Sweet corn advice please

[Lisasbolt]

Could some grape please tell me what is wrong with my corn and if there is anything I should do. A fair few plants are doing the same

Thanks in advance

[Penellype]

I've not grown corn, so this is just a guess, but it looks as though it could be incomplete pollination. Corn needs to be grown in a block as it is wind pollinated - general advice seems to be 3-4 rows about 8ft long (which is why I haven't ever attempted to grow it).

There is an article on possible problems with corn here: Corn Growing Problems: Troubleshooting - Harvest to Table

[astraman1]

dont be afraid to try it i grew 1m by 1m before put them 10 - 12 inches apart and shake them when the pollen is coming off

[Lisasbolt]

They are in a block there are 50 odd plants but some seem to have the male and female bits.

[astraman1]

ive not seen this problem before how did you plant them

i presume when you say some have the male and female bits your on about the cob and the flower thing on the top if so thats normal they should all have this

have you peeled this cob in the pic and taken the stringy bits off or is that how it came

[Bohobumble]

No idea.

In terms of growing close together tho, I had great success last year with it.

it turns out the farmer next to my plot is growing maize (argh!) and he has sown the seeds about 4 inches apart.

so perhaps it is about pollination?

[muddled]

Do you have supersweet and mini corn growing near each other?

Different varieties of corn can cross 'in season'. So if a big corn crosses with a mini corn some of the kernals will be huge and some tiny.

I should add at this point that I haven't seen this, only heard/read about it.....but it does look like it could be your problem.

Or, it could be smut, a fungal disease that distorts the kernals but I think it usually turns them a bluey grey colour and yours still look pretty yellow in the picture.
If it is smut don't rush to burn it.
Smutcorn is considered a delicacy in Mexico....there are recipes for it on the web.

[sparrow100]

My corn a couple of years ago included a few confused tassels which grew into mis-shapen cobs. I have no idea why they did it, but they seemed to work out ok. The cobs had a fair few blank areas where no pollen had hit the silks, or perhaps it didn't have a full set of silks given that it had been partly a tassel to begin with.

[kathyd]

It happens to some of my cobs too - I put it down to patchy pollination. I think all plants have both male and female 'bits', but they don't always appear at the same time. This doesn't matter provided at least some male parts are around when the female parts appear. Unless it's been consistently windy or very breezy where you are, you could try shaking the male tufty bits so the pollen falls onto any surrounding cobs on the plants near it. If you bend the plant gently it's surprising how far they'll reach! And do it more than once - I believe that every individual corn seed on a cob needs to be pollinated, so a one-off general dusting may not catch all of them - which explains why some of your seeds are yellow and others aren't. I often give them a quick shake as I walk past.

[Lisasbolt]

Thanks at least i'm not alone.
i am growing mini corn and sweetcorn but made sure that there was 2 months planting difference and nowhere near each other so wouldn't believe that would be the problem, mini corn hasn't even got the tassels out yet.
i'll just see what happens, nothing i can do now anyway

[Lisasbolt]

no haven't taken anything off or peeled, this is just exactly how it is.

ive not seen this problem before how did you plant them

i presume when you say some have the male and female bits your on about the cob and the flower thing on the top if so thats normal they should all have this

have you peeled this cob in the pic and taken the stringy bits off or is that how it came