I intend to sow sweetcorn later this month and when sown will they require netting to protect against birds etc.
yes
are you sowing direct or in modules and then transplanting? i have always started mine off in root trainers and transplanted. I have never netted them and have not had any problems.
The only problem around my place is from the mice and rats who climb the stems to eat the sweetcorn.
I start mine off indoors or in the mini-greenhouses, then plant out at the end of May. Nothing's ever bothered mine.
We start off the seed in containers then plant out when they are strong enough to look after themselves.
Never had problems with birds (yet) but rats and mice love them to bits when they are ready to eat.
So how do you stop the mice and rats? or is it best to factor in a number of plants to feed the wildlife?
hi ya gazfoz. When the corn starts growing you can put plastic milk or pop bottles over the individual cobs to protect them from mice/rats/birds. Cut the bottle from the neck towards the base and slip over the cob. Don't forget to puncture some ventilation holes in the bottle otherwise they will steam when it gets hot! That'll fox the little pests. 8)
twinkletoes
A Problem Solver and it works
(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r111/stumpinsci/bottles002-1.jpg)
I sowed my sweetcorn seed in loorolls indoors and then put them in the cold frame. Couldn't work out what was eating the tops of them when they were in the coldframe. Then put a tray down by the back door ready to move to the coldframe and found the cat eating the tops of the plants. They were on a windowsill indoors. How did the cat get in and out of the coldframe?!
Cats can get through surprisingly small gaps, Im amazed it likes sweetcorn though
well its a funny thing but one of my cats likes sweetcorn and likes to chew the cobs after we have had them for tea.
Bloody rats had a good feed on mine last year >:(, this year I will be ready for them, let the battle commence. ;D ;D ;D
The trick with rats is never to let the numbers build up. Keep hammering them, with poison or whatever you choose to use. There will always be a few, but you can keep it to a few.
How will you be ready for them?
Is that milk containers on your cobs davyw1? Assume they worked fine or you wouldn't be posting the pic - how did you secure them to the plant, how did you get them on - did you make a slit, or did you put them on when the cobs were small? Excuse all the questions but imagine it's a fiddly job and want to do it the best way.
Was going to try empty plastic 2 litre pop bottles this year, as I think that after the rats finished off the sweetcorn on the plots in Enfield, they all moved across my way, were pretty hungry after the trip and demolished every cob on the entire site almost overnight ;D
Quote from: Lee Marshall on April 13, 2008, 13:24:37
The only problem around my place is from the mice and rats who climb the stems to eat the sweetcorn.
They eat my seed here. Last year I put about 80 germinated plants into pots in the greenhouse, for planting out in a couple of weeks. Came back one day to find every single one uprooted, and the seed taken, presumably eaten. Needless to say, I was slightly gutted. This year I am growing them in my back room, and will plant out when big enough to withstand an onslaught.
Quote from: Curry on April 16, 2008, 00:15:02
Quote from: Lee Marshall on April 13, 2008, 13:24:37
The only problem around my place is from the mice and rats who climb the stems to eat the sweetcorn.
They eat my seed here. Last year I put about 80 germinated plants into pots in the greenhouse, for planting out in a couple of weeks. Came back one day to find every single one uprooted, and the seed taken, presumably eaten. Needless to say, I was slightly gutted. This year I am growing them in my back room, and will plant out when big enough to withstand an onslaught.
Cut the bottle up the opposite side to the handle, you wont need to put them over the cob till a couple of weeks before they are ripe as the rats, mice and birds like, like us don,t touch them till they are ready to eat.
When you come to put them on pull the bottle apart and you will find that the screw top part will fit nicely over the base of the cob and put the slit to the bottom. This prevent anything from being able to stand on or grip the bottle.
I have been using it for years it does work.
I used 2ltr pop bottles but you must vent them!1 had my first whole sweetcorn in years
(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i229/theothermarg/gardening/cobprotection.jpg)
one of these hasn,t been vented yet so is wet on the inside,cutting 2 of the nobbly bits off cures this but not too big a hole or they can get in
marg
Are those the 2 litre bottles that lemonade comes in. I was saving the 1 litre ones but perhaps they will be too small. I have used all the milk containers and 2 litre bottles recently for putting in the ground for the potatoes.
What do you do with them with the spuds? ???
Quote from: Lady of the Land on April 16, 2008, 21:29:57
Are those the 2 litre bottles that lemonade comes in. I was saving the 1 litre ones but perhaps they will be too small. I have used all the milk containers and 2 litre bottles recently for putting in the ground for the potatoes.
yes they are 2ltr ones,it gives room for the air to circulate. I put them on when the corn was swollen but before it was ripe enough to get nicked
marg
In all the years I have been growing sweetcorn I have never had them ravaged by anything other than my wife ;D
However,now this topic has cropped up you can bet that the birds,mice or whatever will want their share.
So Im going to take up on the brillaint advice and use "pop" bottles to protect mine.
someone climbed over my fence and helped themselves to mine last year and left big boot prints in the soil >:(
the only consolation was that because it was my first year and I was behind, the corn never ripened so they wouldn't have been able to eat the cobs they took. not really the point though!
Thanks for the info, very helpful.
We like the pop bottle approach but can you give any tips on how best to get the bottle over the cobs without damaging them - presumably you have to cut the bottle to open it up enough - do you then seal it again with tape?
Do you think it matters if the bottles are light green?
At what stage in the cobs' growth did you put the bottles over?
Thanks,
Nick
Milk containers as opposed to clear plastic bottles can be a menace on your plot. After a while they disintegrate and you find yourself having to pick hundreds of bits of them out of the soil.
The clear ones even outside last for years. I have a 5ltr one I brought back from Spain in 1999 and it has nurtured a courgette every year since.
I normally use bottles in the spring to protect the plants, until they poke out the tip, I like the though of protecting the cobs. Something has been chewing mine.
We have a thief but they come armed with a knife, I know when they go because I tend to break things off rather than risk leaving a knife about the place. So they do not chew the cobs in situ so I presume it is the deer.