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A tip i think i got from jeannie is that when you sow them dip the hole put the seed in but dont cover in with soil. I think this is becuase they need light to germinate?
whatever it is it seems to work.

I grew mine early this year becuase i struggled s much last year to get them going.
I got a load of big pots out of a skip outside the plant place last week so they will be going into buckets maybe four a bucket inside the cold greenhouse, and some will go under a tunnel cloche first week in april as we have approx 3 weeks of frost threat left. Cloche has been on to warm up the soil for a couple of weeks.
Good luck with germination.
x sunloving

thanks for the info guys i have a game plan now :)

Mine come up pretty fast on the windowsill. Supersweet need the extra warmth, but other types will come up in a cold frame, though they take longer.

I'm going with the Sweetcorn I planted last year 'Earlybird' lovely big sweet cobs, :)

This will be my 2nd attempt at growing sweetcorn, tried it once many moons ago and it didn't really work out - bit hit and miss. So this thread has proved very timely and very useful, particularly Jeannines post. So thanks for all the great info. timing seems to be the key thanks CornyKev, I think I will follow your dates
I have a little placcy greenhouse in the garden and as I don't really want to have to take them in and out of the house on a daily basis was just going to put them in there but have been thinking about making a coldframe up on the plot and thought maybe the sweetcorn would be better of up there.
Now I need to work out how many seeds to sow for the area I have planned
I'm trying Ashworth from real Seeds  ;D

 ill agree with most here too early if there in the pots more than three weeks the root goes round and around becomes pot bound so when they go into the soil they never settle well dont tend to grow as should do wont be starting mine for a while have only just sown the squash and pumkins as they go in the same soil everyyear

Best tips I have been given:use roottrainers or similar to give a long root run, and to sow three weeks before you want to plant out, so for me its mid May. Press the seeds into the soil and leave uncovered, I now get 100% germination in just a few days, and they grow so strongly at that time of year they catch up and surpass anything grown earlier.

I find I can germinate them in seed trays, leave them 2-3 weeks, pot them up, leave them another 3 weeks, and they grow away strongly.

Just received my 'Earlybird'  sweetcorn  from Dobies which are their own F1 seed, :)

Quote from: Mr Smith on March 30, 2009, 12:39:37
Just received my 'Earlybird'  sweetcorn  from Dobies which are their own F1 seed, :)

I'm going to give Earlibird a go this year, it'll be at one end of the plot, the Blue Hopi (a blue indian flint type I'll use for popcorn) will go at the other.....

chrisc

Quote from: Deb P on March 30, 2009, 10:18:49
Best tips I have been given:use roottrainers or similar to give a long root run, and to sow three weeks before you want to plant out, so for me its mid May. Press the seeds into the soil and leave uncovered, I now get 100% germination in just a few days, and they grow so strongly at that time of year they catch up and surpass anything grown earlier.

Thanks for the info Deb, I was planning on using loo rolls instead of root trainers, so will hopefully avoid root disturbance etc

If I can jump on the sweetcorn bandwagon ...

I think I may have been a bit over eager.  I planted the seeds in loo roll tubes and they are about 5" tall now and I gather it is far too early to be planting them out. Also the tips of the leaves are turning brown.  Should I stop and start again, or can they be saved?  Last year I was fairly successful growing them, but I did buy the plants from the local market (so that was cheating).

I'm going to give Earlibird a go this year'

Chriscross
            I don't think you will be dissapointed with  'Earlybird', :)