[azubah]

Farmers grow acres of sweetcorn. Do they sow direct or do they grow the plants somewhere warm and transplant?
If they sow direct, how do they get their crop to ripen early enough in the UK?
If they transplant small plants, where do they get them from?

[mumofstig]

It's mostly grown in the south I think and it's grown from seed......
have a look here

[Puenktchen]

Hi

As far as I know farmers don`t grow sweet corn, but the "normal" corn which they feed to the animals which is not as sweet as the sweet corn people grow in their gardens or on the Allotment (I don`t know how it is called). For this corn they sow the seeds directly in the soil on the field and often the seeds are coated with a fungicide first (I have seen for example seeds with a red fungicide, looked like thiram). Planting would be far too labour intensive.
I think the "normal" corn is less demanding and grows well in the UK. When the corn cobs are very young they also taste very nice  .

Puenktchen

[fletcherbaker]

Most of the corn you see that the farmers grow isnt for human consumption its for animals and apparently has no taste so a farmer tells me!!!

[DD.]

Someone must grow it, but the previous posters are correct. Most of what you see is "Maize" for cattle feed.

[andy135]

It's called maize and although intended for animal feed, it is perfectly edible for humans.
I used to work on an arable farm, and the boss used to tell me to help myself to the corn.
It isn't as sweet as the veriety's which we are used to, but you certainly wouldn't turn your nose up at it.

[Trillium]

I suspect most of commercial UK sweet corn comes from abroad. Sweet corn is more particular in its needs than 'cow' corn (maize).
Over here, it's grown in massive fields, is direct seed planted but only when the soil has warmed up and frosts are gone for the season. The soil has been heavily sprayed with ammonium nitrate or masses of FRESH animal poo (for the high nitrogen) before planting, and it will be sprayed several times the season against diseases and pests like smut and corn borer. We keep our fingers crossed that we get ample rain, otherwise the yields are small. The organic farmers use only manure to fertilize and spray only when problems threaten the entire yield.

[savbo]

I've seen it sown under clear plastic sheets, pushing it upwards as it grows and ripping its way through (maybe through slits already there?)....

M

[sunshineband]

My friend grows maize on her farm. The seed is sown in drills late spring and then it pretty much fends for itself until harvest.

We used to eat loads (didn't even bother growing sweetcorn on ou plot then tbh   ) as soon as the kernels were pale yellow. Gorgeous.

It was harvested when hard and dry, to store for animal feed.

The geese finish off any 'escaped' kernels  

[Fisherman]

Loads of maize is grown in my part of the world in Lancashire. The maize is sown early under biodegradable plastic sheeting with slits in it. The maize seeds germinate under the warmth of the covered sheeting before finding their way through the slits. Once they get established the plastic sheeting degrades and the plants grow on to produce fine crops of maize 6 to 8ft tall.

[8doubles]

They grow lots here in Hampshire without any polythene. Lots of shoots put it in for game cover and we have quiet a few maize mazes.

As Sunshineband said its good to eat if you pick it early.

[theakston_uk]

If you think the farmers here grow a lot of corn you should see the amount they grow in France. We stayed in the Ardeche region last year and on the drive down, there were fields after fields after fields of the stuff. So if you know anyone French, give them a shout

[shuffle]

As everyone's said really, most of it is fodder maize for animal feed.  It doesn't usually ripen enough to be sweet enough to eat.  Farms near the south coast like Riverford can grow it to eat but it's a pretty late harvest.

[craggy]

Farmers grow acres of sweetcorn. Do they sow direct or do they grow the plants somewhere warm and transplant?
If they sow direct, how do they get their crop to ripen early enough in the UK?
If they transplant small plants, where do they get them from?

farmer down the road from me grows great sweetcorn,on a pick your own basis.But farmers are magicians.How the hell do they manage to grow perfect sprouts that tight on it its stick?

[BostonInbred]

I suspect most of commercial UK sweet corn comes from abroad. Sweet corn is more particular in its needs than 'cow' corn (maize).
Over here, it's grown in massive fields, is direct seed planted but only when the soil has warmed up and frosts are gone for the season. The soil has been heavily sprayed with ammonium nitrate or masses of FRESH animal poo (for the high nitrogen) before planting, and it will be sprayed several times the season against diseases and pests like smut and corn borer. We keep our fingers crossed that we get ample rain, otherwise the yields are small. The organic farmers use only manure to fertilize and spray only when problems threaten the entire yield.

Vast amounts of Sweetcorn for the supermarkets are grown in Lincolnshire. You can usually buy sacks straight  from the farm at 25p a cob.