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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Squash64 on June 17, 2014, 15:37:38

Title: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: Squash64 on June 17, 2014, 15:37:38
I've just found lots of packets of sweetcorn seed.  Is it too late to sow them?
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: goodlife on June 17, 2014, 16:13:56
Well...if we get mild and long autumn...you have chance getting some crop out of them.
I would not start them anymore unless growing for sake of greenery..
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: Squash64 on June 17, 2014, 16:24:26
Quote from: goodlife on June 17, 2014, 16:13:56
Well...if we get mild and long autumn...you have chance getting some crop out of them.
I would not start them anymore unless growing for sake of greenery..

I'll save them till next year.  Thanks  :wave:
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: gavinjconway on June 17, 2014, 17:52:22
If you have an early variety you can get away with it... just..

Last year I sowed some emergency EarliBird seed on 7 June as I lost some before planting out..  I planted them out on 30 June and had a great crop.. but we had a good summer as well.
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: markfield rover on June 17, 2014, 18:13:43
I do remember seeing Carol Kline growing them as "micro greens" I did try this  and boy they were sweet!!!
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: telboy on June 22, 2014, 22:00:30
I have always believed that sweet corn germination reduces year by year. Is it worth keeping the seed?
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: gavinjconway on June 23, 2014, 19:49:53
Quote from: telboy on June 22, 2014, 22:00:30
I have always believed that sweet corn germination reduces year by year. Is it worth keeping the seed?

I would keep them and get them started early enough to get in more if they dont germinate..
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: ancellsfarmer on June 24, 2014, 23:24:42
Quote from: telboy on June 22, 2014, 22:00:30
I have always believed that sweet corn germination reduces year by year. Is it worth keeping the seed?
Yes, statistically all seeds age and become less viable over time. However conditions of storage are the critical factor. Generally, the larger the seed, the longer it may last. Was it not the case that cereals found in the Pyramids grew when planted several thousand years later?
Under the Seeds Act 1920, seed for sale had to meet declared minimum percentage germination, These days they are not so keen to make such claims. Unsold seed from pictorial packets goes back to source for repacking after blending with new seed....
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on June 28, 2014, 15:03:49
Cereals from the Pyramids didn't grow; the conditions in the tombs are unsuitable for seed storage for one thing. But an ancient Judean date seed did grow.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1122_051122_old_seed_2.html

Sweet corn seed is short-lived, so if you want to save it, it's probably best in the freezer. Even the most short-lived seeds last for years that way.
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: ancellsfarmer on June 28, 2014, 19:08:33
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-182.html
Can you bellieve anything on the internet?
Title: Re: too late for sweetcorn?
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on June 29, 2014, 20:31:52
Note the weasel word 'claimed'. We've got 'mummy peas' which were supposedly found in Egyptian tombs in the early 19th Century, and varieties like 'King Tut', and 'Tutankhamun' which allegedly originated from Tutankhamun's tomb. Once grown out, of course, they looked like any other variety of the time. It was a tourist scam; weathy Englishmen would pay to see mummies unwrapped, and pay again for peas 'discovered' in the process. Since the grain does appear to have come from that part of the world, it's likely to have been 'found' in a similar way.
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