[drmoonshine]

hi all just a few question about my corn atm there about 2 feet high with one cob on each plant. Am I right in saying this? A.cob is the.thing with the hairy thing coming off it thats such a bad way to describe it lol if my comment is correct does this mean the ones I see are polanated and I will get a.cob from them

Also have I failed a  little should they be ally taller And also have ally more cobs per plant

[Yorkie]

Yes, they are called cobs 

It's been an odd year with the different weather conditions.  I suspect your plants have got stressed (drought?) and started putting out cobs before they have reached their usual height.

You should have a taller spike coming out of the top of the plant, which has seeds on it - these fall down onto the hairy tassels in order to pollinate the cobs.

I doubt they will grow much taller, and I rarely get more than 1 cob per plant anyway.

[mumofstig]

the 'male bits' that release pollen at the top of the plant are called tassels and the 'female bits' at the top of the cobs are called silks 

When the silks have turned brown you know that the cobs have been pollinated succesfully

[drmoonshine]

Thanks guys so can I cheat and lend a hand and drop some top bits onto the silks from another plant I. Understand there not self pollinating?

[JayG]

They're wind pollinated, so rely on a breeze to distribute the pollen from the spikes (tassels) to the silks, which is why it is usually recommended to grow them in blocks to ensure the best possible pollination no matter which way the wind blows!

If there's no wind you can give them a bit of a shake but I don't think you can realistically do much more than that to assist.

[drmoonshine]

Thanks well I hot them in 4x4 block so hopefully thinks should be ok

[Yorkie]

 

I always do get my tassels and silks muddled up 

[SnooziSuzi]

what variety have you grown, drmoonshine?  some of them only grow that tall, others can be bigger than a man

[Gandan57]

Blimey drmoonshine, when did you sow the seeds to have cobs forming this early?

There are quite a few sweetcorn crops on our site that IMO were started off too early. With no frosts since March here the early ones survived but they suffered with the cold winds and are stunted and have tassels already. It is doubtful whether these early sowings will produce cobs at all.

[monkeywobbler]

I sowed mine in May. They are about 5 feet high and have 2-3 cobs on them. They are very healthy and strong. I was very, very lucky with the weather, and my husband is a dab hand with the polythene. The variety is "Incredible". I think as long as you're willing to protect them and not take it to heart if they don't do too well, an early sowing is worth the risk 

[radiohead]

Mine are about two feet high.....staked them today,as it's pretty windy.  Didnt stake them last year and they got blown over .......once bitten.......

[simonwatson]

Mine are 5 feet high with silks and tassels galore. I grew them 5 to a 20L pot in the greenhouse, planted in april and them moved them outdoors in June.

Most of the plants are growing 2 cobs by the looks of it.

I did it this way as last years sweetcorn didn't really do anything. I blame the cool Newcastle summers.

[Gandan57]

I sowed mine in May. They are about 5 feet high and have 2-3 cobs on them. They are very healthy and strong. I was very, very lucky with the weather, and my husband is a dab hand with the polythene. The variety is "Incredible". I think as long as you're willing to protect them and not take it to heart if they don't do too well, an early sowing is worth the risk 

                                                                           

Never was a variety more aptly named IMO.

I`m growing Sweet Sensation, which I would like to rename "consternation". I made two sowings, middle of April and 2nd May. The former are maybe nearly two feet and the latter are barely a foot tall. Hopefully they will now grow like mad for two or three weeks before silks and tassels appear.

[mumofstig]

My Incredible has badly formed cobs last year (they had cobs with tassels growing from the tops instead of silks - really weird) so changed varieties for this year to Lark, which is much shorter

[monkeywobbler]

That's a bit pants, mum.

I've had no problems so far - a touch of frost on the outer leaves in the middle of May, but it didn't slow them down one bit. We planted them on a spot that was well mucked with manure, double dug, BFB'ed and then slapped a 4/5" layer of straw over the lot. I'm so pleased with them, I can't even tell you.
I bought a packet of Swift in case the Incredible didn't do well, but I didn't need them. Every single one germinated and we had so many extra we had to give some away. I think it was just luck to be honest.

Gandan, have you tried Incredible before?