Can someone help me with my sweetcorn, please?

[1Bee]

Still not producing 'milky' fluid.... I'm worried about the risk of leaving it longer. :-/ Hold my nerve? Or give it up for lost?

[Snoop Puss]

Well, from the outside, they look good and ready. How long have the silks been brown? In the photo of the cob that's 'unpeeled', the kernels even look possibly a bit past their best. If you press one with your fingernail, what colour is the liquid?

Me, I'd be tempted to cook one and see.

[1Bee]

They've been brown for weeks, but the fluid is still clear. When the tassels first went brown, the kernels weren't fully formed and the cobs have noticeably swelled since that first happened. It's all very confusing!

[Snoop Puss]

If they've been brown for weeks, then they must be ready by now. I usually expect the cobs to be ready ten days or so after the silks go a good brown colour. That might happen a bit quicker here, I guess, but weeks... Odd about the liquid though. It would be a shame for them to go too far though. When that happens, the kernels start to shrink and dry up. Not so nice to eat at that stage.

What variety are they?

Definitely pick another one or two cobs and cook them and see what you think.

[MarkPelican]

It depends what variety you've grown as to what colour they go. Personally, like the others I would pick one and see what it tastes like. You don't have to cook them, mine (Golden Lion) taste sweet raw (and even sweeter when cooked).

[bario1]

Sorry to say, 1Bee, but that cob just doesn't look quite right... it should be more yellow in colour and firm looking. Do they all look like that? Maybe that one's been attacked by pests? Or is it a bad photo?

[Baldy]

Most folk on my site (including me) had terrible sweetcorn this year - not enough sun I suspect and /or poor pollination. Most didn't bulk up at all...

[Nicos]

Here's an old thread....
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tml#post281882

Following that advice you should leave them for longer.....

Not sure what variety you have grown, but some are more suitable for more northern areas.

[burnie]

That peeled one does not look good, as for the brown silk ones, I'd eaten mine well before they got that dark. I know you're not quite up here with the Polar Bears, but you are quite far north, I grew mine in the greenhouse, I think to get them the heat they need you maybe need to grow them in a poly tunnel.

[bario1]

Mine ripened fine outside here. Looks more like a pest/disease issue to me?

[Zelenina]

I would say that the one you peeled just doesn't look ready yet, assuming it's supposed to be a normal yellow variety. It looks like quite a good cob otherwise. If you leave them too long the juice goes thick and gradually solidifies and they become too chewy, so that hasn't happened yet. But since you've peeled it I guess you could test it by cutting and cooking it.

[Jungle Jane]

If you try peeling that one right back,is there about twenty yellow corn on the end,I'm wondering if it was a pollination problem because they do look ready? In the thumbnail photo,the corn in the bottom of the photo has a wider angle tilting away from the stem,when they're like that they're more likely to be ready.

[Snadger]

I would scran it anyway! The mini corn used in stir fry's is un-fertilised so I can't see a problem with it. Not quite as tasty as proppa sweetcorn, but still quite edible!

[1Bee]

Oh dear. I am not less confused... So basically they could be fine, diseased, pested, ripe, unripe, overripe, or unpollinated.

I thought the tassels only went brown after pollination?

The variety was Incredible F1, and the plants have appeared to me to be vigorous and healthy throughout. I wasn't exactly expecting a crop, as it's always a bit of a gamble up here. No sign of pests, although I have opened that particular cob a few times and pinched out a couple of kernels to taste.

I guess I'll have to pick a couple a try them. It's just that since we're very much into autumn here, the couple I pick may be the only ones that get close... and if I pick them a couple of days too early, that would be too tragic!

[1Bee]

I've gotta laugh: popped to the plot on the way to pick up the boys from school. Checked the cobs again: milky fluid.



Yesterday, they were not ripe. Today, they are. There's a lesson there, somewhere...