Poor Sweetcorn development

[monkeyboy]

Last year I grew sweetcorn for the first time and was rewarded with some lovely corn on the cob. This year, the corn barely grew:



what could I have done to improve this or was it solely to the poor Summer we had?

[burnie]

Poor pollination is the problem, they need growing in blocks so aid wind pollination.

[annie8]

What a shame. I agree it’ll be pollination. How did you grow them?

[monkeyboy]

Same as last year. Sown into modules, left in propagator until a couple of inches tall. Moved into SFG raised bed. Left one empty square between plants. Five plants in total. Covered with veggie mesh supported by frame.

once ears started growing, fed tomato feed weekly.

I did the same last year with two plants and they were fantastic.

[ameno]

Same as last year. Sown into modules, left in propagator until a couple of inches tall. Moved into SFG raised bed. Left one empty square between plants. Five plants in total. Covered with veggie mesh supported by frame.

once ears started growing, fed tomato feed weekly.

I did the same last year with two plants and they were fantastic.

That's your problem. Five plants is too few. You just got lucky last year. You really need at least 10 to assure good pollination.
If you grow a short variety like Swift, you can plant them just 12" apart and you should still get one good sized cob per plant, so next year it might be worth growing one plant in every square of your bed.

[annie8]

Have to say I must have been lucky before too because I have grown six plants a couple of years in a row and had good pollination.. This year doing about 9. I have mine fairly close this year because they all germinated -maybe 40cm. Only other thing I do is a bit of a regular shake to encourage the pollen to spread between them. I haven’t really fed mine I have to confess just occasionally.

[Jungle Jane]

I’ve grown six plants & had good pollination in the past too,you do need to regularly shake the pollen but has something eaten some of the silks like an earwig,if they’re not there,there wouldn’t be the silk there to pollinate?

[Snadger]

I have nine plants in a block 3X3. They were direct sown in the bed and covered with glass until they germinated. I will be doing the same next year as they have grown well without any root disturbance. They are very tall and I have only eaten one cob up til now which was fully ripe.
They are growing on a windy site so have pollinated well. I only eat the cobs raw, direct from the plant as OH doesn't like SC and I prefer them raw.
Pleased with this years crop and I will keep growing Swift in a similar fashion each year.

[jdlondon]

I only sowed four initially, before people said they needed more but by the time I sowed the others, the originals had shot ahead. They're a really tall variety and three out of the four have cobs. One even has two.

The rest, I'm pretty sure, are too short to actually get there this year, but I do think they helped hold the tall corn up during the heavy winds, so disappointed but still happy I got some cobs.

A friend just told me as well that squirrels can nibble on the corn, so I'll be tying some of my gauze around them, I'm thinking.

[ameno]

A friend just told me as well that squirrels can nibble on the corn, so I'll be tying some of my gauze around them, I'm thinking.

I've read that cutting the end off a 500ml plastic bottle and slipping it over the cob is a good way of keeping squirrels and rats off.
Won't help against badgers, sadly. If you get those then you just can't grow sweetcorn. Badgers love the stuff, and will easily and happily pull down the whole plant to get to the cobs.

[RedRuth]

I've read that cutting the end off a 500ml plastic bottle and slipping it over the cob is a good way of keeping squirrels and rats off.
Won't help against badgers, sadly. If you get those then you just can't grow sweetcorn. Badgers love the stuff, and will easily and happily pull down the whole plant to get to the cobs.

Badgers ate most of my Sweetcorn a few years ago so my husband built me a badger proof enclosure. He dug down about a metre and put wire in on 3 sides and a concrete path on the last side. The upper defences are about 1.5 metres high of chicken wire and posts with a swing out gate. We've had two fantastic crops now and both years they've tried and failed to get in ....................... I knew there was a reason I married a builder

[jdlondon]

.... He dug down about a metre and put wire in on 3 sides and a concrete path on the last side. The upper defences are about 1.5 metres high of chicken wire and posts with a swing out gate.....

WOW. One metre deep! - the effort involved! - I can barely get a shovel span down in my clay/building waste soil, so that just sounds amazing.

[jdlondon]

I've read that cutting the end off a 500ml plastic bottle and slipping it over the cob is a good way of keeping squirrels and rats off.
Won't help against badgers, sadly. If you get those then you just can't grow sweetcorn. Badgers love the stuff, and will easily and happily pull down the whole plant to get to the cobs.

I will try that. Sounds much stronger. Thanks x