Hi :wave:
I have always wanted to grow tall 🌽🌽sweetcorn plants🌽🌽. They look so dramatic on the plots around mine but as much as I try mine are always short. Could anyone recommend tall variety they have tried and tested, and any other tips on growing sweetcorn would be appreciated too.
Many thanks
Pakaba
I am a fan of Earlybird.
I think most of the true sweetcorns that we get on this country are not that tall at all...they are bred so that they are able to crop in our short summer season.
But if you want to grow some for sake of 'looks'...look seeds for 'maize' or 'flint corn'..true longer season croppers that need reasonably decent summer and early on so too to able to finish ripening the cobs on corn...but they are not sweet to eat..more of 'flour' use. Here is one that I picked from Ebay... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zea-Mays-Maize-Hopi-Blue-Flint-Corn-organic-grown-50-seeds-open-pollinated-/261359853712?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item3cda42e090
...they grew about 8ft tall for me...AND..being nice summer that year..I got amazing black cobs too :icon_cheers:
Thanks for the advice, I just see other plots with 5-6ft plants and mine are barely 3ft. I have asked one and they said theirs were Mirea but thought I might get some more ideas here.
I have ordered some Earlybird so I'll see how they go, but still happy to try others too.
Thanks
Quote from: pakaba on March 02, 2014, 09:47:51
Thanks for the advice, I just see other plots with 5-6ft plants and mine are barely 3ft. I have asked one and they said theirs were Mirea but thought I might get some more ideas here.
I have ordered some Earlybird so I'll see how they go, but still happy to try others too.
Thanks
'normal' sweetcorn should make into 5-6 ft'ers...but sweet corn being more 'grass like' plants they will need good nitrogen rich soil to able to put that lush growth on. Perhaps your plants just need more 'snap'...you can be quite liberal with chicken manure pellets and water while the plants are in growing stage..and ease off once the tassles are just coming through..that is when they have done their growing height wise.
The blue flint maize looks fabulous, might need to get some to try, thanks.
Thank you so much I'll do that. Really appreciate the advice.
Quote from: pakaba on March 02, 2014, 10:02:35
The blue flint maize looks fabulous, might need to get some to try, thanks.
If you don't have any use for maize..(chickens?)..dried cobs with plenty of stem will look utterly weird and wonderful in vase..definitely a talking point when ever people see them and everybody will have to touch them to 'see' if they are real.
I concur with others, that soil quality and nutrition affects corn height. I grew Hopi Blue in well improved deep beds with plenty of organic matter and they reached 9ft. The following year the same variety reached only 5 to 6 ft when planted on recently cleared ground with so-so levels of organic matter. Nitrogen hungry, so probably a good crop to pee on.
Quoteprobably a good crop to pee on.
:laughing7:..propably..
Pakaba...premier seeds shop in Ebay has blue hopi and bloody butcher corn too if you want order something from UK base company..they might be cheaper too!
Have a look at the Sweet Corn Mexican White on this page they can grow to 16ft
http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d67.html
Ay carumba! 16ft!
Quote from: pakaba on March 02, 2014, 09:47:51
Thanks for the advice, I just see other plots with 5-6ft plants and mine are barely 3ft. I have asked one and they said theirs were Mirea but thought I might get some more ideas here.
I have ordered some Earlybird so I'll see how they go, but still happy to try others too.
Thanks
What type did you manage to grow to 3'? They should grow to at least 5-6' tall. Did you feed them? Did you prepare the ground properly?
I grew Lark sweetcorn which grew to 6 foot. Other allotment holders were envious of mine and kept asking me how I grew them so tall. I did give them loads of water and feed though throughout the summer as I grow 40 plants in a 10x4 raised bed. I might have a photo somewhere.
duke
I thought that Swift was quite short.
I do feed mine well but my Earlybird were about 5-7 ft. Only a few miles from you. Done well three years running. They do like lots of manure and I bury old brassica and corn stalks under them.
As others have said, the short plants is due to a lack of nitrogen.
Year before last I tried an under-sowing with trefoil, they grew to about 5ft compared to about 3ft for ones not under-sown, I did not add any extra fertilizer to either.
In addition my " LARK" sweetcorn beds were prepared with lots of home compost,leaf mold and fed regularly with chicken pellets.
duke
I plant mine with peas and beans.
I was told that sweetcorn did not need watering because they have very long root systems going down several meters so I never water mine but the water table is only a couple of meters away.
I have actually been envious of short plants since they seem to have at least three cobs on each plant while some of my taller ones only had two. I had been wondering if too much food made them produce stalk instead of cobs.
QuoteI have actually been envious of short plants since they seem to have at least three cobs on each plant while some of my taller ones only had two. I had been wondering if too much food made them produce stalk instead of cobs.
I'm glad that you mention it...sweetcorn doesn't have to be tall for sake of getting crop from them...but if one does want to grow TAAAALL corn, for looks or living 'screen'..they will need lots of nitrogen to produce that green growth...too much of it can be at the expense of cobs.
There is also that side of the coin....having feeding 'just right'..you end up with good size strong plants that are able to produce good size cobs..thus more seeds. Undersized plants may be able grow number of undersized cobs..do they have as much seeds to eat in them..?
During growing stage, the plants should be able find enough moisture themselves..but when chicken pellets are used..those need good amount of water to release nutrients from them.
I have no knowledge of the small plant cobs except many of them stay on the plants untouched while others say how much they have frozen.
I grew some Mexican White from Jungle seeds and they got to 12'+... no cobs developed but they were very impressive plants!
Thanks everyone for your advice, lots to help me , so hopefully this year I'll have more success :-)