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I'd read in my gardening book that supersweet sweetcorn can lose their supersweetness if they get pollinated by non supersweet, so they shouldn't be planted near to each other.

I'd liked the idea of trying a couple of varieties so ordered 2 different sorts of supersweet seeds. I was about to plant them in 2 adjoining blocks I'd prepared for them, then noticed that the packet says, plant not closer than 8m to any other sweetcorn.

Can anyone tell me please - does this still apply even if they're both supersweet (mine are Swift and Sweetie)?

Thanks very much (and many many thanks for all the help I've had so far this year. Much of the satisfaction I'm getting from my promising-looking crops is based on advice I've had from some of you people!).

I read that you should plant diferent types at least 800 mtrs away from each other.

We are not commercial growers so thats impossible.

I only ever grow one variety and change it every year.

Most of the pollen is going to go on the plant next door, not the one some distance away. I've got two sorts; I'll be planting them at opposite ends of the plot, and I'll see what happens.

If they are both from the same family ie supersweets, it is OK to plant them side by side( no good for seed saving though), you will not lose the flavour or get the starchiness if they are the same so go ahead and plant..yours will be fine. The distance only applies if they are from seperate families..eg regular sweet or sugar enhanced types, yours are not!!

XX Jeannine

Many thanks. Another valuable bit of knowledge I've learned.

One trick is to get an early supersweet and a late non-supersweet. They will produce pollen at different times. I've managed that succesfully by starting the maincrop variety a little later too, thus ensuring the pollens don't overlap.

Sorry to come back to this, but where do 'tendersweets' fit into the equation?

I have 'Extra Tender & Sweet' which is described as a "tendersweet"- not a supersweet. Can I plant this alongside my other corns: Sundance F1, Double Standard & Honey Select(courtesy of Jeannine)?

I'm lucky in that the chap nearest to me on the site just happens to have planted the same variety as me,  but I can't say what anyone else on the site will do - I just make sure to give the plants a regular shake to increse the chances that the right pollen will get there first!

I shake as well - the neighbours think I'm mad (pretty sure the OH thinks I'm mad too)  :)


But what about Tendersweet should I need to leave out of this year's crop?

The very simplest way of figuring out if your corn seeds will cross pollinate is to look at the seeds.

The families are by the way, they are abbreviated and it should give the abb. on the packets.

Normal Sugary corn just the usual hybrids are SU types

Sugar enhanced are SE ans SE+

The supersweets are SH2 so called because they are shrunken. These will cross pollinate with everything but themselves.



Look at the seeds, they are different to the others . I will try to find you some pictures so you can see exactly how to recognise them. It is easy to see if you have a couple of types , the seeds are smaller and much  more wrinkled  than all the others.

So even if you have lost the packet and haven't a clue if they are very wrinkled they will cross pollinate.!

If you only remember this bit you will be fine.

XX Jeannine

Quote from: Jeannine on May 16, 2008, 20:21:16
The very simplest way of figuring out if your corn seeds will cross pollinate is to look at the seeds.

The families are by the way, they are abbreviated and it should give the abb. on the packets.

Normal Sugary corn just the usual hybrids are SU types

Sugar enhanced are SE ans SE+

The supersweets are SH2 so called because they are shrunken. These will cross pollinate with everything but themselves.



Look at the seeds, they are different to the others . I will try to find you some pictures so you can see exactly how to recognise them. It is easy to see if you have a couple of types , the seeds are smaller and much  more wrinkled  than all the others.

So even if you have lost the packet and haven't a clue if they are very wrinkled they will cross pollinate.!

If you only remember this bit you will be fine.

XX Jeannine

They will cross pollinate with everything but themselves???
What does that mean please?
How can a plant cross pollinate itself??

Sorry Jeaninne.

"SH2 so called because they are shrunken."

How so?

Sorry if I'm hijacking slightly, but I have Incredible F1 (SE, I believe?), Lark F1 (described as extra tender sweet  ??? ) and Two's Sweeter (which I can't get any info about).

Could you help, Jeannine?   :-[

Thanks almightily.    :)

I have never grown 2 varieties of sweetcorn at the same time.  But a thought on the matter..... I do not see how distance or planting close can make that much of a difference. Neighbouring allotmenteers will all be growing different varieties.  Nobody would get any sweetcorn if different types cancelled each other out.

Because they're wind-pollinated and self-fertile? ie much more likely that pollen will fall from the male tassles above and pollinate the females below than pollen from another plant a dozen or more yards away will do the job?

That's how I see it.

I grew 2 different types last year at each end of the plot though. I think the seed produced wouldn't come true so no good for seed savers. I do believe its the same with squash that has crossed

Gazfoz by themselves I mean... they will cross with any family other than there own to make the corn starchy ie Supersweets.

Supersweet will  radily cross with regular corn, sugar enhanced corn etc , if it does the corn this year will be starchy and tough.

Of course all corns can cross which will affect the seeds if you want to save them but  I am only talking about eating quality not seed saving.

Therefore , if you want to grow more than one variety of corn, you must grow only Supersweet varieties OR any of the others together they are Ok to mix together.

IT IS ONLY THE SUPERSWEETS WHICH CAUSE THE| PROBLEM.

You can also seperate corn families by distance, should be 100 feet minimum but it is usually not enough in our situation, also you can do it by maturity date, should be 15 days  this can be iffy if the weather is unstable.

Re the SH... getting ino genetics here , not my strong point.

Sh is the abbreviation that denotes the Supersweeet types. It is so called beacuse it comes from a shrunken gene, this gene allows the corn to be much sweeter (28%) shelf life 2 weeks . It also affects the flavour and loses some of the traditional corn flavour, may folks find it too sweet compared to regular corn, The kernels are a wee bit tougher too.(barely noticeable) Triple sweets are classed as a supersweet, tender sweets are also classed as a supersweet but are bred to lose that little toughness that the supersweets have.

Compared to Sugar Enhanced  (SE)with a sweetness of  16% and a shelf life of 48 hours or a regular hybrid corn which is sugar 12% and a shelf life of only 24 hours.


Hope this helps.


XX Jeannine



 

Thanks Jeannine.

By the way I haven't managed to sow the seeds you gave me this year but I will use them I promise :)

Just read on the back of a Mr Fothergills packet,  'Sugar enhanced corn should be isolated from'Supersweets' otherwise quality will be impaired. Not genetically modified. :)

That is right Mr Smith, everything should be isolated from supersweets apart from other supersweet varieties.

XX Jeannine