[growmore]

I have planted 24 sweetcorn, indoors, to bring them on - but for reasons I dont understand some of them are falling over  - very dead. Am I overwatering, underwatering, temperature is a constant 21c HELP please. Or should I just wait a couple of weks and plant out doors. I am on the South Coast so it should hopefully be warm enough to plant out then

[John]

Goodness, tricky at a distance to say the least. Could be too wet or dry (keep the compost damp but not wet is the best I can offer)
Is it old compost?
Take one of the dead 'uns and empty out onto some newspaper and check for wildlife.

Worst case scenario is that you try again. Don't plant two types of sweetcorn together though as they cross pollinate and you can end up with weird cobs apparently.

[Sadgit]

mine are about 5-6 inches tall now and have been in the greenhouse for about 1 week. I've had one do that, but i think I man handled it when transplanting to a bigger pot

[John]

Sweetcorn really doesn't take too well to transplanting. I plant the chitted seeds into a 3" pot and then the entire content of the pot is planted into the final position, usually under cloche.
You need to avoid the roots coming out of the bottom of the pot as well.

One tip - I draw a shallow trench with the hoe then use my trowel to make the planting holes.  This helps watering to start with and as the plants get larger you can earth up a bit to engender extra roots. Sweetcorn is a hungry plant and the extra roots will give better / extra cobs.

Also, a bit of dried blood by each plant will boost performance or water on some urea (prilled urea is a high nitrogen fertiliser that dissolves well)

[growmore]

Thanks folks, I guess I will learn from my mistake - still not sure what it was though - maybe too much water. Did an autopsy on the, soil no creepy crawlies. Have panted another lot with new compost and will see how I get on

[sally_cinnamon]

Growmore - how long have they been in the pots/trays you sowed them in?  I'm not a sweetcorn by any means, this year will in fact be my first year trying them, however I did read something interesting written by a seasoned grower who said that sweetcorn has an internal "clock" that starts ticking once it germinates and then there is a certain amount of time in which it needs to be planted out otherwise its growth will be restricted or it will die.  I think the time is about 3 weeks from sowing to planting out.  Am I allowed to put a link to anohter forum cos that's where I read it and it's probably a better description!
 

[John]

No problem sally_c -

Not sure about this clock thing but I'll put mine out when the roots trying to escape the pot. They'll go under cloche to start.

[sally_cinnamon]

Great - here it is...

Allotments 4 All - Second and Third Year Plot Holders

The bit about sweetcorn is about halfway down the 2nd page.

PS Don't know if that was the right way to link?

[growmore]

Hi Sally - c,

My sweetcorn had only been in the pots about two weeks but thanks for the link - I will check it out

[conzla]

I use toilet rolls when sowing sweetcorn, as it was stated earlier they dont like transplanting. Toilet rolls are long enough so you can keep them in the greenhouse/inside without disturbing the roots.  Then plant them out later when frost has passed. Hope this helps