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Sweetcorn - sow all at once, or staggered?

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  • Sweetcorn - sow all at once, or staggered?

    I'm about to sow my first sweetcorn seeds. I've got 2 varieties with about 50 seeds of each... some of which I'm going to grow purely for seed saving (I'll be shoot-bagging those to ensure purity). I'd planned to sow the whole lot (I'm not short on space) this year - but I'm not sure yet.

    Being my first year with them I don't know whether they are likely to crop all at once or not (they aren't F1s) so don't know if I should be making a staggered sowing a few weeks apart or setting them all off together.

    Any suggestions?

    Cheers.


    EDIT
    I should have said - one of the varieties is for popcorn, I don't plan on eating 100 cobs of corn!
    Last edited by BigShot; 10-04-2011, 05:39 PM.

  • #2
    I sow mine all at once, then again I don't have 50 of them!
    WPC F Hobbit, Shire police

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    • #3
      Our growing season is so short that you can't really stagger sweetcorn (esp in the North) but ... you could try
      All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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      • #4
        I could... and maybe I will... though probably not... and certainly not with half.
        Fiona... I have 50 of EACH... so 100 seeds... hmm... I may save a few for next year. Haha.

        Thanks for the replies.
        Last edited by BigShot; 10-04-2011, 08:12 PM.

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        • #5
          I tried it, the 2nd lot didn't really ripen up as well as the first lot.

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          • #6
            I have 100 seeds too - all for eating/freezing. I'll plant mine over the course of april which will stagger them slightly (but plant in 15 or so to make sure there are enough flowering at any time for adequate pollination).
            I planted some at the and of may last year - the latest date on the seed pack - but that was too late here to get even 1 good cob on some of the plants.

            (and I have 30 popcorn seeds too yet to be planted...)

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            • #7
              Hi

              In previous years I have tried to stagger them a couple of weeks apart but the later ones have caught up with the first ones, so this year i am just going to plant them all but I don't have that many.

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              • #8
                Well, weighing it all up, I've decided to go for the whole lot in one go. This time next year I'll be better able to protect them (sounds a bit Derek Trotter, I know) so I may start some earlier, but I don't want to waste the effort of starting some later and not getting long enough to ripen.

                Thanks for the input... all the seeds are in for a wee soak (10 minutes in water to give them a head start on soaking up the moisture needed to germinate) before going in the pots which I'm half way through filling with compost.

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                • #9
                  I grow Swift F1 (so not much help in answer to your question)

                  I grow three batches, at fortnight intervals, for the greenhouse (21-Mar to 21-Apr), and three batches for outdoors (21-Apr to 21-May).
                  K's Garden blog the story of the creation of our garden

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                  • #10
                    Nice long summers down your way though.
                    Not like up here were summer is a fortnight in July. Haha.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by BigShot View Post
                      all the seeds are in for a wee soak (10 minutes in water to give them a head start ...)
                      I give mine an overnight soak, then they start showing a root within 48 hrs. I plant up the quickest ones, then if I have room I'll plant the tardy ones too
                      All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                      • #12
                        I thought about overnight soaking, but decided against it in a moment of uncertainty.
                        Ah well, they are all in now.

                        I'm a bit concerned about the depth though, so I may yet go ferreting around to bring them closer to the surface. I have a feeling they may be a bit too far down after seeing a picture of a germinated seed with half an inch of shoot and 2 inches of root. That'd put the root almost to the bottom of the pot when the shoot finally pops up.

                        I'll sleep on that one though.

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                        • #13
                          I'm a bit uncertain on overnight soaking. My Sweetcorn seeds are covered in a red fungicide powder, and the short-season varieties bred for the UK apparently have more germination issues than "regular Corn", so I'm keen not to remove too much of the chemical.

                          Mine are on damp kitchen paper in a small pot and covered with cling film. But the last batch didn't do very well ... I chitted 20 seeds, but only remembered to do it 24 hours before we went away. 4 had started germinating, but I put all of them into newspaper pots and only the first 4 have come up (we've been back for two weeks, so I'm not hopeful on the remainder). Should have started some more off straight away, but left it for 2 weeks for my "next batch" calendar date ... and I bought a bulk packet of 250 seeds, so its not as though I'm about to run out. I despair of myself sometimes ...
                          K's Garden blog the story of the creation of our garden

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Kristen View Post
                            I'm a bit uncertain on overnight soaking. ... the last batch didn't do very well
                            I started chitting them after a disastrous year when I sowed Lark and got only about 10% germination

                            These are Incredible and have germinated indoors in 3 days. 12 of them (out of 2 packs) have failed (or are just slow). That's 12 pots of compost I've saved myself
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                            Last edited by Two_Sheds; 12-04-2011, 08:16 AM.
                            All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                            • #15
                              I'm using a different supplier to last year, so I'll wait and see how this batch do. I'm definitely not going away again!
                              K's Garden blog the story of the creation of our garden

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