Recommend a sweetcorn variety please

[shirlthegirl43]

Right, for the last 3 years I have tried to grow sweetcorn. The first year they grew well but I didn't recognise flowers and so they didn't get properly pollinated. I grew Swift F1 that year. The last 2 years I have tried minipop and Swift and Bloody Butcher and a blue variety. No success - now I know that is mostly due to the weather the past 2 years.

This year I want to give it a real go (weather allowing) and as I need to purchase seeds, I thought I would ask all you lovely grapes what your fave type is.

Hit me with your suggestions please.

[amandaandherveg]

I tried sweetcorn for the first time last year but most of them rotted away before they germinated.

Tried again this year with Mr Fothergills Swift which I bought from Woollies intheir sale last year. Out of 33 sown in newspaper pots - 18 have popped through and are looking very healthy and strong. Not given up on the other ones as yet.

Last years failures were on the windowsill but this years more successful eforts have been in trays on the downstairs bathroom floor which has underfloor heating.

[HayleyB]

I grew F1 Swift last year and will again this year, mine enjoyed the manure mulch and drank rather a lot, I was late sowing end of May but still ate around 10 mature cobs. I also tapped the tassles and made sure that I collected and dabbed on the cobs fluffy bits as a cross pollination added security just in case.......

[Capsid]

Just checking, but are you growing the plants in blocks as they wind pollinated?

I grew Ovation F1 hybrid last year but I had better success the year before probably due to the warmer summer.

[Hazel at the Hill]

For me, last year 'extra tender and sweet f1' were really good - 2 or 3 good size cobs per plant.

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks Hazel. Will keep an eye out for those - I would have spotted those flowers I think!!

To be more clear about my experience, first year they grew beautifully tall and healthy - planted in a block - but I missed noticing the flower at the top (I am a good 12-18 inches shorter than the height of the flowers) and didn't shake the plants to ensure good pollination so got rubbish cobs. Since then, we just don't seem to have had the weather for them to grow for me at all and I have been left with plants that rotted or just plain up and died.

I am mostly after recommendations on flavour and quantity of cobs before I decide which seeds to try this year.

[Capsid]

For me, last year 'extra tender and sweet f1' were really good - 2 or 3 good size cobs per plant.

They look good! The great thing about a blog or keeping a record is going back and seeing what happened in previous seasons. I was worried about the size of my broad beans this year and checking my blog I can see that I was worried about their size last year!

[HayleyB]

Looking at Hazels I'm gonna grow mine in a tighter block this year. I stuck to the recommendation on the packet but Hazels are a lot closer and would mean that I wouldn't have to support with canes as much. What was your spacing HatH?

[djhs196]

The last 2 years I've grown 'extra tender and sweet f1' - Sweetcorn : Extra Tender & Sweet F1 Hybrid (Seeds)

And flavourwise I think it's devine. I can't compete with Hazel at the Hill's 2/3 cobs tho - a few have 2 full cobs but most have one full cob and one that's half full. That's despite the care on watering as cobs form and trying to ensure pollination.

My spacing for comparison is 1 per sq foot, 16 plants (4x4), undercropped with dwarf French Beans - but it my also be an earlier planting so i wonder if that may impact the success of the pollination. I see that photo was end Aug 2008 - i know i was harvesting ripe cobs late July.

Be good to hear on update on the spacing before i get the plants in this year tho - They are going in later and I'm looking to "have a play" and see if i can't flesh out a few more of these beauties!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Yep - that's the one I grew.

Sown on 11 May in pots and planted out a month later. They were nearly ready to pick when that photo was taken at the end of August, and they lasted for a month before we scoffed them all!

That bed is about 4' wide, so they were spaced about 10" apart, I guess. I didn't underplant with anything. They grew to about 5' - you get a better idea of scale when you look at the chickweed about the bases.

I gave them a bit of a shake everytime I went past them, but they had no special feed/watering. I didn't have any 'gappy' cobs, so they seem to have pollinated ok.

I don't know if it's usual for them to sprout secondary stems from the base, but these did, giving the 2 to 3 cobs per plant.

Not many of them made it home to the pot - they make such brilliant snacks!

[shirlthegirl43]

Now the challenge would seem to be finding the seeds

[SarzWix]

Now the challenge would seem to be finding the seeds

Does your local GC sell T&M seeds? One of ours has a huge rack of them, the other does Mr Fothergills. If you don't manage to find any let me knoe and I'll check at the GC next time I go. I might give them a try too, coz mine were rubbish last year (Norther Extra Sweet, don't bother with them )

[shirlthegirl43]

I have just emailed T&M to see if there is a stockist locally. I know Wyevale have them but that is a 65 mile round trip and would make for rather 'spensive corn on the cobs

[JILLY JACKSON]

I have a new pack of mr fothergills sweet corn f1 if any one wants it?Send me a stamped envelope and its yours

[Rossa]

I also tried Northern Extra Sweet last year and they were rubbish. Trying Kelvedon Glory this year on recommendation from a friend with a lottie over Manchester way. He grows over 150 plants each year cos breeds birds. Reckons he gets 4-6 cobs per plant. Says the only way he can almost guarantee a good crop is to keep them in the greenhouse as late as poss. Last year he didn't put them outside till June!! They don't like a frost, hail or cold rain. Warm as possible. Seems to work for him so I'm trying it that way but nowhere near as many....haven't that much room in greenhouse & anyway I want space for my tomatoes.