[gavinjconway]

Yes Aunty... it was to produce a perfect Hybrid maize cob. We had loads of different varieties to suit different parts of the country and differing seasons,  from very wet to drought years.

JayG - as you say there are no Male or female plants - the tassles are the male part and over the years the producers have obviously designed different qualities for different plants to be grown together to make the ideal maize cob. Hence the male tassles were left on some plants and the others cut off to get the correct crossing combination needed.

[realfood]

 My understanding is that there are 5 basic different types of sweetcorn for the amateur to grow, namely Standard (su), Sugary extender (se), Supersweet (sh2), Synergistic (sy), and Augmented Supersweet, also known as tendersweets.
Basically, they are all recommended to be separated from each other, either by distance or when the pollen is mobile, according to the information given on this page :-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sweetcorn_varieties
This page also has a useful list of named varieties(some of the latest varieties are sadly not mentioned) of sweetcorn giving information on which type they are(usually missing from the seed packets).

My personal choices are the early Tendersweet varieties, such as Swift or the Mirai varieties.
Even though I grow them every year in cold, wet, windy Glasgow, I get a good crop every year with full head kernels. The only thing that I do to aid pollination is to shake the pollen(when it is mobile) down onto the female silks when I am up at the allotment. It is also important to pick the cobs when they are at their best.

[TFB]

Thank you for all the help, it was very informative.

So, if I've read right, SE and SU varieties don't really have to be isolated from each other, although there could be some minor taste diference. All others should be isolated from any different varieties, although, many of you have said that the 250 yards distance advocated by websites for spacing between different types of corn is imratical, and that really if different polen varieties do mix, the plants on the downwind side of my block would be the only ones affected.

Thanks for all the help, and due to availability and good reviews, I think I'll go for the tendersweet Swift F1 variety, and at the same time, try to create a pact to only grow tendersweet varieties on my allotment site!

[gavinjconway]

Thank you for all the help, it was very informative.

So, if I've read right, SE and SU varieties don't really have to be isolated from each other, although there could be some minor taste diference. All others should be isolated from any different varieties, although, many of you have said that the 250 yards distance advocated by websites for spacing between different types of corn is imratical, and that really if different polen varieties do mix, the plants on the downwind side of my block would be the only ones affected.

Thanks for all the help, and due to availability and good reviews, I think I'll go for the tendersweet Swift F1 variety, and at the same time, try to create a pact to only grow tendersweet varieties on my allotment site!

Yep.. you are now fully up to speed.. hope your plotty neighbour doesn’t  grow some SH2 Supersweets!!

[pdblake]

Thanks for the explanation. I'll just leave the tassels well alone then

[mrgrower]

I was under the impression that sweetcorn was easy to grow these days seems not  Chitting, contamination, etc etc I planted a few seeds direct into pots expecting them all to come through seems from what i'm seing here I will have to rethink hehe.

MG

[gavinjconway]

Thanks for the explanation. I'll just leave the tassels well alone then

The only time you need to cut tassles is if you grow "mini pop" - i.e. the mini cobs for stir fries..

You plant them really close together and then snip the tassles off. You dont need pollination and if you plant them close to other normal sweetcorn you need not worry about the mini pop contaminating the normal as it has no tallsles. The mini pop are picked really really young so polination is not required and will be picked before any seeds grow if pollinated by other plants but anyway will be picked way before any plants are dropping pollen. 

MG - it is easy and dont worry too much.. Just follow the 2 simple rules..
Supersweets (sh2) must only be grown on their own or with 2 or 3 other sh2 types..
Hybrid Sweets (su) and Sugar Enhanced (se) can be mixed with each other no problem.

 You can get away with digging a hole and planting them in situ.. Plant 3 seeds per hole and remove the 2 weakest.. I dont chit them first - just plant in modules (or toilet roll tubes) 4 weeks before planting and plant out when frost has finished.

[pdblake]

Thanks. I'm growing Invicible F1, Country Value cheapos. I think they're SH2 going by google. Next year I might try something different.