Sweetcorn

[Alison]

Probably a stupid question, apart from planting on blocks, is there anything you can do to improve the chances of fertilization seeing as it seems a bit of a risky business in small scale growing situations like mine and obvioulsy I want to maximise my success!

[Flummery]

Tap the stems regularly when the top bit is open and the tassles are showing on the side-shoots (Cobs to be) as this helps the pollen disperse. It's a fine powder. Just give them a tap with your hand or a knock with a stick each time you pass.

[scarey55]

Thanks Flummery,
That is great advice - I didn't know much about growing sweetcorn when I started but I am learning fast, none of mine are completely fertilised this year - hoping for great things next year though thanks to all the advice from you and others.

[Alice]

We all seem to being doing quite well with the corn. This is the first year I've tried it and was a bit pessimistic as I'm quite far north and the weather has been poor but I've got the flower things on the top and the cobs and tassles appearing at the axles so I'm hopeful I'm going to get something. Hope everybody gets some kind of a crop.

[Alison]

My corn is looking OK but it's was supposed to be part of the 3 sisters arrangement. Seems they had a fall out, the slugs / birds decimated the beans I put it at the bases and the squashes don't seem to have done much. Basically the sisters are somewhat disfunctional!

[JennieAtkinson]

Interesting reading everyone's experience. My large corn are doing great. I have nine plants and two cobs on each plant. I've had to pollinate myself as they are in the tunnel, but I just give them a little shake now and then. Cover your face with a scarf as it can really get up your nose! I've now got some side shoots coming out of four of the plants with a further male tassel growing, so not sure whether I'm going to get some more.

The minimop however are about 9 feet high and pushing up the plastic sides of the tunnel! No sign of any corns yet though. I planted both at the same time, and treated them both the same (soil, compost, watering, etc.) so wonder if I have done something wrong or they just need a little time yet.

[Alison]

Tap the stems regularly when the top bit is open and the tassles are showing on the side-shoots (Cobs to be) as this helps the pollen disperse. It's a fine powder. Just give them a tap with your hand or a knock with a stick each time you pass.

Have instructed OH to give them a tap when he walks past seeing as I'm growing them for him!

[Farmer_Gyles]

i checked one corn on the biggest plant and the corn is still white and the liquid is clear, so i've covered it up again for now - but it looked good inside!

when we pick it, we just peel off the leaves and cut it?
can i freeze it for later use? if so, do i boil it for a few minutes first? or just chuck it in the freezer?

[Farmer_Gyles]

add to last - my mother reckons i can just freeze sweetcorn straight from the plant and not to boil it unless eating straight away ...... is she right?

[Alison]

Never grown it before and therefore never needed to store it! However, according to the Basic Basics Jams, Preserves and Chutneys Handbook by Marguerite Patten, they work better bottled than frozen. In my oppinion, bottling is a bit of a fag so would certainly try freezing as I don't agree with everything in her book eg they stress that you should ALWAYS blanche veg and as discsused on other threads, most of us don't and don't have any problems.

[pigletwillie]

We just remove the leaves to leave the cob and freeze them in freezer bags. We ate some of last years crop only yesterday and they still taste wonderful. We blanche very little either and have no problems with stuff coming out of the freezer.

[Alison]

Thanks Piglet, always useful to have some actual experience for advice.

When you say that you blanche very little, does that mean you do somethings and if so, what and why?

[Farmer_Gyles]

thanks alison / piglet - the less blanching i have to do, the happier i'll be!

[JennieAtkinson]

I have to admit to never blanching anything! I just put all beans (french and runner) and peas straight into the freezer. I didn't have enough sweetcorn to store last year, but might have to this year, but thought I would pick them and get them straight into the freezer.

[Daddy Pig]

I tried the 3 sisters thing for the first time this year...the squashes have gone bananas (if you know what I mean) , but the beans were decimated by the ballooning mollusc population before they got established (I've had no luck with beans of any shade this year), and the sweetcorn struggled to break out amongst the squash leaves. So it's a lopsided set of siblings I have ended up with.
That said, my other sweetcorn, planted 'conventionally' has been a dud too...small plants with no sign of any cobs as yet, and now 'the nights are drawing in' so fat chance of a late spurt methinks. Others on the site have 'proper' sized sweetcorn plants, so I am not sure what I did wrong. I planted F1 Jubilee, and grew them on in the greenhouse before planting out when they were 6" or so tall back in May/June.