Has my sweetcorn gone to seed?

[Little Lottie]

I thought my sweetcorn was coming along fine but the husk has all seperated and turned to single floppy strands? does this mean it has gone to seed?

[zazen999]

Photo? Might help to solve.

[Little Lottie]

I will try and fathom out how to put one one - might take a while!!!

[scarey55]

Does it look anything like this?

If so, don't panic. I think it might be a bit late but the bit on the top is the pollen "stick" and is the male flower. The actual sweetcorn should be on the bottom of the plant and will need pollenating - read on further down THIS thread to find out how to help it along.
I do hope I'm not trying to teach my Grandma how to suck eggs seeing as I have only been gardening myself for 2 years

[lynda66]

i thought sweetcorn 'goes to seed' when it makes the cobs?

[Little Lottie]

Hopefully this is the one, no scarey55 your not trying to get your grandma to suck eggs its only my first year and I have Looooooooooads to learn!

And as you can see I haven't worked out how to get the picture the right way round

[scarey55]

That's fine (If a bit lopsided )

It is, indeed the male flower. If you look at the bottom of the plant you should see the cobs starting to form. They are elongated sweetcotn size thingies with tassels/silks coming out of the top of them. These need to be pollenated from the male flower at the top. if you look at the other thread I have linked to you will see how to do it. Once these tassels have turned chocolate brown you can have a look and see if the cobs are ready to eat

[Little Lottie]

Thanks scarey55 just been looking at your thread you have been a great help.

[Demeter]

Lol - I was a bit alarmed too, until I realised that the cobs were growing lower down the plant and the stuff at the top was just where the pollen comes from! We harvested our first ones this week and they were YUMMY. My daughter proclaimed them "the bestest vegetable in the world EVER"

[scarey55]

Couldn't agree more with your daughter - they are lovely 'specially eaten raw straight from the plant

[zazen999]

So, you got an answer...excellent.

We are due to harvest ours starting next week; just a few more days should do it.

So, need OH to get butter tomorrow as I have delegated shopping this week to him. It was a toss up between shopping or an hour at the lottie tonight - he can go tomorrow when I am at a hen night.

Roll on sweetcorn; it's the main reason I got into growing veg so I do grow alot and succession sow it for a longer harvest. It all catches up though in the end.