[seaside]

I have two patches, both in exactly the same bed preparation ...ie.. covered and rotted down couch, bindweed, dandelion etc from the rest of the plot 2 years ago.  No other fertiliser in preparing the beds :-

Picture 1... Golden Bantam  sown in heated propagator 12 May   planted out 26 May

Picture 2... Incredible           sown in heated propagator 30 May   planted out 9 June

The GB is now very handsome and between 4 to 7 feet tall in front of the greenhouse and started tassles a week ago, and silks are now starting. The flower and pollen smell divine.
The Incredible at the back of the greenhouse are roughly 3 to 5 feet, but no tassles as yet ... a week away at least.

Looks like I have succeeded this year ( wind and pests apart ) in staggering the crop with the Incredibles consistently a couple of weeks behind. Should be plenty of time though and hopefully will give a longer harvest.

The interesting thing as can be seen in these two photos is the effect of 2 courgette plants planted on the margin of the Incredibles. The corn above the courgette is a foot or two smaller than the rest of the patch and has far lighter green foliage. Obviously the 2 courgettes are competing for nutrients.

[JayG]

Interesting observation Seaside - you probably could have compensated for the competition with extra food and water but it does illustrate why the "3 sisters" combination of sweet corn, climbing beans, and squashes doesn't seem to work very well in the UK, given that they have to put up with less than ideal weather as well as the competition from each other.

[chillifandave]

Sweetcorn doing well this year now standing a little over 6ft producing 2 cobs and swelling nicely,not bad for 39 p from Aldi ,planted out June 6th

[surbie100]

I've got 2-3 cobs per plant (wheeeeeeeeeeeee!) but they are still very skinny.

Any tips on helping them along?

They had a comfrey/seaweed feed last night as a treat, and the bed had a bag of rotted manure added before they went in.

[mumofstig]

I've got 2-3 cobs per plant (wheeeeeeeeeeeee!) but they are still very skinny.

are they pollinated cobs, or that's how many have grown on each plant?

It's common to get three cobs growing but only get one pollinated/edible cob per plant    so I don't count them til I can eat them 

[surbie100]

I've got 2-3 cobs per plant (wheeeeeeeeeeeee!) but they are still very skinny.

are they pollinated cobs, or that's how many have grown on each plant?

It's common to get three cobs growing but only get one pollinated/edible cob per plant    so I don't count them til I can eat them 

Oh. *cast down face*

I've never grown them before. They have huge amounts of foliage, should some of it be removed to help the pollen float down? And how can you tell if they are pollinated or not?

[JayG]

I have been known to cut off any leaves directly covering the silks, but that's because I'm obsessed with home-grown sweet corn (so it's OK!  )

[surbie100]

Thanks - will arm myself with secateurs tonight!

[mumofstig]

If there is large flat leaf directly above a silk, I tend to bend it right down so the pollen can drift down to the cob, rather than cut them off
The silks have been pollinated if they start to turn brown, but you can get cobs that are partially pollinated and look like this when you strip the leaves off

[JayG]

Dry with just a gentle breeze today, so after a few wet and windy days I'm hoping this will be the day a lot of the silks get pollinated, although some of my plants still don't have their first silks yet, never mind the 2 or 3 some folk are reporting. 

[Growing4mykids]

Noticed a couple of silks on all but one of my swift, like you jay, hoping this dry spell, with a little added shake here and there gets them going 

[surbie100]

I may have been a bit drastic with the secateurs this morning... The plants look even more like they have alien antennae!

[ghost61]

Munching our way through the cobs now. We are amongst the first on site to have cobs ready. Mini ones yet to set, but are huge this year.