Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to show
but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to produce crops
and so dig them up?
What stage should they be at?

DAvy

David Stokes wrote:
Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to show
but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to produce crops
and so dig them up?

... flower?

On 2 Aug, 14:14, David Stokes wrote:
Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to show
but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to produce crops
and so dig them up?
What stage should they be at?

DAvy

Mine are 5 or 6 feet high and the cobs are pollinated (tassels on cobs
turning brown) Should be ready in a couple of weeks. I am irrigating
regularly. I chuck loads of compost round them too.
But it depends where you live. I am in Herefordshire.
They will be OK, don't worry unless we have exceptionally cold weather
this month.. They progress very quickly from the point your's are at
now.They need another month of warm weather so you should be OK.

harry wrote:
Mine are 5 or 6 feet high and the cobs are pollinated (tassels on cobs
turning brown) Should be ready in a couple of weeks. I am irrigating
regularly. I chuck loads of compost round them too.

Ours are pollinated, but surprisingly short still. The baby sweetcorn are
taller, but appear to have no fruit.

We tried planting through weed blanket this year (pretty much everything
planted in the past month or two has, not sure why, but that's not my area
or decision making place)

harry wrote in
:

On 2 Aug, 14:14, David Stokes wrote:
Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to
show but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to
produce crops and so dig them up?
What stage should they be at?

DAvy

Mine are 5 or 6 feet high and the cobs are pollinated (tassels on cobs
turning brown) Should be ready in a couple of weeks. I am irrigating
regularly. I chuck loads of compost round them too.
But it depends where you live. I am in Herefordshire.
They will be OK, don't worry unless we have exceptionally cold weather
this month.. They progress very quickly from the point your's are at
now.They need another month of warm weather so you should be OK.


Thanks Harry, I will give them a chance to mature. DAvy

David Stokes wrote in
.145:

Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to
show but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to
produce crops and so dig them up?
What stage should they be at?

DAvy


Now that I know a little more about sweetcorn I can add that it is only the
male flowers at the top that are visible (but not yet open). The female
flowers, from which the cobs develop, are not yet visible at all.

I live in Wessex and it is raining - I am very pessimistic that I am going
to see any ripe cobs.

DAvy

David Stokes wrote:
I live in Wessex and it is raining

Give my regards to Thomas Hardy when you see him!

In article ,
David Stokes wrote:

Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to
show but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to
produce crops and so dig them up?
What stage should they be at?

Now that I know a little more about sweetcorn I can add that it is only the
male flowers at the top that are visible (but not yet open). The female
flowers, from which the cobs develop, are not yet visible at all.

They won't ripen, anyway, but you don't want them to. Sweetcorn is
known as green mealies in southern Africa, precisely because it is
eaten unripe. You may be in luck, if there is some decent weather
in September, so I recommend leaving them.

If yours have male flowers visible, they are only a fortnight behind
mine, which went in at an appropriate time.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Sat, 7 Aug 2010, Alan Johnson wrote:

Someone gave me a few sweetcorn plants that were surplus to their
requirements. I've planted them but as with most surplus plants they
probably went in a bit later than optimum.
They have grown well and the one flower on each are just beginning to
show but not yet open. I don't know whether they are too late to
produce crops and so dig them up?
What stage should they be at?
DAvy

We took our first sweet corn harvest yesterday. They tasted great, but
some of the cobs have what I can only describe as 'empty patches'.
Others are fine. Does anybody know what causes these empty patches on
the cob?

Lack of regular watering/rain.

David

--
David Rance
writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

Alan Johnson wrote:
We took our first sweet corn harvest yesterday. They tasted great, but
some of the cobs have what I can only describe as 'empty patches'.
Others are fine. Does anybody know what causes these empty patches on
the cob?

Isn't it lack of fertilisation?

On 7 Aug, 07:59, Alan Johnson wrote:
We took our first sweet corn harvest yesterday. They tasted great, but
some of the cobs have what I can only describe as 'empty patches'.
Others are fine. Does anybody know what causes these empty patches on
the cob?

Incomplete pollination, or failure of pollen to 'take'. Each kernel
is separately pollinated down a very long fibre from the flower.
Pollination is wind-driven, hence planting in blocks not rows. The
upwind edge of the block can suffer like this easily enough, although
in the UK it is unusual for there not to be at least some time when
the wind is contrary to the prevailling direction. However, this year
the country was split in half and the eastern side had weeks and weeks
of southerly winds while the western half got atlantic airflow and
rains.

If the plants are under stress - too cold, not enough rain, for
example - then pollen production or take-up can fail or be seriously
reduced. If the male and female flowers do not overlap enough then it
can cause the symptom too, and this can happen if the weather gives
the plant a 'check' at the wrong time. I've heard of heavy dew
stopping pollen shedding or take up, but don't know any more about
that. The only thing you can sensibly do to influence pollination is
to keep the watering up in dry periods. I've heard of people
'shaking' the plants in windless periods, but I doubt this is really
necessary.