mini sweetcorn - yeild per plant?

[willowstar]

Hello everyone

I am going to try growing mini sweetcorn this year - I really like it and it is pretty expensive so I thought it would be worth a try. My question is...well actully two questions...how many mini corn am I likely to get from one plant? (which will determine how many I need to grow) and how close together can I plant them? I have a square foot bed so the spacings on the packet don't really help.

any advice gratefully received

[Alice]

Hello Willowstar, thanks for asking the question. Sorry I don't know the answers. I've been asking too, but sometimes grapes don't see all the posts.
Anyway, I think somebody did say about 5 mini corns per plant ! (Not worth growing)
And somebody gave the height of Minimop as 5'2".
Any grapes grow minicorn ?
Any grapes want to tell us anything ?

[valmarg]

Minicorns

Sorry Willowstar and Alice, but as you say not every post gets answered.

We grew Minipop for the first time last year. We didn't grow many plants - just as a test really.

The plants grew quite tall, up to about 6-7ft. We had about four 'feeds' from the plants we grew.

As a result of last year's test, we shall definitely be growing them again this year, but more of them!!

You start to pick the corns a few days after the tassels appear, as opposed to 'ordinary' sweetcorn where you leave the tassels to wilt. If you leave them for too long they go very tough.

I have been a fan of baby sweetcorn (obviously the imported variety from halfway round the globe) for years, but the reason we shall be growing them again this year is the TASTE. You just would not believe the difference, they were fantastic.

One of the advantages of growing sweetcorn is the architectural nature of the plants. What we are planning for this year is to grow some corns in amongst the flower border.

According to the catalogue I bought the seed from they say to expect 5-6 corns per plant. They also recommend 'high density planting'. We grew ours about 6" apart last year.

As I said, based on last year's experience, we shall be growing more this year, and purely on taste, they are well worth the effort.

valmarg

[Alice]

Thanks for that Valmarg. Very informative. Making notes now. Just a bit too early to plant yet, so better start making plans for my Minimop. Thanks again.

[willowstar]

Thank you, that answers my question! I'll grow them quite closely together and see how I get on.
I don't know why but I didn't think that they would grow so tall because they are mini veg. That doesn't make any sense does it!!!

Anway, I'll report back if and when I get some results

cheers

[inca'smum]

I grew minipops last year too and would have to agree about the taste,
I grew them in 10 litre plasti pots, I had a huge line of them all the way round one side of the garden and got an average of about 4 cobs per plant.

[bramble]

Sorry Alice, can't answer as I never grew corn.Maybe give it a try next year.

[rustylady]

Thanks, Valmarg and others. I grew standard sweetcorn last year (Swift) and it was lovely, but I was given a packet of Minipop to try and also wasn't sure about spacings and expected yield. May be just a novelty but I will give it a go.

[shirlthegirl43]

Tried regular corn last year but missed the flowers due to lack of experience. Going to give them another try this year. Was considering mini's too - can I grow both close by or do they need to be a fair bit apart?

[JennieAtkinson]

Many thanks all, I'm also growing minimops and (big) corn this year, but just didn't know what to do with the minis. Like the idea of pots. IM - did you have to stake them?

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks for that LJ - might give it a miss unless I get more beds dug then. How close is close though?

[eskymo]

How big [or small] do the cobs get on minipop as I'm growing the variety this year. I've got ten plants in pots in the greenhouse at the moment all about 5 cm high at the moment. Going to start hardening them off next week and transplanting them into the garden - I like the idea of growing them amongst flowers - I may well have to this year as I'm running out of space.

I'm just not sure when to pick the cobs off. I grew the same variety last year and got about 4 cobs per plant but they just never looked 'ripe' to pick and so they got left on the plant and them chucked away in the end. I just presumed I planted them too late and they didn't have anough time to develop. The corn was still very light and not yellow as I was expecting.

Any advice on this would be great as I'd love to get a crop this year.

[shirlthegirl43]

I might be wrong but I think these are the same as the baby corn you see in the supermarket - very immature. Read somewhere that you pick them when the silk tassles appear. I am sure the experts will be along to sort me out (gentle with the peastick please LJ - I am feeling fragile tonight)

[shirlthegirl43]

No allotment - just the back garden - so I can plant where I like (well, where Madmax says I can put veggies anyway)! Measured properly at the weekend and I have 90 foot length and around 25 width. We would like to keep a bit of 'lawn' though.

[inca'smum]

Many thanks all, I'm also growing minimops and (big) corn this year, but just didn't know what to do with the minis. Like the idea of pots. IM - did you have to stake them?

I didnt stake them but my fence is six feet high so they were sort of supported by that and each other. They really are quite sturdy plants even although they are tall. They are really easy to grow, apart from watering they just romped away. I'm defo putting them into pots again this year. The other advantage of the plasti pots was, when I went away on holiday I bought a couple of cheap blow up paddling pools and put all the pots in, the plants were all fine when I got back a week later.