I noticed today that some of my sweetcorn plants, which are growing well and now about 4 ft high, have got second shoots growing out from the roots. I don't remember this happening last year- is it anything to worry about?
Nothing to worry about, let them grow and may get extra cobs.
How strange, I have this and they are the same variety as last year and this never happened then. ???
Thanks, that's good news, then! Am I right that they don't need a lot of watering? My water butts are getting very low so I need to prioritise.
Should only need watering in hot spell and looks to be wilting!
They have very strong root systems once they get established; mine are flourishing despite the drought.
First year with sweetcorn and mine are doing the same. Wasn't sure whether they should or not. Read a bit in August KG about growing clover as a green manure between the sweetcorn plants to dig in (adds nitrogen it seems) when the corn is cropped. Have to remember that for next year as weeding's a bit aukward. Lance
Hi, first time sweetcorn grower here. I wondered what was happening over the last couple weeks when tufts appeared at the top of my plants - thought something had gone wrong. I now realise that this is the flower and that the pollen from these needs to get to the little tufts which are now appearing further down the stems. Should I pick off a top flower and dust it around the lower ones?
Thanks for assisting me!
No need to pick the flower, in fact I would definately not pick it.
If you are worried about pollination a simple gentle shake of the slower is enough to give a dusting of the pollen, normally the wind is enough for this.
If you look at my blog below you will see flowers and sliks on my corn.
The multiple stems are fine too, this is the plant "tillering" and will increase the number of cobs.
Jerry
Thanks for that Jerry. Not much wind here lately that's why I was worried. I see that the flowers on yours are much more open than mine so I will wait and see what happens. Have seen plenty sweetcorn growing in fields so knew what it was supposed to look like when closer to ripe - great fun watching it from a seed up!!! Boy is this veg growing great!
happy gardening.
Shirley
:-\ Not sure if I'll get much of a sweetcorn crop this year, my fullsize corn has started flowering at only 4ft and no sign of any cobs further down the plant. Then again, the baby corn is 5-6ft and NOT flowering yet ??? ???
Don't give up hope. Mine started to flower at only 3 foot - hence me wondering what was going wrong. The cobs started to form well after the first appearance of the flowers. Was delighted to see them yesterday as I thought I would have to pull them all out!
LOL - did you maybe mix up which were which? ;)
Hi Shirl,
Well I don't think I got them mixed up ::) but no-ones perfect so it's always possible. Just have to wait and see what size the cobs turn out :P
They tend to produce the male flowers before the female, and carry on growing as they develop. By the time the male flowers are mature and producing pollen, the plant has reached full size and the female flowers are ready to receive it.
Flowers have appeared on some of my sweetcorn plants, way before any indication of potential cobs. This happened last year so I'm not worried at the moment.
Mark