sweetcorn, how do you grow yours?

[jemma_charlie]

I fancy trying to grow sweetcorn this year not masses as i imagine they will take up lots of room. My question is from your experiance in growing them can i put them in big pot or bags or do they need to be in the ground?


thanks in advance
jemma

[JILLY JACKSON]

My question too jemma!Will await the answers that you get as i've never grow it before either but have a pack of seed!!

[Eyren]

No idea about growing in pots (my cats ate last year's plantlings, so I didn't get as far as planting any on the plot ). I do know that you need to grow them in a block not a row, as they are wind-pollinated, and I'm not sure how successful you would be with, say, half-a-dozen or so. OTOH you might be able to hand-pollinate them by shaking the tassels over the female flowers - maybe someone with more experience can suggest something?

[di]

I usually start mine of in a pot,but then transfer to the ground.They're quite thirsty plants & I'd imagine if you had them in pots that they'll need a heck of a lot of watering???(at this point I'll add I've never grown in pots,just a fairly educated guess).You can also sow direct in the intended growing spot.

Just to add,you can grow them amongst other things...we grew them amongst our beans & squash a couple of years ago...if you do a search for the "Three sisters" planting method,you should find some ideas.

[chrispy]

have never grown sweetcorn in pots, but i have in the garden, and they dont need masses of room. With the watering....you could consider planting marrows around the bottom of your sweetcorn, as the large leaves of the marrow help to shade the soil at the base of the corn, and helps to aviod evaporation of the water after all your hard work.... :O)

[zazen999]

I grow mine in the ground - but you could probably get away with one of those storage boxes, and plant about 5-8 inches apart in a block. You need a bit of space for the corns to grow but they need to be close for pollination.

Like this...

x x x x
x x x x
x x x x

Would need regular feeding and watering through the summer.

They do take up room, but only vertically...you can get a fair few in a 1m bed, and as mentioned, plant some other crops with them to utilise the space...

[Basher]

I tried sweetcorn last year, planted in a block, but started off in modules. They did grow, but not very well. I got one reasonable cob from 16 plants. I would like to try again, but I think will look for a variety with a short growing season. Any suggestions from experience?

[w33blegurl]

From what I remember from last year, they are pretty shallow rooting (at least mine were....) so you might be able to use a couple of grow bags side by side to get the block? I got a good crop last year 2 cobs each from 9 plants! Tasted fab too!

[selfraising]

Hello
The year before last, I grew minipop which produces baby sweetcorn. I grew these in pots until they were big enough and then planted into a large metal dustbin, I put about 5 in there. They are big feeders so need lots of manure added and quite a deep container as they are usually deeprooted. Last year I grew full sized ones in my raised bed which is about 12 inches deep. These did very well despite there not being much sun last year! Hope this helps

[selfraising]

I tried sweetcorn last year, planted in a block, but started off in modules. They did grow, but not very well. I got one reasonable cob from 16 plants. I would like to try again, but I think will look for a variety with a short growing season. Any suggestions from experience?

Last year I grew Swift from ready bought plants, this year I have bought the seeds and will grow myself

[zazen999]

I tried sweetcorn last year, planted in a block, but started off in modules. They did grow, but not very well. I got one reasonable cob from 16 plants. I would like to try again, but I think will look for a variety with a short growing season. Any suggestions from experience?

The last 2 years have been rubbish for corn...have you tried supersweet F1...It usually works for me here in the midlands.

[lottie dolly]

i must have had begginers luck,i grew some last year for the first time,chitted them first just to see if the seed is a goer,then into a modual,then into the open ground when weather and plant size are good,mine grew really well,so well in fact that a 2 legged rat helped themselves 1 night to aprox 2/3ds of my crop of 40 plants,

[HeyWayne]

I successfully grew the plants last year (Conqueror F1), but due to the high winds on my plot last year pollination was a biut rubbish so I only managed to get a few cobs from the 12 plants I grew.

I started mine off in vending cups and then planted them straight out (under netting) into the ground.

They do take up a bit of room, but add a nice bit of height to the plot, and you could always try three-sisters planting (do a quick search and you'll find plenty).

My neighbours opposite grew sweetcorn in pots on their patio (south facing), not sure how successful they were with cobs, but the plants seemed fairly healthy when I watered them for them one week whilst they were away.

[SarzWix]

Although I used them for the first time last year, I won't bother using 'Northern Extra Sweet' again, they were really, really rubbish! Out of 16 plants, we only got 2 cobs and they weren't filled with kernels. I'll be going back to Swift, which we at least got 1 cob per plant from the year before.
I sow mine into degradeable pots in late April and plant out at the end of May after hardening them off.

[Basher]

The variety I tried last year was Lark F1 hybrid from Unwins. Looking back they were in quite an exposed position, perhaps pollination was the problem.