When planting sweetcorn, I understabnd that it should be planted out in blocks. As someone who has not grown sweetcorn before but who now has some seeds, could someone please tell me how many rows make up a block. How does everyone else plant theirs out? Ta muchly.
I'm pleased you asked this question, I've been wondering the same thing.
hi guys
sweetcorn is not self pollinating so needs to be planted in blocks to aid this, i plant mine about 2 feet away from each other in a big square this seems to work for me.
I plant in blocks, 4 rows wide and as long as the bed is, so about 20 plants long.
No problm with pollination so far.
HTH
Jerry
Past couple of years I've done 30 to a block i.e. 5 x 6 but with the plants only about 12 inches apart and that works for me!! Last year did 2 blocks that way so seems what ever suits really - oh, I also have been known to give the stalks a shake if its not windy when they are ripening!!
By the way I am in Central Scotland.
A block is as big as you want to make it really. Spacing is not critical either, I know people who plant one foot apart, and others who plant two feet apart. I steer the middle path and plant about 18 inches. I adore sweetcorn, particularly when it is freshly picked for my allotment breakfast, so I grow as many as I can get on the plot, anything upwards of 50 plants. There appears to be quite a lot of other good advice on sweetcorn in other threads, so I hope we all do well !
I have been reading about sweetcorn and though I have grew it two or three years its not been the success I hoped it would have been. I,m in the north and the weather's not nearly as warm but my corn only ever has one corn per plant and even that hardly ever has fully grown. I buy from Kings seeds and buy the one you can freeze. Any better seed name and perhaps will start of another pack this year.
jock
There are lots of earlies for problem climes - & you can freeze any. Just double wrap in cling film. And 18" is good.
I've got Conqueror F1 seeds which says on the packet something about being more suited to our weather. Lets hope so!
I put three rows in a bed, with the plants 18 inches apart. If I'm organised I put two beds side by side, but they all seem to get pollinated anyway.
I'm in the north (north-east) as well, and am planning to grow some sweetcorn this year. I'm concerned about there being enough time for it to ripen. When is a good time to start the seed off, and are there any tips I should take into account? I have found a warm sunny fairly sheltered area to put them in the garden , and prepared the ground in the autumn with some manure over to rot in over winter.
I start mine off in a cold frame once the weather warm up in April, but I'm not much good at getting it ripened. It worked well last year, at least for the plants I raised myself, but it hasn't always done so.
Might be bestter to go for an "early" variety, which will mature quicker.
Swift, Aztec and Earliking and Xtrasweet fall into this category, there are probably others too. I usually grow Xtrasweet, which is very good, but am trying Earliking this year for a change.
On average i do a block 6 by 6 plants at around max 15 inch spacing , each plant getting around 4 cobs
Spacing-- the gentleman next to my plot swears by 24" to make it easier to weed and remove cobs as they are ready, but never gets more then 2 cobs per plant. Even with same variety and planting at the same time, so i would say closer then 24" ;)
Depends on what you call "live in the north or north east"
We have no problems in Yorkshire growing sweetcorn which could be classed north-east i suppose :-\
Hi all,
I read somewhere that you can intercrop sweetcorn and courgette plants but I think I would be worried about them competing for water and nutrients. Has anyone tried this and succeeded?
Mike
I did last year, sweetcorn, pumpkins, squashes, courgettes and french beans (grew using the sweetcorn as a support)...got good crops from all the plants but I did manure the ground and water well. This year I'll do the same but the beans are going in a separate bed on their own, no reason for this apart from wanting to grow them in a different spot.
Hemejo, In the North East too. Sweetcorn seems to need quite a long growing season, so we are starting our seeds off in February. We will be planting them out fairly early, as long as the frost is past. They seem to enjoy the same conditions as squashes and pumpkins, well manured ground and good watering. busy_lizzie
Mike W, I did that perfectly well in 2004 and got a huge crop of squashes and corns, altho it was a little tricky tiptoeing through the pumpkin plants to get at the corns, however, I tried the same trick in 2005 and the squashes got away quicker than the corn and they were quickly smothered. I think it is an excellent idea if the ground is in good nick, you can provide plenty of water, and the corn plants are big and strong before you plant them out so they can really get away before the squashes start to try to take over the world!
I've been fairly successful interplanting the two; I mulch the beds well, and they seem to thrive.
The squash also smother the weeds as well.
I am tempted to try some beans as well this year, perhaps borlotti as they will be easy to see in the jungle !
how tall do borlotti bean grow though, mine last year weren't that successful but I'm sure they grew much taller than my sweetcorn plants. The french beans didn't grow as tall so were ideal for the sweetcorn.
Quote from: Jesse on February 01, 2006, 09:00:10
how tall do borlotti bean grow though, mine last year weren't that successful but I'm sure they grew much taller than my sweetcorn plants. The french beans didn't grow as tall so were ideal for the sweetcorn.
Mine got up 10' canes without a problem and would have gone higher. As a crop to use with corn I think they would be too tall and heavy.
Jerry
I had a superb crop of sweetcorn last year, my only tip is to ensure that the roots are allowed to develop before transplanting because of the possibility of being blown over. I planted mine on the allotment when they were about 6" high. I underplanted some of mine with perpetual Spinach which gave me an extra crop on very limited space. I froze nearly 80 cobs straight from the plant and they are as sweet as when I picked them. No need to blanch if they are going to be eaten within a few months. Just getting near the end of my supply now. Can't wait for the next harvest.
hi everyone. this is a great site full of valuable information. At some point i will introduce myself in the appropriate place. i am planning to follow this three sisters idea on my half plot this year aswell. jesse, i am a bit worried that my sweetcorn will get strangled by the beans, did this be a problem when you grew them together, and did you plant them at the same time (sweetcorn and beans) and then plant the spuashes later? i would like to get this right if poss! :)
I lwasys start mine in 3" paper pots and plant out as soon as the last frost has gone....don't always get that right! But paper pots mean no root disturbance and therefore no growth check. Some in the pots are quite a size before they make it into the ground.
Sarah, the beans did grow quite tightly around the sweetcorn but seemed to have no detrimental effect on their production, both beans and sweetcorn produced very well. I started all the crops in pots first (otherwise the slugs would have had a feast), the sweetcorn and beans were planted together and both seemed to grow at equal pace. The squashes and pumpkins did grow quicker but they weren't planted right next to the sweetcorn so by the time they encroached around the sweetcorn plants the sweetcorn was already a decent height above the pumpkin foliage. I'd say the sweetcorn were about 15cm tall by the time they were planted out.
thats great. thanks, i will follow that advice.
Hi Sarah, just thought I'd add my twopenneth!! ;)
I too grew the 3 sisters together. Flowerdew says you can scramble beans up the corn but I wasn't sorted for that!
I had the sweetcon in a block with nasturtiums at their base. In the gaps I planted french beans. Bang next door I had 2 wigwams of runners, and the cubits were planted around the edge of the whole block.
Nasturtiums certainly held the fly at bay, and encouraged 'friendlies' to do strut their stuff!! ;D
The marrows were fine, but I had never grown butternut before and I was surprised how they traveled!!
I have subsequently learnt that it's not a bad idea to limit the number of 'branches' a butternut puts out, and also to 'stop' their growth after about 5-6 feet. Bearing in mind that the UK seems pushed to produce these due to lack of heat and sun this seems a good idea.
I know on here I have discussed with others the concept of growing betternuts vertically up a support. Again if space is limited this is a great idea. They get better exposure to sun and do not rot :o
Production wise, the three veg grow well together and I too had bumper crops. I will certainly be repeating the process this year. ;)
Hope this helps.
flowerlady hope you don't mind me adding about the butternut....I would rather limit their growth after they have set a few fruits rather than at a certain length otherwise you may end up with squash plants and no fruits, make sure the squash have asolutely set before pinching out side shoots and growing tip as sometimes the little squash abort and you don't want to be left with a vine and no fruit. :)
Great idea, I told you I hadn't grown them before ;D
Another tip for squash, help the pollination with a soft brush or "introduce" a male flower into the female flower to help things along.
I grew butternut for the first time last season and had about 20 fruit of 2 plants that way.
HTH
Jerry
That is good Jerry, I only got 4 off my plant!
butternut will definately be my squash of choice this season as they are my favourite so that is very useful info, thanks. just thinking about sweetcorn and beans and tickling squash flowers reminds me of warm days and butterflies, and long evenings in the garden....sigh :)
I love butternut and definitely want to grow some...but can I aks yet another newbie question - when you talk about making sure the fruit has set - what does this mean and how do I know when it's set...enough?
When the female flowers appear on the plant you'll notice a small roundish swelling behind the flower, wait a few days until the swelling grows larger and looks like a minature butternut, until it reaches this stage it can simply turn yellow and not develop any further, this happens when pollination has not been successful and doing what Jerry suggested would probably go a long way to preventing this. Usually the first flowers on the plant are male and they'll simply drop off, don't panic, the female flowers will come and if pollination is successful they'll develop into little butternuts.