When do I harvest my sweetcorn

**Paulottie** · 27-09-2010, 06:43 AM

Without a location in your profile it makes it more difficult to say.... If it is too wet and cold then growth and pollination will stop; but any existing cobs should continue to ripen. (Although there is a higher risk of rotting and they will go starchy more quickly)

I assume you know the thumbnail kernel test?...watery=under;milky=good;rice pudding=cattle food.

At a guess it is going to be best to get on with it...to me, underipe is much more palatable than overripe.

**Snadger** · 27-09-2010, 06:03 PM

Originally posted by Paulottie View Post

Without a location in your profile it makes it more difficult to say.... If it is too wet and cold then growth and pollination will stop; but any existing cobs should continue to ripen. (Although there is a higher risk of rotting and they will go starchy more quickly)

I assume you know the thumbnail kernel test?...watery=under;milky=good;rice pudding=cattle food.

At a guess it is going to be best to get on with it...to me, underipe is much more palatable than overripe.

Haza's on the same allotment site as I am.
I reckon you've got until the first frosts which are iminent in these parts!

My sweetcorn is almost finished and even cobs that look ok are quite tasteless compared to corn harvested 2 weeks ago!

You and I both need to sow earlier next year Haza!

**Pies** · 27-09-2010, 07:49 PM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

You and I both need to sow earlier next year Haza!

I sowed mine in rootrainers (the 5" nes) and left them on the windowsill, they were 12-14" before i planted them out.Got a great crop as well

They have been the most sucessfull veg ive grown in rootrainers as they take up no space for 32 large plants

**Pumpkin Becki** · 27-09-2010, 07:57 PM

Haza, when you do finish harvesting your corn, don't pull the plants up. They make an excellent over-wintering habitat for ladybirds! (see the gorgeous piccy on my blog - I love ladybirds!)

**Paulottie** · 27-09-2010, 11:21 PM

Its considerably more difficult to ripen sweetcorn on the Tyne than in Kent...I am told that you get better results in Northern counties with OP rather than the supersweets.

I grew about 220 plants in an electric fenced enclosure. Four sowings... Chitted in the airing cupboard then into 3" pots.(MUCH more successful that loo roll innerds) to spread the harvest....Finished the last a fortnight ago.....I had Swift, Sundance and Incredible... but had certain problems with X-pollination. I have heard that youi shouldn't mix varieties but I thought it wouldn't be too much prob as all supersweets...found that some had harder kernels in amongst them.

You can still tidy up the patch and provide homes for ladybrds....just cut the stems into 2' lengths and leave a stack for their accommodation.

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**realfood** · 28-09-2010, 09:32 PM

Paulottie, you are actually growing three completely different types of sweetcorn, which is why you had the problems with cross-pollination. Sundance is a standard type (Su), Incredible is a sugary extender type (se), while Swift is a tendersweet type. See this page :- List of sweetcorn varieties - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The trouble is that the seed catalogs do not give enough information on the type of the sweetcorn, so that people can avoid the problem.
Can you remember which varieties were affected with harder kernels?
I am even further North in Glasgow, but have had a very good crop. The method and timings that I used are described here :-http://www.growyourown.info/page129.html

I took part in a "Which" trial of Mirai sweetcorn this year, and I would rate them the tenderest and sweetest that I have ever grown.

**haza1981** · 30-09-2010, 10:47 PM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

Haza's on the same allotment site as I am.
I reckon you've got until the first frosts which are iminent in these parts!

My sweetcorn is almost finished and even cobs that look ok are quite tasteless compared to corn harvested 2 weeks ago!

You and I both need to sow earlier next year Haza!

Yeah I remember we both planted them a bit late this year. Oh well still good

**haza1981** · 30-09-2010, 10:48 PM

Originally posted by Paulottie View Post

Its considerably more difficult to ripen sweetcorn on the Tyne than in Kent...I am told that you get better results in Northern counties with OP rather than the supersweets.

I grew about 220 plants in an electric fenced enclosure. Four sowings... Chitted in the airing cupboard then into 3" pots.(MUCH more successful that loo roll innerds) to spread the harvest....Finished the last a fortnight ago.....I had Swift, Sundance and Incredible... but had certain problems with X-pollination. I have heard that youi shouldn't mix varieties but I thought it wouldn't be too much prob as all supersweets...found that some had harder kernels in amongst them.

You can still tidy up the patch and provide homes for ladybrds....just cut the stems into 2' lengths and leave a stack for their accommodation.

Wow Thats alot of corn

**Paulottie** · 03-10-2010, 12:27 AM

Originally posted by haza1981 View Post

Wow Thats alot of corn

There were three of us involved ...one fella owned the fence pulsar and powersocket, another did the digging etc and I provided the fenceposts, mypex, seephose and I raised the seedlings...amazing we gave away 40 or 50, then a couple of parties....but we have no trouble getting through 500 cobs at all!

Originally posted by realfood View Post

Paulottie, you are actually growing three completely different types of sweetcorn, which is why you had the problems with cross-pollination. Sundance is a standard type (Su), Incredible is a sugary extender type (se), while Swift is a tendersweet type. See this page :- List of sweetcorn varieties - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The trouble is that the seed catalogs do not give enough information on the type of the sweetcorn, so that people can avoid the problem.
Can you remember which varieties were affected with harder kernels?
I am even further North in Glasgow, but have had a very good crop. The method and timings that I used are described here :-http://www.growyourown.info/page129.html

I took part in a "Which" trial of Mirai sweetcorn this year, and I would rate them the tenderest and sweetest that I have ever grown.

Thanks for this info realfood....It was mainly the Sundance that were affected...I was originally only growing that but one of the other chaps got some seed from a different source and having lost some to mouse attacks I thought.

...nevermind still a good harvest but I've learnt my lesson.

Was just discussing Mirai today...T&M selling a white one(not sure I fancy that...just looks wrong)...or a bicolour Mirai?...you can recommend I go with this next year then?

**chris** · 03-10-2010, 07:13 AM

Paul, I thought sweetcorn didn't look root disturbance, hence the reason for loorolls? What was the reason for the leccy fence? Four legged pests?

My sweetcorn did really well this year - despite me planting them 7.5 inches apart. A couple of the lower cobs didn't get fully pollinated to the tips, which I guess is why they need to be planted further apart!

So next year I'll plant further apart, but was trying to squeeze a pack into a bed

I grew 'Early Xtra Sweet F1' - which really was sweet.

**realfood** · 03-10-2010, 09:45 PM

I gave Mirai the thumbs up in my report to Which. It was the white one that I grew but they do other colours.
Did the Swift get cross-contamination? One of the catalogs claims not, but I think that it does get cross-contamination.

**Paulottie** · 03-10-2010, 11:57 PM

Originally posted by realfood View Post

I gave Mirai the thumbs up in my report to Which. It was the white one that I grew but they do other colours.
Did the Swift get cross-contamination? One of the catalogs claims not, but I think that it does get cross-contamination.

Swift were away quite quick(as name suggests) they were the first ready and not really affected.....but they were definitely the culprit ..and sundance susceptible....the later incredible at t'other end not too bad either.

Originally posted by chrismarks View Post

Paul, I thought sweetcorn didn't look root disturbance, hence the reason for loorolls? What was the reason for the leccy fence? Four legged pests?

A couple of the lower cobs didn't get fully pollinated to the tips, which I guess is why they need to be planted further apart!

Although I was careful not to overwater the loo rolls ..I still find the compost goes sour and the same plants in 3" pots grow 2ce as well. because I chitted the seed I wasted very little compost or washed pots on failures(the downside of germinating individually in 3" pots)....Don't find any root disturbance with 3" pots as I use a bulb planter to make pot sized hole

We have epidemic populations of badgers round here

...(just another legacy of the last gov't) they arrive the night any corn is ready and flatten it ...even taking home what they can't eat....they have also eaten my strawberry crop the last two years.

The lower cobs sometimes don't get pollinated to the tips as well even at bigger spacings...it just easier to cultivate/harvest....if your short of space and have a high fertile loam then just 'cram it in' I say!....often it is a good idea a to give your corn a little 'tickle' as you go past to keep that pollen floating about.

**Two_Sheds** · 04-10-2010, 06:59 AM

Originally posted by Paulottie View Post

underipe is much more palatable than overripe.

Yep. I just found four cobs that had been hiding under their foliage and took them home: however really tough. The parrot enjoyed ripping them up though (she's my shredder. Perhaps she'd do sprout stalks too?)

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