Sweetcorn planting out tips

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Babycat

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Sweetcorn planting out tips
« on: May 18, 2014, 16:18 »
So,  I am about to plant out my sweetcorn before they occupy the whole kitchen window. They are 30cm tall.

The only thing is,  some of them look a little flimsy.  Am I better off growing them on is other pots or just planting out.  As they have a shallow root system,  I am concerned they wont thrive in post  :unsure:

Any tips?
"This too shall pass"  King Solomon

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DD.

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2014, 16:21 »
You need to harden them off outside and letting the root system establish itself before throwing them straight into the ground.
Did it really tell you to do THAT on the packet?

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Middlesexbloke

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2014, 16:46 »
Last year I followed John Harrison's instructions and got an absolutely stunning crop of huge, juicy, sugar-sweet corn that friends and family kept asking for more of! Think the hot July helped to be honest but I took his advice about feeding. Basically sweetcorn is a very hungry plant and needs loads of food. Plus a decent amount of space between each plant to grow well. So: when planting, make a shallow circular depression a few cms deep and around 15cm wide and plant into the middle of that, spacing plants a good 50cm apart in a block formation. Add a small handful of fertiliser (I used FBB) and water in well. Once ur plants are a couple of feet high, add a handful of chicken pellets around each plant. Again a month later. That's what I'll be doing again this year. All the best, fresh corn is one of the highlights of the allotment year in my book!
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 16:48 by Middlesexbloke »

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Babycat

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2014, 16:48 »
Last year I followed John Harrison's instructions and got an absolutely stunning crop of huge, juicy, sugar-sweet corn that friends and family kept asking for more of! Think the hot July helped to be honest but I took his advice about feeding. Basically sweetcorn is a very hungry plant and needs loads of food. Plus a decent amount of space between each plant to grow well. So: when planting, make a shallow circular depression a few cms deep and around 15cm wide and plant into the middle of that. Add a small handful of fertiliser (I used FBB) and water in well. Once ur plants are a couple of feet high, add a handful of chicken pellets around each plant. Again a month later. That's what I'll be doing again this year. All the best, fresh corn is one of the highlights of the allotment year in my book!

When are you planting out?

B

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Middlesexbloke

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2014, 16:53 »
Tomorrow morning! No doubt i should harden off first but as its going to be 26C here tomorrow apparently and warm all week I'm gonna risk it. Did the same last year and it was fine. Have read that some people on here put a soda bottle on each plant as a cloche to get the plant going and offer protection. Seems like a great idea if you're at all worried.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 16:58 by Middlesexbloke »

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Babycat

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2014, 17:52 »
Tomorrow morning! No doubt i should harden off first but as its going to be 26C here tomorrow apparently and warm all week I'm gonna risk it. Did the same last year and it was fine. Have read that some people on here put a soda bottle on each plant as a cloche to get the plant going and offer protection. Seems like a great idea if you're at all worried.

They are too tall for that - thinking of covering with a fleecy tunnel for a few days while they settle in.

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beesrus

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2014, 19:45 »
I always cover sweet corn with enviromesh when I plant out, just for a week. It tends to protect them from any winds etc. whilst finding their feet. Fleece would obviously do the same job. The bed was very well manured in October and has had an April BFB and chicken pellet treatment.
They will get  4 or 5 days hardening off this week in a very sheltered spot in their pots, including overnight, if the temperatures allow it. The plant out is then the Whitsun weekend. Sort of traditional for me. Normally accompanied by tomatoes, but they went out earlier this week due to the good weather. I was tempted to plan out the corn as well but it wasn't quite far enough on.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 19:48 by beesrus »

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Beetroot Queen

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2014, 19:50 »
I am keeping my method secret incase it fails and I look like a twit

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snowdrops

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2014, 20:13 »
If you have the time,compost & pots there would be no harm in potting on, then hardening off before planting out in a week or even two.
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dugless

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2014, 20:31 »
I am way behind could not get the variety Rosemary likes, she has bought some when visiting my Daughter in Cumbria I will not get the seeds until to morrow, just hope they will catch up.
Lost a lot of my plants last year due to frost even though they were in the greenhouse, but then I did start them early due to going away  in early spring.
Time is more precious than Gold
Spend it Wisely

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snowdrops

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2014, 20:36 »
I only sowed mine on Friday Dugless as I am on holiday this week so they should be germinated by the time I get back

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dugless

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2014, 20:41 »
thank you for that, I put mine in a tray on wet  kitchen paper towels  in a propagator till they shoot that way I only pot on the  good ones.

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maxie

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2014, 10:33 »
I always put a handful of chicken pellets in the hole and watered them in to a mush,then planted and always had a good crop,but last year i didnt do it and the crop was noticeably down so its back to it this year.

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Spr0ut

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2014, 11:05 »
I planted mine out last weekend after being hardened off on the yard for about a week. some look like they might not make it so I am sowing a second phase now to in-fill if need (same variety).

I was weighing up whether to sow into 1 litre yogurt pots this time to establish a better root system - longer tan conventional pots - or I have a set of six inch root trainers (just longer than a loo roll), but not sure about using these as the sweetcorn root tends to head for the bottom of the pot and then not really fill the root ball out so trainers may not encourage a good root ball for transplanting.

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heygrow

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Re: Sweetcorn planting out tips
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2014, 18:58 »
What is the latest date you could reasonably plant out? How long a growing season are they? I'm thinking of planting in the spot where my early potatoes come out. Won't be for a few weeks yet.



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