Allotments 4 All

 I rather foolishly    planted out a batch of sweet corn a few weeks ago then fleeced with scaffold netting. We then had hail and a few cold days. Looks like I've lost nearly two thirds of them!!  I do have a few spares but not enough.

My dilemma now is do I sow more in modules now or do I soak the seed a bit them plant a few seeds direct per station and keep the best one. I had a disaster last year when my crop was wiped out 2 weeks before they were ready by the freak September frost so need to get them in asap. I can get them in my heated propagator so they will be up and just showing in 5 days..

As I'm not used to growing sweet corn what would be the best way to get the best results.

Personally I have never had the confidence to sow direct with sweetcorn. Its seems hit and miss enough starting off in the greenhouse so that's what I do in modules. Sowing now should work out well as the heatwave starts this weekend. You may find it overtakes the earlier sowing. 

Me too. I put some chitted seeds into tall thin newspaper pots this morning, a third batch. The first two batches are up and green and I will plant them out at the end of next week. It is years since I wasted seed by sowing directly into the ground.

I usually sow indoors but only 80% come up so I direct sow others, I have about 95% germination this year but have still sown a small line direct and they have nearly all come up, its cold and windy here but most are surviving, mine have been in the ground since 28/4 onwards.   

I am very keen on bottle cloches for sweetcorn, I planted some out before I went on hols and lost a couple, rest are growing very slowly.  But last year my third week of May batch actually produced better than my beginning of may batch so I think it is a good time to get some going now.  They seem to be growing very fast in modules at the moment. 

I'd go for sowing in modules too, start them of somewhere nice and warm and they'll soon get on with the job. I sowed some in roottrainers yesterday and hopefully once planted out, with warmer soil temps they should come on a treat.

I'm about to sow mine too.. I don't bother doing it any earlier and always leave it near end of May or the cold just gets them. I germinate mine on plate of water..not covering the seeds with water but just moist and put the plate in propagator..following day they start already show signs of life..once they've 'cracked' and growth starting to push through, its easy to see which seeds are going to be planted into small pots
I don't harbour my plantlets for long..its like conveyor belt here...in and out..

Since I have followed Jeannine's sweetcorn sowing advice I get 99% germination, and sow 3 weeks before planting out with plastic bottle protection which stays on until I harvest. I use rootrainers, water, then just press the corn into the soil, into a propagator at 30 degrees last week they had all sprouted within 2 days, now in my cool greenhouse kept above 10 degrees, later this week will start hardening off and they will be planted out the next week. Works for me!

2 days for Deb's to show - wow.. mine took 5 days.. so the race is on.

Thanks for all the advice. I know about chitting first but as I have loads of seed I have just sowed 2 x 24 trays in the heated propagator so I should get more than enough!! I had 100% germination last time in the prop and I do have some spares in the gh..  May have to hide the extras among the flowers in my wife's garden..

Bottle cloches sounds good but too fiddly for me.. Also I have 2 patches - one of of 60 which is the problem one and the other which is 154 still to to plant out that have currently filled the cold frame to the brim.

I tend to just chit and then put out under the bottles, actually less fiddly than planting out the modules.

The ones I sowed last week germinated incredibly quickly.

A few of mine were up in 4 days and most by the 6th, I just put two per module under glass in an unheated propergator in the kitchen quite near the rad, all planted out now, the smaller ones have bottle cloches over them.   

I'm sure the higher temp helps germination, I used to grow mine in a heated propagator without a thermostat and they used to take about a week to get going, now I can control the heat I put my sweetcorn and squash in a 30 degree heat, everything else gets about 22-25 degrees. My bottle cloches I used for the past 7 years now, I make two cloches per 2 litre bottle and only use the straight sides so they take 2 seconds to push around when planting out, and I just leave mine on until harvest, so minimum of fuss and you get wind protection when they are small plants and slug/ climbing critter protection when bigger. Not much stops the foxes though!

sowing mine this weekend, in roottrainers in a hotbed in the GH.... they'll have approx three weeks to sort themselves out then get planted out the second-last weekend in June.... as will the squashes adn courgettes.... just been too cold here, planting them out any time up to now ould have checked them for a month.,.

I planted my sweetcorn just before that last few days of chilly weather, and was quite surprised to look at them yesterday and find them germinating. I thought they'd be sulking. The giant marrows and pumpkins are up but I'm still waiting for the other squashes to show.

They were all up in 4 days in the heated prop  about 2" high now and growing well.

Yea! Mine are being planted out today....