Need advice re: my sweetcorn

Hi All,

Can anyone advise me about why my sweetcorn is failing to germinate please?

I've not had this trouble before.
 




Thanks

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Place the seeds between two sheets of damp kitchen paper and put in a sandwich box. Keep warm. Should germinate in 3/4 days. Sow into pots. Works for me every year.....peas too.

A few thoughts.   You don't say how long you have had them sown, or where (possibly in a greenhouse? ) 
 
Very old seed ?   

non- F1 seed, which is more unpredictable?

Seed weevil

Slugs

Just too cold this year.   (Chit at 25deg C.  Grow on at 20deg C.   Plant out not before mid June.)  The moss on your soil suggests too cold and wet.

Are the seeds still in the compost or have they disappeared?

The pots / modules at the top have green algae on the surface, which would suggest that the compost has been very damp as gremlin suggests.

I had absolutely no success with the damp towel method this year - twice!

My third success was in a heated propagator - an airing cupboard would do equally well as long as you removed the plants into the light as soon as they came through.

I got a packet of Special Swiss from Real Seeds and had 45 out of 49 germinate...I'm now wondering what I'm going to do with 45 corn plants!!!!

I put mine in a plastic take away container with 20mm of water in the bottom. Place in an airing cupboard (for heat) and 3 day's later 90% have germinated.

Update on the Sweetcorn:

I duly placed my sweetcorn in a plastic box in the airing cupboard with some paper towel.
Germinated fine but I am guessing that the problems I have been having are due to dodgy seeds because as soon as they germinated they got a layer of mold grow on them - the hairy, white stuff.
The seeds are within date and from Thompson & Morgan, so a reputable supplier.

As a control, I also put in a box of pea 'Maro' and they have germinated too and are in fine health.


I think I may just pop out this year and and buy some plants.
Cheers all.