Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Nicki85 on April 16, 2015, 10:16
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I've tried sweetcorn for the past few years with no luck. This will be my last year trying, I've put some raised beds in down one of my plots which I'm hoping will provide good growing conditions for it! The raised beds have been filled with topsoil (local supplier although it is bit claggy for my liking) and bagged manure from the local garden centre.
My main question though is, which variety do you swear by? I've just about got time to order from the interweb now!
Also any tips for a successful crop would be appreciated :)
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I've only grown swift last year for the first time. I was so amazed with fresh sweetcorn that I have dedicated a much larger space for it this year!
I'm a novice so dont take my word for it, but all I did was:
Sow the seeds in deep pots filled with compost around now. Wait until they are well established and about 20 cms high. Then plant out in their final position in the bed in a block around 20-30cms apart. Feed with some chicken pellets and water well.
Once they produce the flowers and pollen, gently shake the plants near to each other so that the pollen gets on the strings on each plant. (I cant remember the technical term for these bits!! "Lady corn garden?!" perhaps ;)) Each string will lead to corn kernal, so make sure all the strings get some pollen on to get a full cob - my mistake last year!
As the corns bulk up, I found I could open one to see if they were ripe - squeeze a kernal to see if milky sap comes out. If they are opened I did find squirrels or other bugs could get into the cob and eat the corn, so only try to open them a little bit and only if you really have to check their ripeness!
Then eat and enjoy!
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I chit my sweetcorn but I also wait for the green shoots to appear and be about an inch long before potting. Trying swift for the first time this year.
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In what way were you not successful?
Don't plant out too early - it's not just about avoiding frosts but avoiding prolonged low temperatures - sweetcorn is one of the all time great 'sulkers', and if set back by cold conditions may never fully recover.
Very hungry and thirsty plants, keep well fed and watered, and cross your fingers that weather conditions are conducive to good pollination when the time comes (wet and very windy are not helpful.)
Plant in blocks rather than rows to improve the chances of getting good pollination.
Varieties (usually F1) need to be those which will do well in our short summers - Lark and Swift are popular for good reason, although I did well with Earlibird F1 last year.
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I have a somewhat random/skinflint approach to variety typically depends which ones I pick in the Wyvale end of season sale. That said I normally grab swift if I see them there. As to technique I chit as per instructions on this site and then put them into seed compost in root trainers in my conservatory ( can get pretty hot!) then into a blow away greenhouse and finally down the plot to be planted out. Normally add mushroom compost or manure and perhaps chicken manure pellets to prepare bed. I have tried growing french beans in amongst the sweet corn as per 3 sisters technique from USA ( my version 2 sisters ),
Crop will depend on weather and animals as much as anything
Cheers HH
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The first time I tried Earlibird in 2012, we had the wettest spring/summer and all my plot neighbours lost most of their sweetcorn that year. Mine went on to produce an (and most likely the only) amazing crop. Last year I grew Earlibird and Lark (in different beds far apart) - both were very good, but I have to confess that I did favour the Lark.
My tips include:
1) As mentioned, don't sow too early (and chitting is definitely the way to start the seeds off). I'm looking at 3rd week of April to early May and try to coincide sowing with a forecast warm spell if I can - seeds germinate quicker and plants get off to a good start in good warm sunshine, whereas seeds molly coddled along the way don't always thrive. I move them into the greenhouse /polytunnel if temperatures start to fall (the key as JayG mentions is how they sulk if left in prolonged low temperature - they simply just stop growing)
2) When planting out, dig the planting hole a bit deeper than the pot soil level - when back-filling, it will help to prevent the plant from falling over and encourages new roots to anchor down and take up water.
3) Give the plants a nitrogen boost by popping a handful (yes, a big handful) of chicken manure pellets into the planting holes - sweetcorn have to grow fast, flower and cobs mature in just a few months before the weather cools down in late summer. Think of sweetcorn as grass - the more you feed it, the quicker it grows ;) (and pray for lots of warm sunshine - lots and lots of sun)
4) Definitely keep well watered during the growing season especially in a heatwave but ease off when cobs are nearly ready
5) No matter how many years of experience, be prepared to get giddy with excitement when you can see the cobs are nearly ready for picking (and in case you didn't know, cobs picked should be cooked and eaten immediately to enjoy the sweetest flavours - in fact, so sweet you might be tempted to eat the cob raw there and then :D)
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Never really had any problems with sweetcorn.
I have always grown Golden Bantam. This variety grows about five foot tall and produces 6-7 inch cobs.
Just sowed my seeds in the greenhouse and will then plant out mid to late may once some broad beans have finished.
You do need to grow them in blocks, as mentioned above.
Although its best to eat them fresh, sweetcorn freezes very well. So no need to buy the 89p frozen stuff, that is just tasteless compared to your own.
My favourite dish with the frozen corn is a Chinese chicken and sweeetcon soup, delicious!
But best fresh with loads of butter :)
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I have grown it outdoors but, even with the sea breezes we get here, can't say it has been greatly successful, although last year my outside-planted "Incredible" did give a crop. I find the best way is to grow them in my greenhouse bed underplanted with dwarf French beans. I am growing Swift and Lark this year as they are not as tall. To add to the good advice given here, they produce tassels at the top and silks beneath. The tassels provide the pollen that falls onto the silks where your cob will develop. In the GH where there is no breeze, I tap the formed tassels with a cane and get a mist of pollen falling right on the silks (you need goggles and a mask) and get fully-pollinated cobs. Any spare plants go outside.
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Thanks all for the advice- it really is appreciated!
Usually I have no problem with germination but I suspect I start them off a bit early and risk them in the slightly cooler weather. It appears to be the "growing" which is the issue! They are generally stunted and only reach 3ft (if that) and the cobs are only half germinated (I think that's right- only half the cob has corn on it...) despite planting in a block of say 16 plants. They are also usually full of earwigs!! I did try and make sure they were well watered...
I thought I may have some photos but I was obviously so distraught over their failure I didn't take any!
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I am similar to Maddave, I grew Swift F1 for the first time last year and I had a bumper crop and amazingly tasty, I did grow it intermingled with French beans tho (3 sisters stylee).
Anyways, I am growing corn again this year except my remaining Swift seeds have not germinated (too old I think) so I shall shortly be sowing Golden Bantam and[/font][/size] Ornamental Fiesta - ordinarily you shouldn't mix types, but one takes much longer to grow than the other so they won't be pollinating at the same time.[/color]
[/size]Good luck with your new seeds![/color]
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I'm growing F1 Lark this year for a change. The last two years I've grown F1 Golden Hind with success (enough frozen kernels from 40 plants to see us through the winter).
I put them to chit yesterday and will put the germinated seeds into 7cm pots to grow on. Last year I planted them out at the end of May into the allotment in soil which I had dug over and composted with garden compost. Other than that I dod nothing special to them.
The only thing I've seen said is not to mix varieties as if they cross pollinate you can get less sweet kernels.
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Never really had any problems with sweetcorn.
I have always grown Golden Bantam. This variety grows about five foot tall and produces 6-7 inch cobs.
Just sowed my seeds in the greenhouse and will then plant out mid to late may once some broad beans have finished.
You do need to grow them in blocks, as mentioned above.
Although its best to eat them fresh, sweetcorn freezes very well. So no need to buy the 89p frozen stuff, that is just tasteless compared to your own.
My favourite dish with the frozen corn is a Chinese chicken and sweeetcon soup, delicious!
But best fresh with loads of butter :)
I never got anywhere with Golden Bantam, beyond a couple of cobs. It might be because I am much further north than you lettice, but I see Real Seeds recommends these only for polytunnel / under glass now. I tried their Special Swiss last year and got a very good tasty crop. So I will be growing that again this year.
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last year I did swift. Some for myself and some for my mother. Planted out in the same week, mine where really poor, didn't harvest anything worth eating - my soil is soft and easy to dig. My mother however on her clay like soil which she moans about as it's terrible to dig got a good crop. I interpanted with pumpkin (including giant) I wonder if they got tall the goodness (see my profile pic). This year I will put down a moisture retaining much in between and see if that helps, and no large pumpkin nearby!!
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The one in my avatar is Conqueror from the great sweetcorn harvest of 2012! I have haven't bettered it since! A neighbour on the allotment told me to grow Incredible, but I suspect that is what she had grown and didn't want cross-pollination.
Have high hopes for 'Special Swiss' from Real Seeds this year - and I will endeavour to water, feed and weed them which should help matters.
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I never got anywhere with Golden Bantam, beyond a couple of cobs. It might be because I am much further north than you lettice, but I see Real Seeds recommends these only for polytunnel / under glass now. I tried their Special Swiss last year and got a very good tasty crop. So I will be growing that again this year.
Really, must be another form of Golden Bantam. Was not even aware that you would grow sweetcorn under cover or is that just to start them off in colder climates.
I have always used the seeds from DeRee, details below.
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I cannot remember the variety we grew last year but they did very well, we were late getting the plot but started the seeds in loo roll tubes and when we planted them out at 6" high we put plastic bottle cloches over them. They all produced lovely cobs!
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Was not even aware that you would grow sweetcorn under cover or is that just to start them off in colder climates.
I grow a crop (to maturity) in my greenhouse. Ripens several weeks earlier than the outdoor crop (which I also grow). Have to manually tap the plant stems to dislodge the pollen as no wind to distribute the pollen inside the greenhouse.
(https://kgarden.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/img_6659_sweetcorn_24jun2010.jpg)
24-June (2010)
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Interesting that Kristen, have not seen sweetcorn grown under cover.
It works well for me to grow mine once my broad beans have finished, as I hate to see good growing soil bare.
For me, if my greenhouse was that big I would grow more tomatoes and cucumbers than I do now. Not that Im not happy with what I grow in the greenhouse feeding us and my neighbours very well over the summer and Autumn.
Only sowed my first batch of sweetcorn less than a week ago and they are already sprouting, its all the warm weather we are getting I suppose.
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if my greenhouse was that big I would grow more tomatoes and cucumbers than I do now.
They are on the other side of the greenhouse. I have a row of Tomatoes (18 plants), aubergines / peppers (can't remember, probably 18 plants) and Melons against the glass - 15 or so. That's more than enough Tomatoes for us ... there are also 3 Cucumbers on the end wall, again more than enough for us.
I inter-plant the Corn with Peppers and Aubergines which come on after the Corn is finished. The plants are held back in largish pots to then follow-on.