Sweetcorn - brown tassles, white kernals?

[kathyd]

Hi

I've discovered I'm rubbish at growing sweetcorn, which is disappointing because I love it and you can't buy it on the cob over here! Polytunnel stuff was nice and yellow (well, the sections which had kernels...), but quite tough and chewy to eat. Stuff outside looks promising, and the tassels are now getting nice and brown, but the corn is still white inside .. am I just being too impatient / will it still ripen, or hasn't it worked for some reason? I don't want to leave it too long to pick because otherwise it'll just be chewy and starchy like the other stuff!

Thx

[rustylady]

Is it the same variety as the crop from the polytunnel? And do the kernels look full sized?

[kathyd]

Hi RL.. I got in a muddle with what went where in the end I'm afraid... I started (I'm pretty sure) with something called Golden Bantam in the tunnel in March, but the mouse got almost all of them so I got my daughter to send more seeds - she sent Swift F1 and Sparrow F1. I assume I planted further Swift in the tunnel cos the packet's empty, and finished off with a mix of Swift and Sparrow outside later on. I expect you're now going to tell me I've done the wrong thing aren't you?

Some of the kernels are full sized on some cobs, and some are tiddly. I'm assuming the tiddly ones didn't get pollinated or something so I'm not expecting them to work, but it would've been nice to get some from the others .

[rustylady]

Well, they do say you shouldn't really mix sweetcorn varieties because cross pollination affects the sweetness. I googled Sparrow cos I've never grown it myself and on some of the pictures it looks like it produces quite pale kernels.

The way to tell if the corn is ready is to pierce one of the kernels with a fingernail. If it leaks a milky looking fluid then it is ready.

[Dusty Rhodes]

For best corn pollination, you need to plant in blocks(square or rectangular). For example, if planting 16 seeds, you could plant them 4 rows with 4 in each row. Never plant all 16 in a single row. Corn is wind pollinated, so it needs exposure to the elements. If grown under cover, you'd have to hand pollinate it.

As rustylady says, puncture a kernel with a fingernail to see if it's in the milky stage for harvesting. Brown silk often means you waited too long.

[kathyd]

Hmmm... well I'm guilty of mixing varieties, I didn't know about that one. But I did use a book (RHS I think) which explained how to plant and how to harvest, so they've all been in a block and I hand-pollinated the ones in the tunnel. The book says wait until the tassels go brown, then poke with your nail - if the liquid is watery it's too early, if it's milky it's OK and if it's thick it's too late. All mine have been thick, apart from the ones which are still white and don't look ripe, and those are watery. I've not had any milky ones yet! Maybe the advice about tassels is wrong in the book then, although I'm suprised at the RHS if that's the case . Anyway, I've ordered 2 packets of the same variety for next year now, so even if the mice get them I can replace with the same kind. And I'll be checking before the tassels go brown! Fingers crossed, and thanks for your advice.

[rustylady]

Tassels usually go brown and crispy, but you need to check kernels every other day to get them at the right stage.