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  • #1

    Sweetcorn spacing

    Yes I'm asking early Just planning it all out.

    My sweetcorn is T&M Early Xtra Sweet F1 which grew great for me last year at 12" spacings in my raised block planted beds (square foot gardening without the soil mix). I got 1 good cob off each and they were forming 2nd cobs but they didnt get anywhere usable.

    I was just planning this years lot and noticed the packet actually says to plant at 6" spacing with rows 18" apart (square foot recommends 6" apart all directions too). This sounds really close to me, from my memory of the size of them and the roots!

    Do you think you'd get decent returns planting them so close??
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  • #2
    Its an interesting question

    My Veg Books talk about 15" spacing for Sweetcorn ... but I do wonder if that is influenced by the older varieties that used to grow to the sky, and blinking-wide too ...

    I think that Sweetcorn cob-size is effected [reduced] by close-planting, but having said that the plants of the new varieties are a lot shorter (which is, presumably, how the breeders have shortened the growing season - the cobs form at the 3rd leaf joint [from memory!] which is a lot lower than on traditional varieties - I rarely manage to get a second-cob to actually mature into anything useful. So perhaps growing them just for the first-cob-harvest, at tighter spacing, is the right approach?

    But 6" sounds very close to me though - unless "T&M Early Xtra Sweet F1" is a narrow-habit plant?, but from the sounds of your experience last year that's not the case.

    I've only grown Swift (over the last 4 years) so I have no experience of anything else, and because of cross-pollination issues I have never considered trying another variety alongside Swift (as a trial)
    K's Garden blog the story of the creation of our garden

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    • #3
      I planted the same xtra sweet f1 - WOW, what a taste. Amazing. I planted mine at 7.5" apart, to cram the whole packet into a single bed in my garden. I got between 1 and two cobs from each plant, but I think as you noticed the 2nd, lower cob didn't grow much because of the close planting and lack of pollination.



      I've a better picture showing the lower cobs - a couple of the plants had 3 cobs on - but the 3rd one was just forming, not enough time (or space) to develop - but can't seem to find it!
      Last edited by chris; 15-03-2011, 05:36 AM.

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      • #4
        btw, I think those beds are 3' wide... I think that one is 5' long too, can't really remember!

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        • #5
          Cheers for the pic Chris. I think my corn was definitely thicker thru the shank than your pic, not that it matters. That might be coz I gave em more space. But it didnt give me more harvest lol.

          I think I might go for 2 per square then into the corners, that should be a good 7 or 8" between plants and not too crowded. See how it goes! I dont mind if the cobs come out a little bit smaller but twice as many

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          • #6
            I also grew sweetcorn in SFG & spaced them 5 to a square as per a domino, I got 2 cobs per plant.
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            • #7
              The cobs did fatten up nicely

              https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_F...Ym1bICNXRf.jpg Top ones much more so though!

              We bought some cobs the other day from the supermarket.. my goodness. Grown in mayalsia (only realised after we'd eaten them - or I wouldn't have bought them!! - v.niave of us), tasted like.. erm water. Spongey and watery - that was it. Ours, so sweet, myself and daughter ate a few cobs raw!

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              • #8
                Originally posted by chrismarks View Post
                Ours, so sweet, myself and daughter ate a few cobs raw!
                Don't know which looks the sweetest, your daughter or the corn.........nice pic.
                sigpic“Gorillas are very intelligent, but they don't have to be as delicate as chimps -- they can just smash open the termite nest,”
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                -------------------------------------------------------------------
                Sent from my ZX Spectrum with no predictive text..........
                -----------------------------------------------------------
                KOYS - King Of Yellow Stickers..............

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                • #9
                  The T&M corn is in fact their name for Swift F1. 15cm apart is too close as the roots of a well grown corn plant will extend for at least 30 cm. Any closer planting will limit the uptake of water and nutrients to each plant.

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                  • #10
                    How many do you reckon I can get into a 30" diameter pot? (I can only do pots)
                    Its just under 5 square feet, but the positioning of them is a problem
                    Last edited by Davyburns; 19-03-2011, 08:48 AM.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Bigmallly View Post
                      Don't know which looks the sweetest, your daughter or the corn.........nice pic.
                      thanks hehe

                      I'm going to go with 12" apart this this year, to compare results with last.. then wider still next year.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Bigmallly View Post
                        I also grew sweetcorn in SFG & spaced them 5 to a square as per a domino, I got 2 cobs per plant.
                        Am I reading it correctly? Are you saying that you planted 5 sweetcorn plants in a 30cm square like below (the middle X should be in the centre but I can't seem to get it to show there) and you got 2 ears per plant? That seems a bit close to say the least and the ones I planted last year were around 6" apart and only managed 1 ear each. If that worked it would save me a load of room in my patio planter this year.

                        X X
                        X
                        X X

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                        • #13
                          I'm debating whether to try and pack an extra row of corn in or not this year. I'm growing in seperate pots and for the first time this year just to see how they do as much as wanting a good yield that will keep me going all summer. Having said that if you only get a cob a plant and i'll only have four plants well, i'd like a few more!

                          As it stands i think i'll take a hit on the size and try and squeeze a couple more plants in but i'll watch this dpsce with interest

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                          • #14
                            I went with Chris and mine are about 8" apart this year in staggered rows in a square.

                            I planted them out really early under a cloche (mid April) and must say they seem to be doing as well as last year. Quite tall and stocky already. So I am hopefull they will be just as successful.

                            Some sweetcorn grows alot taller and I guess those ones do need to be further apart. The other thing to watch is to keep them watered and give them a feed or 2 I guess (I use chicken poo pellets). Since mine are in raised beds I do water them alot anyways.
                            Last edited by kingkano; 31-05-2011, 08:04 AM.

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                            • #15
                              I've done ~8" again this year, forgot about the 12" I was going to do. But just put another packet of corn out to chit, will try these at 12.

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