[JaK]

I have recently moved allotments (now closer to home, hooray). The new site is right on the Moor and the weather can be quite harsh. I'd like to grow sweetcorn and wonder it I need to create some king of screening to protect it from the wind. If so, what would you use?

[Goosegirl]

I live on flat reclaimed mossland about a mile from the sea and have grown sweet corn successfully in the past, but it does depend on not getting a severe gale or two. Perhaps you could knock in some fencing stakes or stout canes and secure them that way, then they won't get blown over as their roots are quite shallow. I now grow mine in the greenhouse with better success as its climate suits them more, and I pollinate by tapping the canes with a stick..

[Nobbie]

You could use the orange mesh they use around construction sites as this will filter the wind without the chance of it blowing over. You can buy it at builders merchants or ask at a local site if they're throwing it away. although shallow rooted, I find that sweetcorn is very well anchored when I'm tring to pull it up at the end of the season.

[Baldy]

Our plot is top of a hill - road that goes up said hill is called Windmill Lane...  about a mile from the sea. Gets a bit blowy there... 

Last year I had great success with sweetcorn - I used big 'pop' bottles as individual cloches - bottom cut out and a bamboo stick through to help secure them. Helped them survive wind and inclement weather and gave some protection against birds. Once they had grown large enough to fill the bottle they seemed to be secure enough in the soil to survive the winds.

Cheers,
Balders

[JayG]

Although my garden is quite sheltered the soil is very light which doesn't help with anchorage, so my sweetcorn does tend to get knocked around a bit, and with every square inch precious I can't afford for them to even lean over!

I put standard canes around the block of plants, and use braided plastic twine to encircle (en-rectangle?  ) them, and also between them on the diagonals, at a height of 2-3 feet. Enough of them are supported to help them and their neighbours stay upright, and it's obviously much quicker and easier than trying to stake each individual plant.

Don't know much about wind screening, except that it needs to be positioned correctly and also use a material which filters rather than attempts to block the wind completely, which can make matters worse.

[beesrus]

I grow sweet corn on a windy site about a mile from the South west coast. I also know a couple of folk who grow it up on the fringe of Dartmoor. Wind is certainly the main problem down this way.
For the first month I protect with enviromesh supported on 2 feet canes and tins. It does a good job as a wind break for the young plants.
Then, as JayG, I put in a few stout canes/timbers and interweave twine around and through the block at two feet and four feet high. It makes the block as one. In fact, I've just redone the very same thing today for my 4 feet tall plus broad beans in readiness for tomorrow's high winds.  I do plant a bit closer as well, a foot each way between. They all help each other to absorb the most damaging of gusts. Always get great crops and hardly ever lose any to wind. If you do have a slightly more sheltered spot on your plot, no matter how minimal, I would use it. When I plant on the most exposed part of my plot, I also shelter the corn from the prevailing souwesterly with my row of runners, as they are always more securely braced than the corn.

[JaK]

Great, thank you for the tips.
Whilst at the garden center this afternoon, I picked up 5 meters of this to use on the plot. Hope it will help a bit.
http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/superior-windbreak-and-greenhouse-shade-netting-pid8695.html?Aff=GPL&gclid=CN_sptfWn74CFSMUwwodXqAAXQ