Cursed - Sweetcorn Fail

[Farmer_Gyles]

Last year the mice scoffed (almost) all my sweetcorn seeds so I abandoned all hope
This year mine barely started - I gave up and bought some small sweetcorn plants in a nursery
They've reached waist height, no sign of any cobs yet, and the flowery seed head has started coming out
Guess that means no sweetcorn again this year .....

[Jamesy_uk]

I wouldn't say that Mr Giles ^^ they may be short but you could still get some cobs I had some 3ft high but they still made normal size cobs in 2010 or so.

[Jamesy_uk]

However mine really are fail they are about 1ft tall and putting out tassels!

[rustylady]

Doesn't really matter what height they are, and the beginnings of the tassels can often be seen before the silks appear.

[Farmer_Gyles]

hmmmm .....

has the heat fooled them into thinking they need to pop the tassels out?

[Two_Sheds]

no sign of any cobs yet, and the flowery seed head has started coming out

That's the male part. The female parts are down below (they must be, have a close look. I know blokes find it hard to tell ...)

[Farmer_Gyles]

That's the male part. The female parts are down below (they must be, have a close look. I know blokes find it hard to tell ...)

I've never had trouble finding female parts before! Maybe they're hidden under a big bush? I'll have a wade through the overgrowth and see what I can find ....

[PyreneesPlot]

Mine are still ankle biters

[Jamesy_uk]

I got 2 lots in, first I placed on ground I mulched with shredded newspaper from a stable with some manure in and they are doing terrible, the ones I sowed a month later in open ground have almost caught them up now. I should of dug in the shredded paper etc and let it rot as I was advised by several people but I thought it would make a nice easy bed if I mulched and planted through it, teach me not to listen to people with more experience than me!

[Zenithtb]

Mine are tall enough and looking good:

(they're between 6' and 10' tall)

My issue is that the cobs don't go sweet and tender, but go really hard and the inside is like compacted flour. Happened two years in a row.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know eh?

From https://picasaweb.google.com/1006321...eat=directlink

[queen of the cobs]

Thought I'd add a question here, rather than start a new thread. How often are people watering their sweetcorn? Mine is only about 3 feet high too (

[rustylady]

Mine are tall enough and looking good:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]38085[/ATTACH]
(they're between 6' and 10' tall)

My issue is that the cobs don't go sweet and tender, but go really hard and the inside is like compacted flour. Happened two years in a row.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know eh?

From https://picasaweb.google.com/1006321...eat=directlink

Either the wrong variety or you're leaving them too long before picking. You should pick as soon as the silks have gone brown and dry.

[kathyd]

Mine are diddy too, but then so are the fields and fields of corn planted by local farmers for their animals - so it must be 'normal' this year. I refuse to panic yet.

The ones in my polytunnel last year sent out tassels long before the cobs appeared, but everything sorted itself out eventually and we got nice juicy cobs.

Hard and tough cobs? Not sure, except I've read that if they cross-pollinate with a different type of corn it can lead to nasty cobs - do you grow more than one variety? Or anyone else close by growing something different from you? I can't remember the details, but it's something about the super-sweet and normal varieties not getting along or something... hopefully a sweetcorn whizkid will be able to clarify soon .

[Two_Sheds]

the ones I sowed a month later in open ground have almost caught them up

That's down to the 2nd batch being planted when it was actually warm enough for them. Your earlier ones went out to soon, caught the cold and stalled.

It's nothing to do with your mulch, and digging in manure wouldn't make any difference.

[Zenithtb]

Picking too late - don't think so as they're checked frequently ;-)
Wrong variety - hope not else I'm upset with the seed company :-))))

Cross pollination - could be a real issue; we live in a rural area, and almost everyone has a veggie area in their garden. Also farmers grow some sweetcorn too, only a few hundred metres away. With a highish wind, that's also a possible source...

Any ideas if there's "self pollinating and won't be pollinated by anything else" variety?? Um, lol?