Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

Does anyone manage to get 2 cobs on a plant?

I have been picking inside (polytunnel) for several weeks now and out door
sweetcorn from tonight. Theres always a small secondary cob, but never
anything on it.

I'm in East Yorkshire, and nowhere further north than here receives any more
sunshine. (Climate probably comparable to Lincolnshire)

Trevor
Kirkburn
East Yorkshire

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006, Trevor wrote:

Does anyone manage to get 2 cobs on a plant?

I have been picking inside (polytunnel) for several weeks now and out door
sweetcorn from tonight. Theres always a small secondary cob, but never
anything on it.

I'm in East Yorkshire, and nowhere further north than here receives any more
sunshine. (Climate probably comparable to Lincolnshire)

Yes, I've had a variety in the past that's usually produced two,
sometimes three cobs per plant on an allotment in Reading. However this
year the last time I saw my sweetcorn (three weeks ago) they hadn't
developed any cobs at all.

I look forward to them when I get back in September! Hope I'm not
disappointed.

David
--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006, Trevor wrote:

Does anyone manage to get 2 cobs on a plant?

I have been picking inside (polytunnel) for several weeks now and out
door
sweetcorn from tonight. Theres always a small secondary cob, but never
anything on it.

I'm in East Yorkshire, and nowhere further north than here receives any
more
sunshine. (Climate probably comparable to Lincolnshire)

Yes, I've had a variety in the past that's usually produced two,
sometimes three cobs per plant on an allotment in Reading. However this
year the last time I saw my sweetcorn (three weeks ago) they hadn't
developed any cobs at all.

I look forward to them when I get back in September! Hope I'm not
disappointed.

David
--

I have noticed that the Sweet Corn crop here on the Isle of Wight is
dreadful. Sparce coverage of plants on the fields and not very 'alive'
looking :-((

Mike


--
--------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
www.nsrafa.com

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

"Mike" wrote in message
...
:
: "David Rance" wrote in message
: ...
: On Sun, 20 Aug 2006, Trevor wrote:
:
: Does anyone manage to get 2 cobs on a plant?
:
: I have been picking inside (polytunnel) for several weeks now and out
: door
: sweetcorn from tonight. Theres always a small secondary cob, but never
: anything on it.
:
: I'm in East Yorkshire, and nowhere further north than here receives any
: more
: sunshine. (Climate probably comparable to Lincolnshire)
:
: Yes, I've had a variety in the past that's usually produced two,
: sometimes three cobs per plant on an allotment in Reading. However this
: year the last time I saw my sweetcorn (three weeks ago) they hadn't
: developed any cobs at all.
:
: I look forward to them when I get back in September! Hope I'm not
: disappointed.
:
: David
: --
:
: I have noticed that the Sweet Corn crop here on the Isle of Wight is
: dreadful. Sparce coverage of plants on the fields and not very 'alive'
: looking :-((
:
: Mike

Here in the south the thieving magpies have eaten most of the crop. Thought
it was mice and greased the stems but have since seen 3 magpies at a time on
the plants, so yet another crop to be netted next year

www.rraa.moonfruit.com

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

Hi Janet

I do everything you do including taking the male flowers of, but have never
had a single second cob in 7 years of growing.

I sow in late March.

Trevor in sunny East Yorkshire

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

Janet Baraclough wrote:
I never sow until early May; the idea being to be able to plant them
outside in early June while both the shoot and the root are still small
(only two or 4 leaves). I imagine that if yours don;t go out until they
are nearly two months old, their roots will be pretty well developed and
dense in the pot; so possibly when planted out, the root system doesn't
expand and spread as far as it should. Just a guess. .

Ditto - I sow in May and out by June. Your guess is my thought too.
March is far too early for sweet corn. This year is not as good, I
suspect I neglected watering here and there. I have 15 or so plants at
the centre looking healthy and tall whilst I have smaller plants with
minute cobs on the edges of my bed which is strange ?!?!

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006, Trevor wrote:

Does anyone manage to get 2 cobs on a plant?

I have been picking inside (polytunnel) for several weeks now and out
door
sweetcorn from tonight. Theres always a small secondary cob, but never
anything on it.

I'm in East Yorkshire, and nowhere further north than here receives
any more
sunshine. (Climate probably comparable to Lincolnshire)

Yes, I've had a variety in the past that's usually produced two,
sometimes three cobs per plant on an allotment in Reading. However
this year the last time I saw my sweetcorn (three weeks ago) they
hadn't developed any cobs at all.

I look forward to them when I get back in September! Hope I'm not
disappointed.

Here in west Notts I picked and cleared my corn plot two weeks ago. I
planted out my usual 16 plants in a block 4 X 5ft (closer than is
usually recommended) on 17 May and this produced a very good crop of 28
cobs, all full size and well pollinated.
I found the July drought slowed growth to a standstill and I feared the
crop would be a wipe-out, but after I started watering every day plants
soon recovered to about 6ft.
Water was the key to cropping this year because for the first time I
persuaded my neighbour to grow a corn crop...... I gave him 20
plants......he did everything by the book and followed my lead but his
plants didn't grow any taller than 20inches ! A disaster. The only
difference was that he neglected to water regularly during the scorching
weeks.
pp.

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

"La Puce" wrote in message
oups.com...

Janet Baraclough wrote:
I never sow until early May; the idea being to be able to plant them
outside in early June while both the shoot and the root are still small
(only two or 4 leaves). I imagine that if yours don;t go out until they
are nearly two months old, their roots will be pretty well developed and
dense in the pot; so possibly when planted out, the root system doesn't
expand and spread as far as it should. Just a guess. .

Ditto - I sow in May and out by June. Your guess is my thought too.
March is far too early for sweet corn. This year is not as good, I
suspect I neglected watering here and there. I have 15 or so plants at
the centre looking healthy and tall whilst I have smaller plants with
minute cobs on the edges of my bed which is strange ?!?!





March is far too early for sweet corn

This is in a Polytunnel - they're ready 3rd week July and seem to grow
extremely well apart from never having two cobs.

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

Trevor wrote:
This is in a Polytunnel - they're ready 3rd week July and seem to grow
extremely well apart from never having two cobs.

Could it be something to do with the variety of your sweet corn?!

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

Here in Normandy we are surrounded by fields full of sweetcorn around 6 - 7
feet high.
It makes my 200 or so plants look poor. Mine have barely grown three feet
despite being planted a month before the farmers, though the farmers
sweetcorn did have the advantage of being planted in "soil" - I planted in
an area that had been skimmed by a JCB to clear 6 feet high brambles etc, so
the soil is very thin and mainly sub-soil and rocks. They haven't had any
additional watering so the dry weather has also held them back.

Still, can't complain, today we tried our first couple of corns - they are
at the halfway stage between baby sweetcorn (eat the entire cob) and
standard sweetcorn where you only gnaw the corn off. Very nice though. They
are averaging two cobs per plant.

The strange thing is, a packet of around 20 sweetcorn seeds is relatively
expensive from the garden centre, but I happened to notice the local
supermarket was selling little string bags containing hundreds of sweetcorn
seeds intended to be made into popcorn - these were much cheaper, so I took
a gamble and bought and planted a load of those with almost 100% germination
rate :-)
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

Yes but the farmers 'sweetcorn' is surely forage maize - the same as grown
throughout England?

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

"Trevor" wrote in message
...
Yes but the farmers 'sweetcorn' is surely forage maize - the same as grown
throughout England?

I'm sure you are right, but I'm not sure what the real difference between
the plants is?
I'll hop over the fence and pinch a cob and have a closer look. Watch this
space ;-)

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

I've just had a look at a farmers sweetcorn/maize cob and it looks like
normal sweetcorn. The one I've just pulled had a cob inside 7 inches long
but the individual sweetcorn seeds are still quite immature. What is the
difference to "human" sweetcorn? Are they just different varieties with the
farmers ones being different in some subtle way?
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

David (in Normandy) wrote:
I've just had a look at a farmers sweetcorn/maize cob and it looks
like normal sweetcorn. The one I've just pulled had a cob inside 7
inches long but the individual sweetcorn seeds are still quite
immature. What is the difference to "human" sweetcorn? Are they just
different varieties with the farmers ones being different in some
subtle way?

Isn't maize grown as a silage crop ie the whole plant is cut, chopped &
fermented. the fruiting bit is less important

pk

Calling all northern Sweetcorn growers
 

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006, David (in Normandy) wrote:

Yes but the farmers 'sweetcorn' is surely forage maize - the same as grown
throughout England?

I'm sure you are right, but I'm not sure what the real difference between
the plants is?
I'll hop over the fence and pinch a cob and have a closer look. Watch this
space ;-)

Maize is not so sweet as sweetcorn. Sweetcorn is a specially bred form
of maize.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France