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Growing 'minipop' sweetcorn for the first time, I imagined them to be the little cobs-----not so it seems.They look to be growing to normal size but at least 5 to a plant ! Just re read packet and it says to pick minature cobs before pollination, harvest Aug onwards.Ooer, no chance of little cobs then.
Anyone else growing these succesfully this year?

I'm growing them for the first time this year - not sure about successfully tho.

Mine have yet to produce any silks or tassles but look much greener and healthier than the Swifts, which I planted at the same time and are now producing cobs.

I read about picking them as immature cobs but so far I can't see that anything has been produced :'(

Don't worry too much Emaggie. You'll be able to enjoy fully developed flavoursome cobs . My own opinion but immature cobs have very little flavour and are a pale substitute for the full on bursting flavour experience of their grown ups...... ;D

You can eat them full grown Emaggie but they won't be as good as the supersweet grown for sweet corn. Minipop is bred to produce loads of small corn, take them almost as soon as the tassles appear. If you take the big cobs off it should carry on making new ones in an attempt to set seed, like deadheading flowers....
???

Thanks folks, off to do a re-examination of the situation. Sweetcorn for supper I think. 

                            ;D ;D

Minipops taste pretty ghastly when they get bigger than about 5" I think. Normal corn starts off bland, goes sweet when ripe, then goes starchy again when they go over-ripe. Minipops go sweet when very young, and consequently the second starch period happens as they grow to large cobs and they're pretty useless.

I've learned the hard way to whip them carefully off the plant (just twist without snapping the stems) when the tassels are only just showing! Means you have to watch them like a hawk... slightly large ones aren't too bad.

moonbells

your so right moonbells,my minipop almost ready for picking at beginning of week,had some rain and two days later massive cobs that are no good for eating, they change so fast,you almost have to live on your plot to catch them in time :)/shades x

Cripes, had a look yesterday (and a nibble of smaller corns) and brought a few home for supper.Small and very tasty.Will gallop off and twist off the bigger ones in the hopes that they are still edible.
Thanks everyone, much appreciated.  :D

Took and cooked biggies,got the thumbs down !
So glad I asked. :D

Trouble with the smaller ones is that I have a job to get them home without eating them first!!!

moonbells

Yes watch them like a hawk, id say mine grow about an inch a day, so you dont have to wait long after the pouches show before you can harvest them.

Mine this year lack the normal sweetness, and i think weve had more than enough sunlight, maybe its the soil that is lacking or too high in nitrogen ??? ;D

I'm growing minipops for the first time this year.  I understand that you pick the corns when the tassels start to show.  Is this correct, please?

So far the plants are a good 4-5' tall with no signs of tassels.  Is this normal?

Either way, they look good architectural plants at the back of the border!!

valmarg

We had none showing on Friday when we went away... picked this lot today from 25 plants...


They were bigger than we normally take them but still tender and sweet all the way through... we picked a few more but they disappeared before I got the camera out.
;D

How impressive Saddad  :o That'll be me next year  ;D

I'm watching mine now - the plants are up to 5' and there's no sign of any cobs yet. Of course they'll appear the instant I turn my back!

moonbells

ps for anyone thinking of growing them, the nice thing about minipops is that you don't need to do that block planting that all other sweetcorn need for pollination, as these don't need to be pollinated. So you can shove single plants in pretty much anywhere there's a gap. I've got a row in the middle of my butternuts, a couple by the side of a courgette (that itself was bunged in an odd corner), and a block by the normal corns to fill up the bed.
In fact it's an advantage to have them in a row cos it makes spotting the tassels so much easier!

Ours are in a double row filling up the perennial bed...
Put them a bit farther apart this year...
8)

Didn't know that Moonbells, will definitely bear that in mind for next year.
(There are so many things I'm going to do differentlynext year. sigh!)  ;D