I have some mini sweetcorn germinating on damp kitchen roll in a heated propagator, and after 2 days they are sprouting roots. I'm a bit taken aback at the speed, but need to know - what do I do now??
I would plant the seedlings in 3" pots of compost and grow on in a heated greenhouse or warm windowsill in the house until they can be hardened off late april/may, hope this helps and this is what I've done and they're coming along nicely along with tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, cauliflower and sprouts ;D
When do you put them in pots, at the moment they just have (what looks like ) a white root coming out of the side
leave them to establish until you have a proper green seedling with roots formed, prob another week or two, depending how warm they are, keep your eye on them :D
Thanks very much for your help
yeowch - I don't sow mine before 1st May! Mostly cos they can't be put out until after the final frosts which is usually June...
moonbells
Must admit I ususally hold back a tad longer with these then as I am usualy accused of being crazed and fool hardy still put them out early under plastic bottles as cloches. You can always prove us wrong and have an early crop tho!
Possible idea will be to germinate some more come May that way if you lose first ones to frost, you have immediate fallback.
That is always a problem with not knowing when the darned frosts will finish and if you are trying to get off to a flyer with the sowing.
last year i made newspaper pots for mine and stood them up against each other in a seedtray to keep the moisture in. for sweetcorn i made them out of broadsheet paper moulded around a polish can, ended up with a wide-ish tube about 10 inches long, open at both ends. worked very well.
I agree with those below who sow in May - I sow in Rootrainers or similar around that time, they romp away. Usually put them out mid to end of May, and also direct sow some at the same time just to be sure.
1st May, in kitchen roll tubes, works a treat. You have to save the tubes all year though! Can be done in toilet roll too.
I've always planted mine in mid-April, and it's often been a race to see whether they'd ripen before the frost struck. I did better last year, and got a reasonable crop, but mine will be goin in as soon as I can clear some space under the hot water tank.