[welsh boyo]

hi again
I`ve had some saved seed from a fellow member of here
I was informed that they might need to be chitted,
my queston s how do i go about that, never grown corn before, so any info would be great.
thanks all.

[naturesparadise]

well i grow corn and have never chitted it ever i just sow it in pots

when you plant it out after the risk of any frost has gone

plant it in a grid IE  a square it needs to be planted this way for it to pollinate

and then just general care

hope that helps

[shaun]

ive chiited sweetcorn,just put them on damp kitchen paper and another bit on top,put them in a butty box with the lid on and put the box somewhere warm and dark for a week,open the box up and you will have a little root popping out of the corn,now plant the ones that have sprouted and discard the blanks.

[gobs]

Just like NP I never ever chitted mine, sow one a pot, come up in a week, 2 fail out of 60, can't see the point to do much else about them.

Now the saved sweetcorn seed can be interesting, unless it's from open pollinated ones.

Let us know.

[Aidy]

must admit, last year I chitted and had better germination   , I did as shaun says but this year I will pre-chit but in a different way, little bit of damp compost in a bag and put in a warm place. Terry told me that one on his podcast, he does for his broad beans, got mine on the go know (beans that is).

[Hampshire Hog]

I chitted sweetcorn last year only took 48 hours for them to germinate in airing cupboard-dark /warm. They grew happily after that in pots.

Cheers HH

[mdueal]

I started some early peas off on damp kitchen paper - originally intending to have them as pea shoots in salads - but they came on so well that i planted them out and they are doing really well. Took far less time to germinate than last year when i just put them in the ground - despite it being much earlier

[Angelah]

I found out I was sposed to have chitted the sweetcorn a few days after I'd planted it!!! But had 100% germination anyway. Am going to plant more this year as they were soooo yummy, but am not going to bother chitting.

[gobs]

That's how myths are born.

You are not supposed to.  :shock:  You can.  But why would you? :?  

[Aunt Sally]

I do it the way Shaun does  

[slowcompost]

Might it be better to chit them if your trying to get them going early.
I,ve never sown them before middle to end of april in pots in the greenhouse and middle of may directly outside.

[Aidy]

Might it be better to chit them if your trying to get them going early.
I,ve never sown them before middle to end of april in pots in the greenhouse and middle of may directly outside.

Not really, any seed will germinate if you give it the correct condition for it to grow, Gobs is totaly correct, I chit coz I like to see it grow and before I have had the odd one rot, its personal preference.

[Sadgit]

So is it too early to start sweetcorn in the greenhouse?

[compostqueen]

T'experts (not me) do say that you find out from the weather man (on line doing a search of your postcode of the projected date of the last frost ) then count back four weeks and sow then.

I won't be rushing and the last day of April will do me.  My site is very windy and I seem to get frost more than most  :evil:  

If you do plant them out early just listen for frost warnings from the weather man and protect with glass or fleece etc

[jimroden]

After reading this thread my wife and I have done an experiment I chitted mine on Tuesday and this is the result.


Now the question I have is when I pot these up do I cover the whole lot up or do I leave the stem with the yellow bit out the soil