Allotments 4 All

Has anyone tried planting their cornseeds directly onto the ground instead of starting indoors. I' in Surrey and running out of space!!
Helen

Sowing outside is not really practical until May as the temperatures are far too low. Even in a cool greenhouse, the last week of April is probably acceptable for sweetcorn. It is my belief that corn wants uninterrupted growth, as any check due to cold can have disastrous consequences, the plants either come to a halt, or are so set back that they never have time to produce good corn.

Micsmum, I would give it a go, but try and give them individual (homemade from plastic bottles) cloches to help them along!
Mine wont be going into my unheated greenhouse for anotherfew weeks yet.

Quote from: Curry on April 11, 2006, 12:38:04
Sowing outside is not really practical until May as the temperatures are far too low. Even in a cool greenhouse, the last week of April is probably acceptable for sweetcorn. It is my belief that corn wants uninterrupted growth, as any check due to cold can have disastrous consequences, the plants either come to a halt, or are so set back that they never have time to produce good corn.

Good to know. My first lot are sprouting under cling film over the radiator and will be nutured inside till early May. I'll then shove another block of seeds into the ground next to the transplants. fingers crossed.

Many thanks folks! I think that I will play safe and plant them indoors but not until the end of April when some of the other seedling will have moved outside
Helen

Last year and the year before I planted my sweetcorn directly outside and it did ok except that the rat beat me to every single cob  >:(
I'm afraid I can't remember when I planted them, although I was pretty disorganised last year so probably late.  Haven't quite got the hang of keeping an allotment diary yet, although my blog is helping this year :-)

You can grow it direct, indeed commercial production is direct. However farmers in the UK grow sweet corn or maize as a silage fodder feed for winter rather than eating cobs so the varieties are very different.

Direct sowing of sweet corn under cloches should help but I have not tried it having stuck to sowing in root trainers in the greenhouse and then moving to a cold frame before final planting out.

Jerry