Sweetcorn harvesting advice please

[squashysu]

i hand pollinated everyday, so hoping that mine are all ok !!

[Storm]

I had this problem the first year I grew corn on our very windy site. Last year I started to polinate them by hand - literally dropping the little pollen sacks onto the silks - and got a fabulous full crop. Well worth doing if you're not growing thousands of them.

We have had the same problem with our sweetcorn this year on our very windy allotment.

can anyone advise: is it still too late to hand pollinate our corn? the corn still has tassles on the top and many of the silks are still green.




After planting, corn needs plenty of water - especially during pollination. If corn suffers a drought then can cut the quantity of kernels on each cob though after our recent summer weather the ground has rarely dried out. I will be putting mulch around the stems next year to seal in the dampness!

the other thing is not to plant your corn in long thin rows - but in squares/blocks/clumps - as this will aid pollination as well.

[Flapjack]

Kent - I saw your pics actually (it was me who left a comment!) Thanks for the info on what you did.

We have had a few more cobs now and they have all been better than the first one!


They all have blind tips but the rest of the cob seems fully pollinated


Phew I did hand pollinate most of them - perhaps I just missed the first one out.

[Two_Sheds]

there still hope for my ears yet.

They be cobs, not ears
What's a bin again?