Sweetcorn

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Odsox
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164017Post Odsox »

Derry wrote:so is it the male flowers that become sweetcorns? *is clueless*
Umm, didn't your Mum tell you about the birds and the bees :scratch:

The male flowers at the top pollinate the female flowers further down the plant, who then produces the sweetcorn (on a cob)
The corn kernels that you eat are immature maize seeds.
AFAIK seeds are only produced by females.
Tony

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Derry
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164018Post Derry »

Odsox wrote:
Derry wrote:so is it the male flowers that become sweetcorns? *is clueless*
Umm, didn't your Mum tell you about the birds and the bees :scratch:

The male flowers at the top pollinate the female flowers further down the plant, who then produces the sweetcorn (on a cob)
The corn kernels that you eat are immature maize seeds.
AFAIK seeds are only produced by females.
nah, school did that.
i was confused by the female flowers being lower down.. cause the cob grows at the top..

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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164021Post Muscroj »

nope, the cob grows where the female flowers are. You'll see the stems fattening up as it starts to swell.
I was confuddled by the 'flower' at the top to begin with too, thought it was a developing cob, but it aint :wink:
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164023Post Derry »

so if you get 4 female flowers on a plant, dyu get 4 cobs?

im so confused =[

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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164051Post Muscroj »

yup, hopefully as long as they all get pollenated by the male flower! :)
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164055Post grahamhobbs »

Interested to read the posts about sowing sweetcorn, I was wondering how it went for everyone?
I had a poor start, I sow my seeds on the windowsill at work, but a mouse kept eating them. So by the time I had killed the mouse I was a couple of weeks later than usual and had only half of what I normally grow. Usually I grow Swift, this year I grew Kelvedon Wonder and was dissapointed as it went starchy so quickly. To make up the numbers I also bought some un-named plants, they were delicious and stayed that way for sometime. I grow the sweetcorn in our polytunnel because otherwise the squirels take everything. I plant about 40cm apart, usually I get only one cob but this year with a bit more feeding (manure and blood & bone meal) I did get some to produce 2.
What experience have people had in growing non-F1 varieties or from sowing saved seed?

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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164060Post Derry »

we grew ours from shop bought plants

i was just reading in a book about burying holly leaves around the seed to deter mices, or using an upturned jam jar =]

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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164079Post grubbysoles »

Oooh, I have another question about the male/female flower thing. I have a few male flowers now, and one plant now has one female flower (is that the 'silks'?). Does the female flower have to be pollinated by the male on a different plant, or can she make do with the bloke on the same plant as her??

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Odsox
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 164168Post Odsox »

Any flower will do, females aren't fussy :flower: :lol:

Regarding mice, you could do the same as I do with peas & beans ... wash them in paraffin just before you sow them.
Not very green I know, but it works 100%.
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 167877Post Millymollymandy »

So how is everyone's sweetcorn? Mine all came good in the end after a period with smut :lol: and I'm here checking out how to get 'em off the kernels a la Odsox's method!!! Getting sick of all the flossing necessary to get the bits out of me teeth! :mrgreen: Some of my first batch weren't very well pollinated but there were so many cobs on each plant we just ate more cobs each.

My spacing as previously discussed at the beginning of the thread is closer than usual (about 2.5 feet instead of 3 or more) so I have problems getting in to water and haven't been able to weed. It would be impossible to plant them closer together because of the size they become, but as I have 3 different varieties on the go I can see a big difference in the plants, some are low and wide, some are tall (well over 2 metres!) and narrow, and some have red flowers and others white. Yes I know I should make a note of all this but I can't be bothered!
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 167906Post Green Aura »

Ours has been fairly poor. I'm coming to the conclusion that it's yet another thing we can't grow up here, even though we'd bought varieties specially bred for the north.

We've had a couple (literally) of lovely, sweet cobs but that's it - from 9 plants :lol:

Bit of a waste of space.
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 167935Post red »

my sweetcorn is struggling to ripen in time...

but the baby sweetcorn is fab. anyoen who struggles with sweetcorn shoudl try this. you get 3 or 4 baby cobs per plant.. so easy to grow. and it doesn't have to fertilize or ripen.
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 167973Post Millymollymandy »

Must google baby sweetcorn but I presume the plants are baby sized as well :scratch: or else you'd need an acre just to have enough for a stirfry!
boboff wrote:Oh and just for MMM, :hugish: (thanks)
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 168027Post red »

unfortunately they are the same size as ordinary sweetcorn plants - they are space consuming.

but, they do have more cobs, and because you dont need them to fertilize, you dont have to plant them in blocks, you can fit them in where you have space etc.

works well for us as the sheep and pigs like the plants
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Re: Sweetcorn

Post: # 168028Post Millymollymandy »

My plants are covered in rust so I can't even compost them but I do usually get more than 3 or 4 cobs per plant - up to about 8.

However Odsox I want a word with you :mrgreen: as I can't get the ruddy kernels off the cob easily at all using your method. Got a load blanched (these are the tiny ones where some of them wouldn't have been worth cooking as there's only kernels at one end, or badly pollinated emptyish ones). I've tried the blunt knife and I tried my thumb nail but they don't want to come off easily and I fear it's going to take me hours to finish off what I've started, and lots of them are popped or half cut off! :( :( :(
boboff wrote:Oh and just for MMM, :hugish: (thanks)
http://chateaumoorhen.blogspot.com/

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