"John Vanini" wrote in message
The tassels, as I've been told they're called, are those parts of the
sweetcorn at the very top where pollination is carried out. They are what
you see waving in the breeze, above the plant, long before the cobs form.

The cobs themselves are much lower down and this year are probably the
biggest and best I've ever grown!

It's just that the tassels normally look like they always did but a bit
bedraggled. This time one of them looks more like a deformed cob.

I've only done what I normally do excpet that I did give them one feed of
tomatoi fertiliser, which is what I saw in a gardening book.

Ah sorry. Got confused by your earlier description which made no sense to
me. I thought you might have been mixing the corn silk up wiht the tassel
from what you wrote.

Can't think of any reason why the tassel would look odd, ub tif the cobs
were OK and you had good rates of cobs/plant, I wouldnt worry about it.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"John Vanini" wrote in message
I've noticed that on my sweetcorn one of the top fluffy bits (sorry
about the technical language!) has developed into, what looks like, an
ear of corn but is much smaller, a bit sad looking, with kernals missing
and mis-shapen, and some dark in colour. It, obviously, has no sheath of
leaves and looks most strange..

Do you mean that the cob developed without leaves on the outside of the
cob? If so where did the tassel grow from?

On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:46:19 +0200, Martin wrote
and included this (or some of this):

On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:31:46 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

On 2/9/07 20:23, in article ,
"®óñ© © ²°¹°-°³" wrote:

On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:40:42 -0700, La Puce
wrote and included this (or some of this):

On 2 Sep, 17:20, Martin wrote:
Amazing - how lucky you are. How big is your plot in the Netherlands?
100 square metres

gulp That's big.

No it's not. It's 10 metres X 10 metres.


Now a 100 metres square, that's big.

That's 100 metres by 100 metres (10,000 square metres)

Nobody would call me a mathematician but surely what you're saying is what
the mistake is all about. "100 metres square" is what Martin has. "100
metres squareD" is scaringly largely, no? Yes?

We have 100 square metres. It's not scaringly anything. A square metre is a
metric unit of area.

I understand this. I assumed that you have 10m x10m and was
surprised at someone gulping "that's big" in amazement. It's OK as a
decent back garden but not quite Hyde Park.


--
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°³

On 2 Sep, 23:31, Sacha wrote:
Nobody would call me a mathematician

Nobody would dare, surely.

but surely what you're saying is what
the mistake is all about. "100 metres square" is what Martin has. "100
metres squareD" is scaringly largely, no? Yes?

Yes! You're right - I kept that in mind and just got totally gobsmaked
by the size. I just couldn't imagine Martin on an hectare of sweet
corns. I just couldn't somehow g

In reply to John Vanini ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :


I've never seen this happen before and, out of interest, wondered if
anyone can tell me more about this peculiar ear. I believe the fluffy
bits are, generally, known as 'tassels', by the way, but this, to me,
is no more technical than fluffy bits!

I have always known it as the "silk".

But it's probably no more right than "tassels" or "fluffy bits"!

On 3 Sep, 11:35, Martin wrote:
You are French and you don't understand the meaning of 100 square metres?

I had read it as 100msq - as Sacha correctly spotted. And now Martin,
since I find your tone slightly patronising and find your sudden
aggressive attitude towards me just a little too much, I'll just bid
you a good time and will move on. Tara.

Sorry, La Puce, I didn't answer your question.

I grew all my sweetcorn from seed in pots first and then planted out. I
planted twenty five in a block 5 x 5.

The soil on that part of my plot is the best soil anywhere on the allotment
but I don't know why. That's how it was whn I got the plot.

Most plots here have an abundance of flint stones (we suspect is was
originally a Stone Age flint mine!) but there are hadly any on this part of
mine.

Over the past 2-3 years, I've dug plenty of well-rotted compost in and ged
the bed with Growmore before I planted anything.

I, then, fed it with tomato food, as I had read to do this in a gardening
book. That's all I did but it seems to have worked!

Regards,

John


"La Puce" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 2 Sep, 11:23, "John Vanini" wrote:
I don't intend to eat it as it looks most unappetising and even spread
with
butter its looks would not be improved!

LOL!!

Just out of interest does anyone know what this is?

It happened to me many times - last year I'd left about 10 cobs,
looking just like the one you describe, to the 'beasts' visiting our
allotment. This year our corn is not really looking good and I suspect
we will have many tiny cobs - I blame all the rain and not enough
sunshine but also lack of feed. In my case I didn't give enough
nitrogen/potassium which the sweet corns benefit immensely from at the
flowering stages, I went on holidays for too long ... and too often
this year. Also I was late planting our corn this year, which didn't
help. Did you straight sow or in pots first and then transplanted? And
did you feed your sweet corns?

Hi FarmI,

I'm not worried, just curious!

I'll re-word that before the mockery starts!

I am not. personally, curious, you understand, I'm just curious about the
strange mini-cob among the perfectly normal tassels!!

Regardsl,

John


"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"John Vanini" wrote in message
The tassels, as I've been told they're called, are those parts of the
sweetcorn at the very top where pollination is carried out. They are what
you see waving in the breeze, above the plant, long before the cobs form.

The cobs themselves are much lower down and this year are probably the
biggest and best I've ever grown!

It's just that the tassels normally look like they always did but a bit
bedraggled. This time one of them looks more like a deformed cob.

I've only done what I normally do excpet that I did give them one feed of
tomatoi fertiliser, which is what I saw in a gardening book.

Ah sorry. Got confused by your earlier description which made no sense to
me. I thought you might have been mixing the corn silk up wiht the tassel
from what you wrote.

Can't think of any reason why the tassel would look odd, ub tif the cobs
were OK and you had good rates of cobs/plant, I wouldnt worry about it.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"John Vanini" wrote in message
I've noticed that on my sweetcorn one of the top fluffy bits (sorry
about the technical language!) has developed into, what looks like, an
ear of corn but is much smaller, a bit sad looking, with kernals
missing and mis-shapen, and some dark in colour. It, obviously, has no
sheath of leaves and looks most strange..

Do you mean that the cob developed without leaves on the outside of the
cob? If so where did the tassel grow from?

I know this! I know this! Because I've read it! Let me tell 'em! Let me tell
'em! 'Cos I've read this just a few days ago!

'Silk' is the fluffy bit at the end of a corn cob or an ear of corn. When
this turns black or dark brown it's time to check whether the corn is ready
to harvest or not.

The fluffy bits, I'm talking about are at the top and do the pollination.

Now, the pollination is not a dance based upon the music of Frederic
Chopin - I point this out before anyone gets it wrong idea!

Has any of you ever had the feeling that you've started something you wish
you hadn't!

Best regards to all,

John

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to John Vanini ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :


I've never seen this happen before and, out of interest, wondered if
anyone can tell me more about this peculiar ear. I believe the fluffy
bits are, generally, known as 'tassels', by the way, but this, to me,
is no more technical than fluffy bits!

I have always known it as the "silk".

But it's probably no more right than "tassels" or "fluffy bits"!