Separating Sweetcorn seedlings

[TracyP]

I sewed sweetcorn seeds last week and they have shot up - I'm amazed. The problem is that my two year old was helping me and sneaked some more kernels in the pots, so that i have 4 9 inch peat pots with 2-4 seedlings in them. I have read that corn doesn't like being moved. The roots are strong and thru the bottom of the pot already. What should I do? Should I pinch the excess in the pots or try to separate them? Or plant them as they are?

Thanks for any advice.

[HeyWayne]

Glad you asked Tracey, I planted two seeds per pot just in case - interested to see the responses you get...

[Hans Mum]

me too.....just in case syndrome, will watch this thread with interest

[phil the shed]

hi all
check out the thread
sweetcorn(after germination) thread
phil

[valmarg]

Oh dear, we are in the same situation. OH sowed two seeds per 3" pot in something like 30 pots. Having got 100% germination rate, is having difficulty pulling one seedling out of each pot.

I guess he's just got to bite the bullet, eventually.

valmarg

[terrier]

Interfering with the roots at this stage will cause a 'stop' to the plant that can put it's growth back several weeks, as sweetcorn requires a long time to mature, that's not a good idea. I've sown some late sweetcorn, two to a pot, with the intention of pinching out the weaker plant.

[Norm]

Leave them until Thursday when the chance of frost has ended, carefully pull them apart without damaging the root and plant them out in the lottie. Shouldn't be a problem.

[Paulottie]

Root disturbance is definitely a problem. Terrier is right cut off the weaker plant or set out as they are in groups (best in your case Tracy)

[skybluepink]

If you have enough plants then cut off weaker plants but as it sounds like you like want more so i would go with Norms advice. Ive done this in past and all seedlings sulk for a bit when you transplant them ( my sweet corn is sulking as we speak) but they all get there in end and you have
got plenty of time ....BUT just make sure you are really nice to them afterwards!

[zazen999]

What I have found is that if you can manage to separate them with the original corn attached they seem to survive; if you lose the original corn then they seem to die. Not rocket science, just an observation.

My first lot went into the lottie 4 weeks ago, and my second lot will go in this weekend. It's a trial to see if the later sowing catch up or overtake the earlier ones. I'm sure they will!!!

[queen of the cobs]

'They' do say that you can't disturb sweetcorn roots but I've never found that to be the case. Not knowing this, last year my mum bought me some sweetcorn seedlings, there were about 15 of them all sowed in one pot and I had to tear the root ball apart to plant them out in my grid. Result? Brilliant sweetcorn, 2-4 cobs per plant, no trouble.

[Growem]

I messed around a lot with my sweetcorn last year, moving plants about, separating seedlings that were together. As Queen of the Cobs said, they all produced cobs. I will admit that the square was a bit motley, with the corn stalks all being a different height, but I'm not sure that had much to do with root disturbance as it had to do with my uneven hand in watering and hoeing.

[TracyP]

Thanks everyone, really interesting to hear all your experiences! I think I will try separating one or two and pinching the others - hopefully that will produce enough plants
Cheers