes

[antipodes]

I have 15 seedlings doing well - until on Saturday I put them outside to benefit from the warm sunshine and my sodding cat crunched on several of them!! They can't be nice because she immediately puked up everything!! Luckily the inner bits seem to be relatively unharmed so I covered them in a little plastic "tent" and I have left them outside (they are in a very sheltered position).
Aarrrgh! why are cats so stupid? anything that looks like grass, she tries to eat it!!

[Squashmad]

I only got 6 plants from my first packet of seeds. I've now sown another type in pots ..... is it safe to plant them all in the same polytunnel??

[bedrockdave]

I too have had problems with germination in the past but have had some from the real seed company this year and so far have had 100% germination, have staggered the planting and just put the last lot in for a late crop today

[caroline7758]

80 or 100 plants :o Where do you store the cobs? I've had about 12-16 plants and that's plenty for our family!

[ninnyscrops]

Re: germination - for the first time this year I put them on damp polyroll in an old clear plastic food container, covered with a plastic freezer bag and stuck them on a windowsill. 100% success and they're all in the unheated greenhouse now, about 3 inches tall.

[tonybloke]

when sowing sweetcorn, leave about an inch of space above compost, push nib (seed) into compost so that you can just still see it, they like to see the light!, water in with warm water, this will break dormancy. when they are tall enough, fill remainder of container with compost, this encourages more roots. when planting out (after last frost) plant in a shallow depression, again earth up for even more root. hope that helps,
rgds, tony

[Vortex]

I just sow mine in a margarine tub. 3/4 fill with compost, throw in a handful of seed. cover to the top, water well and leave under a sheet of glass in the greenhouse. Remove the glass after about 5 days when they start to show through. Leave for 5 days to get to about 3" tall and a fine mass of tangled roots then separate out into pots.
I do however use fresh seed from the last cobs from last year. As to the number of plants, there are 4 of use and we all like sweetcorn so that's 4 cobs per meal, 100 plants only gets you 20 meals assuming you're not also feeding your parents-in-law as well.

[adeymoo]

I am following what ninnyscrops method. I laid kitchen towel in a seed tray and wet it prior to laying 40 seeds on the towel and putting clingfilm across rim. Lo and behold I have to rush to buy peat pots as they seem to have produced inch long roots rather sharpish -only 2 have failed so far to shoot. My only concern is that seeds seem to to have grown white mould beards. This may be the effect of having clingfilm on too long? Seeds were on top of my wardrobe adjacent to a window - like all my plants started indoors, as the tomato plants occupy the window sills.

[Tee Gee]

You plant out 4 varieties together? Don't they cross pollinate?

I have noticed a few comments on this cross pollination thing and I can't understand the reason/s why ???

As I see it; pollination is a 'reproduction' thing not an 'eating thing', meaning if I was going to save & sow seeds of the plants I grow, then yes! cross pollination will affect next years results.

But as I am eating directly from purchased seeds which I assume are not cross pollinated then I can't see the reason for concern.

I'm no expert on this! but I can't say I have noticed much wrong with the the cobs I grow.

I guess possibly if you grow an enhanced sugar variety along side a non enhanced variety there might be a difference in the taste but I don't know because I don't do such things ::)