GardenBanter.co.uk - Sweet Corn

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I'm starting to plan ahead for next year's allotment crop and I'm looking at
sweet corn. I know that some varieties have to be grown apart from other
varieties, but I'm confused between tendersweet, extra sweet, supersweet,
sugar sweet, etc.

Could someone enlighten me as to which varieties have to be grown apart, and
which varieties can be grown close to each other?

Many thanks.

"Mel" wrote in message
...
I'm starting to plan ahead for next year's allotment crop and I'm looking
at sweet corn. I know that some varieties have to be grown apart from
other varieties, but I'm confused between tendersweet, extra sweet,
supersweet, sugar sweet, etc.

Could someone enlighten me as to which varieties have to be grown apart,
and which varieties can be grown close to each other?

Many thanks.

As far as I'm aware the F1 hybrids should not be planted together. I think
the various 'sweet' descriptions may be advertising similes from different
firms. The one I've grown for 2 years running now, it's that good, is F1
Tasty Gold. It is very sweet and delicious.

There are several types of gene sweetness described in increasing
order of sweetness SU (Sugary), SE (Sugar Enhanced), SH2 (Supersweet)
and finally the new tendersweet versions. The first two can be grown
together usually without problems*. The SH2 or Shrunken seed's gene
isn't that stable so pollen from SU or SE types can make it revert to
field maize i.e not sweet at all. The same applies to the Tendersweet
varieties. The SH2 seed looks shrunken or dried up in the packet btw.
If the packet says grow apart, that's often an indication it's not SU
or SE in type rather than the description.

The Supersweet SH2's are sweet but tend to have a harder corn seed
when eating them, so the Tendersweet was created to keep the increased
sweetness but have the creamy texture of the older varieties. The
other important thing about super and tender sweet varieties is that
they keep that sweetness longer once cut (several days) and so are
more use to the commercial food distribution network, for which they
were created for. SU and SE will keep sweet for a day, bit longer in
the fridge.

Sweetcorn crosses easily being wind pollinated and it is the seed that
we eat so it is not a problem that affects only those saving seed for
next year.

Many people grow several varieties based on how long they take to
mature. There are described as early, mid and late season or often in
number of days. So either choose several from the SU/SE group or ones
from the others. It's usually quoted at 300ft+ to keep the two groups
apart if they produce pollen (ie mature) at the same time. Otherwise
growing ones from both groups can be done if their maturity dates are
kept more than 2 weeks apart. Not easily with our varied summers
messing growth up.

There is a lot of info on the web about sweet corn varieties, often
from US universities
http://cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-223.html
Googling a variety by name will usually yield it's gene type and days
to harvest. SH2 types need warmer soil to germinate than others and so
in a UK climate, late season (90+ days) might not make harvest in
time. Btw there are loads of different block planting spacings
around, nearly all work out at at least 144 sq inch for each plant.
Normally 16 plants is stated as the minimum quantity for pollination,
more is better. Poor pollination results in half filled cobs. Lack of
nutients results in only one cob per plant. Sweetcorn are heavy
feeders. There has been at least one field trial showing that the
roots of broad beans improve the nutrient take up of sweet corn if
that helps in your planning.

Hope this helps

Nigel

* unless one is bi-colour or white and the other is yellow. Then some
grains will be the other's colour.

On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:14:46 +0100, "Mel"
wrote:

I'm starting to plan ahead for next year's allotment crop and I'm looking at
sweet corn. I know that some varieties have to be grown apart from other
varieties, but I'm confused between tendersweet, extra sweet, supersweet,
sugar sweet, etc.

Could someone enlighten me as to which varieties have to be grown apart, and
which varieties can be grown close to each other?

Many thanks.

"tony newton" wrote
There are several types of gene sweetness described in increasing
order of sweetness SU (Sugary), SE (Sugar Enhanced), SH2 (Supersweet)
and finally the new tendersweet versions. The first two can be grown
together usually without problems*. The SH2 or Shrunken seed's gene
isn't that stable so pollen from SU or SE types can make it revert to
field maize i.e not sweet at all..............

Tony, great information. Thank you! I now know what to look for when
choosing my sweetcorn seeds for next year. This year I grew Sweet Nugget,
which I see is an SH type. I must've had beginners luck, because the plants
flowered very early and almost all produced well-filled cobs, ready at the
beginning of September. Not all the cobs filled out well, however, and I
only got 1 cob per plant, so next year I'll fertilise more carefully and
perhaps make a bigger block.

My allotment is up north on th'edge o'moors - cold, wet and windy - so I
need a variety that will best tolerate these conditions.

Once again, many thanks for your excellent advice.

Regards.

In article ,
tony newton wrote:
There are several types of gene sweetness described in increasing
order of sweetness SU (Sugary), SE (Sugar Enhanced), SH2 (Supersweet)
and finally the new tendersweet versions. The first two can be grown
together usually without problems*. The SH2 or Shrunken seed's gene
isn't that stable so pollen from SU or SE types can make it revert to
field maize i.e not sweet at all. The same applies to the Tendersweet
varieties. The SH2 seed looks shrunken or dried up in the packet btw.
If the packet says grow apart, that's often an indication it's not SU
or SE in type rather than the description.

Interesting. I may try that :-) I was brought up on maize and much
prefer 'proper' green maize, preferably half ripe (when it has a
nutty taste). It's damn hard to get seed now on a domestic scale.

I tried some of the 'heritage' varieties, but they were decorative
rather than edible. They tasted fine, but were tough even by my
standards and nobody else felt that they were worth the hard labour
of eating them.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:37:58 +0100, "Mel"
wrote:

"tony newton" wrote
There are several types of gene sweetness described in increasing
order of sweetness SU (Sugary), SE (Sugar Enhanced), SH2 (Supersweet)
and finally the new tendersweet versions. The first two can be grown
together usually without problems*.

Hi again, Tony. I was thinking of growing Lark and Sundance. I think that
Lark is an extra tendersweet and Sundance is a standard SU. So, these 2
cannot be grown together, is that right? Can different varieties of extra
tendersweet be grown together, or do they also have to be separated from ANY
other corn?

Thanks.

Hi,

Yes Sundance would contaminate Lark. They are both mid season so
produce pollen at the same time.

I don't know for sure if the extra sweet ones can be grown together,
but I have read at least one person planting Swift, Lark and possibly
Conqueror (or Kite) as early, medium and late croppers so keeping it
going. If you aren't going to get a lot of sun or have a short season,
I'd not bother with the late varieties
Swift, Earlibird, Ovation, Excalibur, Orion and Seville are early or
mid season varieties. You might not find these in garden centres but
have to search online for commercial seed merchants (good value) .
Try moleseeds. Sweetcorn seed should last for a couple of years. It
really does pay to plant sevral seeds and only keep the most vigorous.
Sad little seedlings don't catch up.

The minimum is 16 of each variety, but more is better to ensure full
pollination. As that takes up so much space (for what you get back)
it's easy to start more plants than you have room for. I did this
year! Started them in large3" newspaper pots as corn really doesn't
like being disturbed. Supersweet types need warm soil so you might
have to wait too late for yours to warm up enough. Hence starting
indoors

On Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:37:58 +0100, "Mel"
wrote:

"tony newton" wrote
There are several types of gene sweetness described in increasing
order of sweetness SU (Sugary), SE (Sugar Enhanced), SH2 (Supersweet)
and finally the new tendersweet versions. The first two can be grown
together usually without problems*.

Hi again, Tony. I was thinking of growing Lark and Sundance. I think that
Lark is an extra tendersweet and Sundance is a standard SU. So, these 2
cannot be grown together, is that right? Can different varieties of extra
tendersweet be grown together, or do they also have to be separated from ANY
other corn?

Thanks.

I think Seville is decribed as being good for cold areas. Swift has
been described that way too and is an early season type.

Sweet Nugget is decribed as mid season. If it works, keep growing it.

Most corn only really makes one big cob. This year I found Conqueror
did two worthwhile ones on a number of plants without loads of
feeding. Late season varieties are supposed to crop heavier, but here
we run the risk of runing out of summer. I think getting the plants in
as early as possible (with cloche protection) is part of the cropping
solution. Start indoors a couple of weeks before last frost date and
get them in asap after that date (and protect) for a couple of weeks.
Large clear plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off, and tops removed
will make great individual cloches.