Which sweet corn variety will you growing in 2010 and why.
If are going to grow multiple varieties which methods of segregation will you be using.
The same variety as this year. Because I want to.
I'm growing swift because I understand they do OK in our short Scottish season. I grow smallish quantities of lots of different veg and fruit, so I won't plant more than one variety of sweet corn. Also it's not one of my favourite vegetables so I tend to grow fewern than I might. Just enough in a block to guarantee pollination.
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One of my allotment neighbours grew a variety called Honeydew which I am considering for next year because hers seem to develop very quickly. She had cobs alot earlier than mine even though they were sowed and planted around the same time. This year I grew Ovation. I was pleased with these but would like to try a different type next year.
Duke
I am going to try Sugar Bubs, I chose this as it is where the dart hit the catalog.
No, that is not quite true, I tried a few throws, but could not hit the catalog, so I picked the one that says it has a long harvesting period, as that is what is most important to me.
I also have some seeds left over from this year, will probably use up the Lark seeds, not decided about the others.
As for segregation, how far apart do they have to be?
conthehill there two type of variety segregation in sweet corn
distance and time. distance between two incompatible varieties need be at least 300 meters.
time is to keep to incompatible variety from pollinating at same time.
to get get good pollenation you need 16 plants plant 4x4 in block on average 1 foot apart.
Quote from: plainleaf2 on October 23, 2009, 18:39:27
conthehill there two type of variety segregation in sweet corn
distance and time. distance between two incompatible varieties need be at least 300 meters.
time is to keep to incompatible variety from pollinating at same time.
to get get good pollenation you need 16 plants plant 4x4 in block on average 1 foot apart.
300 meters :-X I better tell every body else on the site not to grow any sweet corn while I am growing mine.
Better still, I'll just leave a few feet between blocks and not worry about it, seemed to work fine this year.
Ovation as it does well for me, Minipop for "chinese" corn and an odd one... bloody butcher or Hopi Blue... :)
Swift and Lark as they mature quickly and I am in Glasgow. They do well for me every year, and are the extra tender and sweet type and you do not have to bother about problems from other varieties of sweetcorn close by.
Quote from: conthehill on October 23, 2009, 18:46:12
300 meters :-X I better tell every body else on the site not to grow any sweet corn while I am growing mine.
Better still, I'll just leave a few feet between blocks and not worry about it, seemed to work fine this year.
300 meters is for farm scale plantings. Ten yards will do on an allotment, or have them flowering at different times.
I'll probably be growing the one from Wilkos, I think it was Incredible. Superb yield.
I overlooked the 300 metres that was stated in a comment! It appears that someone has no real conception of allotments and allotmenteering here in the UK. :)
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on October 23, 2009, 19:58:07
Quote from: conthehill on October 23, 2009, 18:46:12
300 meters :-X I better tell every body else on the site not to grow any sweet corn while I am growing mine.
Better still, I'll just leave a few feet between blocks and not worry about it, seemed to work fine this year.
300 meters is for farm scale plantings. Ten yards will do on an allotment, or have them flowering at different times.
OK, my segregation method will be to place them
a distance apart, I also try to place them so the blocks are not in-line with the prevailing wind.
The 300m bit does explain one thing to me.
When I have read books, they always seem to say `plant in a block to make sure of pollination` and yet, I have seen people planting in lines, and when I mention the block thing, they say it is rubbish, it works fine in lines.
I think the books should be saying `plant in a block to make sure of pollination by your plants and not from the neighbours plot`.
Quote from: conthehill on October 23, 2009, 20:47:59
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on October 23, 2009, 19:58:07
Quote from: conthehill on October 23, 2009, 18:46:12
300 meters :-X I better tell every body else on the site not to grow any sweet corn while I am growing mine.
Better still, I'll just leave a few feet between blocks and not worry about it, seemed to work fine this year.
300 meters is for farm scale plantings. Ten yards will do on an allotment, or have them flowering at different times.
OK, my segregation method will be to place them a distance apart, I also try to place them so the blocks are not in-line with the prevailing wind.
The 300m bit does explain one thing to me.
When I have read books, they always seem to say `plant in a block to make sure of pollination` and yet, I have seen people planting in lines, and when I mention the block thing, they say it is rubbish, it works fine in lines.
I think the books should be saying `plant in a block to make sure of pollination by your plants and not from the neighbours plot`.
The reason people probably get away with planting in rows, is because there is so much corn growing in the area that pollination occurs anyway.
:) Candy Mountain again for me, very sweet, can eat it raw at the lottie, I only grow one variety. shades x
Early Exrta Sweet (again) from Kings, and Double Standard from Real Seeds
I will be growing Incredible again, it has become my banker. I only started with it because two years ago I decided late on to grow sweet corn and that was all they had at the garden centre. I chit my seed and mice took every single seedling so I had to resow with it again so it was late. That summer was awful. It was late maturing but it gave a huge crop. Used it again this year, rubbish summer again. It matured earlier and again huge crop. If you have a large family and they love sweet corn and the number of seeds in a normal pack are not enough then look at Moles Seeds, their packets are huge. Also if sweet corn seed keeps well then it could last for a few years.
My wife has instructed me that I must grow the mini sweet corn so one will be planted in the veg garden at mother in laws and one at the allotment. distance 3 miles apart....is that enough? :)
Can ordinary maize that farmer's grow for silage mess it up pollination wise? I ask because we have loads of cattle round here and there are acres and acres of the stuff. I don't know how they manage to store it. A farmer I know has a huge silage pit full of grass silage and now has a 20 acre field of maize 7 foot high.
Geoff H yes field corn will interfere with the pollination of your corn and ruin the taste.
here is simple test.
Grow a white sweet corn variety. When you harvest them if you find yellow kernels on the cob this will tell you your corn has been contaminated by field corn.
I got several packets in a 50p sale so they are on my list.
Have grown a variety from Franchi which turned out to have red leaves and had a good flavour not at all clear on the packet what the variety is called. Fruit quite small but enough for me for a meal.
Grew Ashworth - was rather disappointed by the flavour.
Wind tends to go from W to E so I put the different varieties in blocks spreadout from north to south. Well sheltered by trees from N and S.
I will be growing the F1'Conqueror' again it is a late variety which I'm picking the last of this weekend but they are really big fat cobs but not hard kernels, also 'Bantam' which is the opposite a lot smaller cob and an early variety, :)
I did want to grow Lark but they had sold out(must be good) so I bought conqueror instead. So pleased that it has performed well Mr Smith
Im going for Incredible F1 i saw them growing on another allotment they grew strongly very quickly and the cobs were quite big also when i saw a packed marked down in wilko's to ten bob i couldnt resist.
im going to grow minipop as i wasent overly keen on the big variety. polination was sporadic and only i ate any the chickens got the rest. so at least with the baby corn it can be frozen and stored.
done F1 sundance this year and was not happy with it they were tuff and not very sweet and some cobs had hardly any corn in them.
So will be keeping a eye on this one for ideas on what type to grow next year
Quote from: Digeroo on October 24, 2009, 08:56:11
Grew Ashworth - was rather disappointed by the flavour.
How so Digeroo?
I actually chose these because I don't like the super-sweets, prefer a touch of starch for grilling and don't want them all at once either. Mine all bolted this year - my fault entirely, but thought I'd try them again.
I've seen the F1 'Incredible' on the Jungle seeds web site might invest in a packet myself looks a really good variety, :)
Extra Tender and Sweet from T&M. Had at least 2 cobs from just about all the plants and was harvesting from August. Swift was ok but not as good. I will be changing Swift for Conqurer after reading that Mr Smith is still harvesting them. Sweetcorn from Aug-Oct sounds good to me.
Mainstay again lovely cobs even with the rubbish summer.
ctually probably not at all for us, the promised lotties in the spring are very small and we are surrounded by corn farms where we can buy it straight from the grower or pick it ourselves for for 10 for a $ so it best to keep the space for something else. We will buy Peaches and Cream variety,
XX Jeannine
Quote from: saddad on October 23, 2009, 19:08:47
Ovation as it does well for me, Minipop for "chinese" corn and an odd one... bloody butcher or Hopi Blue... :)
I've been wondering about an unusual sweetcorn variety next year, is Hopi Blue a sweet sweetcorn or is it for cornmeal only ?
My favourite the past two years is 'Extra tender & sweet' (outstanding sweetness and yield, I ate some raw!), but I've been tempted by the description of 'Incredible' on this thread and just bought 50 seeds for 99p on eBay.........it doesn't need isolation from other varieties either which will hopefully work well.
Not going to bother next year, as its the second year on the trot that the rats beat me to it. >:(
Minipop only. The badgers dont touch them! Will have to remember to pick them when they are small though, as I let mine get too big and they were woody and inedible.