Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Azazello on April 21, 2011, 13:53
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I'm going to grow some sweet corn this year - I know they need to be planted close together to help pollination but is there a minimum number that's needed too? I'm thinking about 10 - we want a good taste but don't want to end up with loads corn that we've not got round to eating.
Any tips on balancing the plants' needs against not wanting loads of the stuff?
Thanks in advance
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Bear in mind you will do well to get more than 1 well-filled cob per plant.
I would suggest that anything less than 9 plants (3X3) is not really a "block" and would be unlikely to pollinate well.
Although there is no scope in this country for successional sweetcorn planting as such, I intend to sow two batches 2-3 weeks apart which will be planted next to each other, the hope being to extend the cropping period and also perhaps help the first batch to produce the elusive 2nd or even 3rd cob (but as ever it will be mostly down to the summer weather we get!) :)
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There should be about 30cm between each plant and as Jay said they need to be in a block rather than in a line. If you have too much to eat they freeze very well.
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I manage three batches, at fortnight internals. The final harvest is early part of September.
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great thanks people - three batches of 10 should be about right, especially if yields are on the low side. It#d be nice to eat some a couple of times a week over a couple of months.
we don't have a massive freezer, at least not yet, so freezing's not a current option.
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I sowed the whole packet as i never seem to get any thing back from them. Hahahaha i will give it one last try. I dont want any more tall plants with not return. :lol:
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I grew sweetcorn last year - 4 x 4 and all but 1 plant had 2 cobs on them. I thought this was standard but from this it seems not!
Hope im as lucky this year
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gazza, we`re all dying to hear the secrets of your success. Could you outline your two cobs per plant programme?
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i normally get 2 good cobs per plant too ;). i have tried staggering propogation with various types to attempt to get a steady flow of produce, but they all seem to be ready about the same time ::) ::) the only part i have a problem with is freezing! they are never fit to be eaten from the cob from the freezer, although as kernals they are OK.
Any tips to keep cobs good to eat from frozen would be really appreciated. :)
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gazza, we`re all dying to hear the secrets of your success. Could you outline your two cobs per plant programme?
Ha - wish there was a secret!!! ;)
Started them off in cell modules and transpanted them a few weeks after germinating, As above 4 rows of 4 and i space them really well. Always kept weed free, didnt feed them at all through the summer but did keep them well watered.
Bet this year ill end with none! Ha!! :D
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http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingcorn.htm
For you goose. We are still eating frozen sweetcorn from 2009, didn`t grow any veg last year.
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Might be variety related? What varieties are you two-cob'ers growing?
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http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingcorn.htm
For you goose. We are still eating frozen sweetcorn from 2009, didn`t grow any veg last year.
Thanks for that, some very useful tips on that site :) i will test them out later in the season....hopefully ::)
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Jay, I think the sandy soil which we both have, may be the reason for only one cob per plant.
Corn is greedy and thirsty and it is difficult for us to get the soil how the corn likes it..that's my excuse, anyway :tongue2:
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Jay, I think the sandy soil which we both have, may be the reason for only one cob per plant.
Fraid not MoS - I grew some ( 16 in a 4x4 square) in 2009 and had 2 cobs per plant even in my sand pit. :D Not had the room to grow any since though.
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Jay, I think the sandy soil which we both have, may be the reason for only one cob per plant.
Fraid not MoS - I grew some ( 16 in a 4x4 square) in 2009 and had 2 cobs per plant even in my sand pit. :D Not had the room to grow any since though.
Sandy soil certainly doesn't help, nor do the ropey summers lately, but I still get the impression they (Swift) want to produce more than one cob.
Can't do more than I already do do for the soil, and can't do anything at all about the weather, so I've not got much choice but to pin my hopes on trying to improve the pollination aspect of it. :unsure:
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oh well..........I thought it was a good excuse :nowink:
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My Swift produce only one cob in the greenhouse (and same outside). They get plenty of warmth there! and a rich soil. I think the plants are physically too short to support a second cob.
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My Swift produce only one cob in the greenhouse (and same outside). They get plenty of warmth there! and a rich soil. I think the plants are physically too short to support a second cob.
In that case (not for the first time in my life!) I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping for a sure-fire recommendation for a reliable big-un! ::) :lol:
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Jay - if it is any consolation I am just down the road from you and while I have managed a second cob on some of my sweetcorn, very few of the second cobs are any good. My soil is not sandy but I must admit to perhaps needing to water and feed them more. Last two years I have just about left them to themselves. Last year was hopeless. I put them out too early and they all died so I then had to sow two half packets of leftovers. They were different types and the corn I got was not very sweet and rather boring. I am hopeing for better things this year. My supa sweet are just popping thru on my windowsill, I will give them a week or so in the greenhouse and perhaps pot them onto something bigger.