[3759allen]

we're forecast of high winds tonight and i'm a little worried about my sweetcon i planted out 2 weeks ago.

will they be ok or should i try and protect them somehow?

[JayG]

When they get to a couple of feet high I put a few canes in round the outside of the block of plants, then use strong twine to surround them, and also add a few diagonal runs through them as well, which helps them keep each other upright (more or less!)

Yours are presumably smaller than that at the moment and therefore less top heavy, so unless they're already struggling they'll probably be OK unless your site is very exposed (or the winds are exceptionally strong) in which case you could try to rig up a temporary wind break at least on the windward side (direction of these gales is forecast to be mainly from the SW.)

[BabbyAnn]

sweetcorn can be planted deeper than their original soil level, so would it be possible to "earth up" soil round the bases.

[Goosegirl]

TBH I don't think earthing up will help if you get high winds as the soil won't be firm enough to help. I'd do as JG says.

[3759allen]

excellent.

mine are no taller than a foot, most half that size. the garden is reasonably protected from wind so it doesn't get chance to build up too much.

when they were full size last year they seem ok in the wind. hopefully as they're not too big yet they'll be able to bend a bit rather than get blown over.

[cadalot]

Historically Impact damage by foxes made me loose more.

I'm always fascinated by the growth of the base of sweet corn and as a structural engineer I think nature is wonderful the way it builds such a structure to resist the moments at the base of what is after all an extremely large narrow structure.   

[chillimummy]

Historically Impact damage by foxes made me loose more.

I'm always fascinated by the growth of the base of sweet corn and as a structural engineer I think nature is wonderful the way it builds such a structure to resist the moments at the base of what is after all an extremely large narrow structure.

Cadalot
Did you sow any more sweetcorn?
I remember from a previous post we were talking about the poor germination.
I've chitted some but wonder if I've left it too late?

[chillimummy]

Cadalot
Have just seen another post of yours and sounds like you have finally had success with your sweetcorn 
Hopefully mine chitting will succeed and then they will catch up and not get eaten 

[cadalot]

The original sowing are now gradually coming up, I have never know sweet corn to take so long to germinate. But even in that they appear to be growing really slowly and not at the mega speed of previous years.

The new corn is not Lark it's Swift and I chitted them which I have never done before but it is kind of reassuring. The Swift are just starting to break the soil in the pots.

I have the Lark in the Space Saver greenhouse at home and the Swift in the greenhouse on the allotment and it now looks like I will be growing two beds of them. I'm hoping the rumours of a really beautiful hot summer coming our way are true and they can all catch up on last year.   

Photo of the Lark below which were sown of the 14th May

[Goosegirl]

I'm finding this current problem of poor sweet corn germination this year really strange. I am not at all green-fingered but I've never had a problem even with seed about three years old. This year I am growing Swift and Lark as last year's Incredible nearly grew out of my greenhouse windows! The ones outside cropped later so I had two lots. Anyway, they were new seed, I didn't chit them and never have done and I had near 100% germination in my cold GH even when I occasionally forgot to close the door at night and the temps in there weren't particularly warm at times. Um???