[3759allen]

this will be my first year of try corn. when does everyone start sowing their corn?

[Yorkie]

Sweetcorn can be a bit hit or miss when planted in pots. By chitting you get better germination.

Interestingly, I tried to chit twice last year and they all grew grey mould on the outside (and I don't think it was that damp) ... planted them direct into roottrainers in a propagator and they mostly came up.  I agree with the principle of chitting but never have a lot of luck with it!!

[Yorkie]

this will be my first year of try corn. when does everyone start sowing their corn?

Can't plant it out until the start of June here, so sow it early May.

[Dantheman]

Hi,

Thanks for advice, the variety I used were Sunrise from marshall seeds, they were planted at a spacing of 22" in small blocks.  When i made the raised bed that they were in a add some bark chippings to help bulk up the bed as compost was scarce.  I harvested them when the tassels on the end died back.

the weed drove me mad in the picture 

Dan

[Robster]

I dont chit.  I place the seed directly into root trainers.  I germinate them in a propagator and as soon as they are up they go to a sunny windowsill to grow on.  Last year I tried to get them out early and although I missed all the frost it was windy and cold and they never did as well as other folks plants that were put later.  This year I'll not put them out until we are forecast a more gentle spell of weather.

[Snoop]

Your plants look very vigorous! In fact, your query isn't really about starting them off so much as about the quality of the cobs.

Maybe you harvested the cobs too late. When the silks are a nice toasted colour, I peel the husk back a little bit and compress a kernel or two. If they exude a milky-looking liquid,the cob is ready. If the liquid is watery, carefully fold the husk back into its original position to prevent pests from getting in and leave to ripen for longer. If the kernel is 'doughy' (according to Joy Larkcom), the cobs are past their best. If the cobs were pretty well full of developed kernels but just not nice to eat, you probably didn't pick them at the right time

The other possibility is that the female flowers didn't get pollinated by the males. If you had cobs with only patches of kernels, this would be the case. I once had no kernels whatsoever as bees took all the pollen from the male tassels. One option might be to grow more plants to increase the amount of pollen available or you could hand pollinate.

I have only once hand pollinated sweetcorn. I snapped off  some male flowers and shook and tapped them to release the pollen directly onto the female silks. I did this during another bee invasion but it was only partly successful. I should perhaps have repeated the operation as the lower female silks were perhaps not as ready as the ones at the top. Other people will probably be able to give you better advice.

The other thing is the number of cobs. Even though my plants often make three cobs, in fact the third one is never a great success. Some people recommend removing the smallest cob so that the plant doesn't waste energy on it. If you do this, use a decent pair of secateurs. I was surprised how much damage I managed to do to the plant when I tried just snapping it off as I would a ripe cob.

[3 allotments]

HI this is my friend stood next to some incredible fi in  my pt he is 6'3,pt is 10' they hit roof and bent back down another 2 feet 

[BabbyAnn]

Last year the spring weather was cold for so long that my usual sowing plans did not work out and I ended up having to do a late second batch by chitting first - within just a couple of days, the seeds were germinating unlike the uncertain "weeks" of the earlier sowing where only a third came up.  I'm definitely a chitting convert now 

As regards root disturbance - I've never grown sweetcorn in paper pots or loo rolls but in a standard 5 inch plant pot filled with compost, and like all plants not just sweetcorn, I make sure I don't disturb the roots when planting out.  The most important thing I found is to avoid the roots getting pot bound where the roots curl into a ball and then won't spread out when planted out.  If the weather isn't playing fair, I would consider repotting and encourage continuous vigorous growth.

The only time I've had problems with sweetcorn is due to cold - not necessarily a frost, but if the day temperatures also drop, the growth is checked and then the plants just sulk and do nothing thereafter.  A couple of years ago we'd had a gloriously warm early spring (well into the mid 20s oC) and what started off as a change in the weather with a bit of rain, gradually also turned colder (10-12oC) as days went by and I suddenly realised the plants hardening off outside were not tolerating the change .... a hard lesson to learn