Growing corn on the cob in the garden

[Mobsta]

Should be able to start planing corn in April.

I fancy some corn on the cob BBQ's this year, and plan to plant some every week from April through to June, so we have corn ripening towards the end of the summer.

Ive only tried (I failed) once before.
Planted it far too late in the season.

Is there anything wrong with buying from Ebay, or any particular type of corn I should be going for, to produce the most succulent juicy and big cobs possible?

[Oakey]

Ha! you said "garden"... now look what's happened

[paulrockliffe]

My Dad managed to grow corn in Cumbria for a few years while we were having warm springs and decent summers. It got hit pretty hit and miss so he doesn't bother now. I'd expect this to be one of the years that would be a miss though given that it's practically April and it's still bloody freezing.

[Marty63]

We tried the last 2 years and failed

found it easier to get a twin pack from Morrison's for £1 when needed

[pherlopolus]

We had better luck with the mini ones, earwigs loved making houses in the bigger ones and took forever to ripen.

[Marty63]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Only in a can..

[-Pete-]

I've been trying to grow sweetcorn for the last few years, but it's been difficult. The roots don't like to be disturbed so start them indoors in toilet roll centres, then go via greenhouse or coldframe into the ground into a matrix 18" apart. Lots of watering if it's dry, maybe use a paintbrush to cross pollinate them. They like lots of sun and lots of water.

[eatontrifles]

My parents have grown masses of the stuff for the past couple of years on their allotment in Liverpool. Much better than the shop bought stuff and I don't think they did anything special to get it to grow.

[Mobsta]

Oakey said:

Ha! you said "garden"... now look what's happened

The post moved from food and drink, to the garden section

pherlopolus said:

We had better luck with the mini ones, earwigs loved making houses in the bigger ones and took forever to ripen.

I prefer the big cobs, sods law the minis are easier to grow.

-Pete- said:

I've been trying to grow sweetcorn for the last few years, but it's been difficult. The roots don't like to be disturbed so start them indoors in toilet roll centres, then go via greenhouse or coldframe into the ground into a matrix 18" apart. Lots of watering if it's dry, maybe use a paintbrush to cross pollinate them. They like lots of sun and lots of water.

What happens if you do not cross pollinate them? I figured mine didnt grow as I planted them too late in the year... no idea!

Did some reading and bought a few varieties of F1 early starters.

[LivingTheDream]

They need to cross pollinate to form cobs - they pollinate via wind so it is recommended to plant in square blocks rather than rows.

agreed with the starting in toilet roll centres then plant the whole thing and the cardboard will rot away.

If you have raised beds then you can plant closer together than recommended.

[GTDNB]

if you stagger the planting then pollination might be a problem if they aren't all flowering at the same time

[Mobsta]

GTDNB said:

if you stagger the planting then pollination might be a problem if they aren't all flowering at the same time

Good point. I'll pollinate with paint brush as suggested above. How will I recognise the penile and vaginal bits, I'm expecting to see corn as opposed to naked people standing in the garden

I've already been assigned my plot of fertile soil, it's long and wide and won't allow for growing in blocks of 5x5 which I read was best so ill have to mate them manually. I'll start them off indoors this weekend.

[littlegreenfairy]

I had limited success last year. 6 plants survived and 3 small plants before winter returned. The bunnies enjoyed them so not all was lost.

There is a lovely variety called Indian summer or something like that- looks like jewels.

[Mobsta]

littlegreenfairy said:

I had limited success last year. 6 plants survived and 3 small plants before winter returned. The bunnies enjoyed them so not all was lost.

There is a lovely variety called Indian summer or something like that- looks like jewels.

6 survived of how many planted?

[littlegreenfairy]

20. Lost quite a few to the torrential rain when they were quite small. Found them half way across the garden. One was lost to bunny damage but mostly crappy weather.

[LivingTheDream]

Mobsta said:

Good point. I'll pollinate with paint brush as suggested above. How will I recognise the penile and vaginal bits, I'm expecting to see corn as opposed to naked people standing in the garden

I've already been assigned my plot of fertile soil, it's long and wide and won't allow for growing in blocks of 5x5 which I read was best so ill have to mate them manually. I'll start them off indoors this weekend.

The other benefit to block planting is they stand up to stronger winds better so make sure you support them.

you need the pollen from the flowers at the top to land on the silk like threads coming from a cob on another plant.

each of the silks leads to a kernal/individual corn so make sure all are covered otherwise you'll have partial cobs.

[Mobsta]

LivingTheDream said:

The other benefit to block planting is they stand up to stronger winds better so make sure you support them.

you need the pollen from the flowers at the top to land on the silk like threads coming from a cob on another plant.

each of the silks leads to a kernal/individual corn so make sure all are covered otherwise you'll have partial cobs.

Wow, thanks for that. Mine were too small to eat come the end of the season, but I did wonder why, despite the slug bait at the base of the stalk, half the kernels looked like they had been eaten, this explains it. Thanks!

[5pen]

My Mrs tried a couple of years back. From memory she planted about 6 and 2 were successful I think. After months of nurturing they were just about ready to harvest, but mice (or birds) got there first. Stripped 'em bare. She hasn't bothered again.