[gazmet]

Hi there, long time lurker but first time posting. I was hoping someone would be able to help me. I'm growing sweetcorn for the first time so please excuse my ignorance, I've got ten plants in a raised bed and I've just been to check on them and one has something growing up though the middle. Is this normal as non of the other plants have this.

Thanks in advance

[Under The Hill]

Hi, none of mine have ever done that and I have grown them for three years.  But hopefully someone else will come on here and be more helpful x

[DD.]

That ultimately will be the "tassel".

This is the pollen bearing part of the plant  that will fall on the embryonic sweet corn cobs. They will put out a lot of "silks" - fine and hair like - to receive the pollen.

[gazmet]

Thanks for the replies. I thought it was supposed to be there but I just wanted to check

[gavinjconway]

The tassel sometimes looks like a mini cob and others will grow to form proper tassels..

[mumofstig]

Yes, the tassel at the top, is the flowering part, and the silks are on top of the cobs to receive the pollen 

[DD.]

The tassel sometimes looks like a mini cob and others will grow to form proper tassels..

Are you talking about tillers, Gavin? Tassels look nothing like a cob.

[gavinjconway]

No DD... if you look carefully at the pic you will see it is like a very mall cob and not the normal frond like tassels.. ... sometimes the tassels start off with that and then grow on to tassels.


Here is some info on what I'm on about... and the pic sure looks like it..

 http://swiftsgardeningblog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/sweet-corn-mutations.html

[Totty]

It looks like a bit of a throwback plant that's just gone wrong.

Totty

[beesrus]

Totty's comments hit the button I feel.
Most years I have gotten 1 or 2 plants like that shown that get their silks/tassels/cobs mixed up. They never come to fruition properly and I've always assumed they are just some sort of rare mutation that the odd sweet corn suffer from, that seems to occur more with the F1 varieties like Incredible. It can also happen with your own saved seeds from non F1 varieties.

[JayG]

I've seen that abnormal development a total of once or twice over several years of growing F1 varieties (mainly Swift.)

Trying Incredible for the first time so hoping it's not particularly prone to it, especially as having found out how big they grow I thought I'd better not squeeze them in as tightly as usual, so have only got 18 plants this year. 

[AnneB]

I had one like that on a Double Standard bi-colour non F1 variety last year, but oddly it was one of the tillers that went that way.    The rest of the plant produced cobs as usual.

[mumofstig]

I've seen that abnormal development a total of once or twice over several years of growing F1 varieties (mainly Swift.)

Trying Incredible for the first time so hoping it's not particularly prone to it, especially as having found out how big they grow I thought I'd better not squeeze them in as tightly as usual, so have only got 18 plants this year.

Good luck - it was a bad'un when I grew it 

[gavinjconway]

Totty's comments hit the button I feel.

My comments were in first     

[JayG]

Trying Incredible for the first time so hoping it's not particularly prone to it, especially as having found out how big they grow I thought I'd better not squeeze them in as tightly as usual, so have only got 18 plants this year.

Good luck - it was a bad'un when I grew it 

Gulp - not sure I really want to hear the answer, but I'll ask 'why?' anyway please Mum.