Growing sweetcorn for first time and a fellow plot holder advised me to make sure they were supported with large skates to prevent wind damage, did this with a few but then ran out of stakes so left the rest. Went up after a breezy weekend to find that the staked ones were the only ones to be damaged (snapped). The stakes are up to about 3/4 of the height of the plant and it would appear although the lower plant is held firm because of the stake it has prevented the whole plant moving with the wind and snapped the top 1/4 off. Do you stake sweetcorn or leave it to go with the blow!
Leave it to go. some of mine are on their sides, but it doesn't seem to do any harm as long as I get to the corn before the rats.
I don't stake mine, they seem to do ok. Planting quite a few together helps as the inside ones are more protected. They don't stake them out in the fields either.
I have never staked mine, the only ones which topple are normally due to my own clumsiness.
corn, like so many other cereals, has so much silica in them that this is what keeps them upright, if they get damaged early on, when not too tall, you can stake them back for awhile and they will soon straighten but otherwise I would leave them as nature intended
Hi Deb, Hi all :)
I had one sweetcorn plant uprooted this week by the weather - I just earthed it up and heeled it back in.
I`ve had things battered by the weather all week. The sweetcorn is fine apart from this one stalk which is the only one that germinated from a second planting so it stands apart from the main block.
Col