My Corn

fryup

My corn has remained stagnant in growth over the past week or so, doesn't seem to be making any progress.

This is my first time growing it, its a supersweet F1-sundance variety I planted it back in the beginning of may, I suppose the weather isn't warm enough should I hold out for another week or so?? i've already given it plenty of feed.

dardevle

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mine is at about the same stage as yours right now... 3 months would be the growing time required with optimum climactic conditions, but since we don't get near enough heat and sunlight, it is usually a lot longer on the stalk before its harvestable,....you can do a milk test on the kernels to see if it has reached maturity...squeeze a kernel between your fingernails and if the fluid runs clear then it is still not ready, if the kernels are plump and the juice milky then they are ready for eating.:)



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Corsendonk

Thats as good as it gets. I stopped growing it because the yield is so low for the size of the plant. Best crop I ever got was when the glass house flooded in heavy rain and I had to dig a couple of deep trenches between the sweetcorn rows.

TheFatMan

I'm giving up on sweetcorn, tried loads of varieites and only in very warm and dry summers are you guranteed a decent crop. Best option is to grow in a tunnel or greenhouse.
What has generally happened with mine is that we run out of summer in September and the corn looks like a spotty teenager. Not all the kernals swell and ripen. 4 years ago was the only year it was worth the effort.

fryup

had three or four ripened cobs this week:) tasted lovely

If i was to cut off the tops of the plants where the seeds are, would that help boost the growth of the remaining cobs?? as there would be more nutrients going into them?

philstar

there would be no benefit, in cutting off the tops of the plants

fryup

well it hasn't been a total failure, here's one i got this morning

crunchy n'delicious

CJhaughey

Corn need plenty of light the more the better, I am not sure of your circumstances but yours looks awfully close to a hedge or something?
Try and grow it in a fully sunlit spot with lots of nitrogen, its a grass so responds well to heavy nitrogen loads.
I didn't grow any this year but last year I grew the colourful varieties.
They were good but not worth the effort compared with the sweet varieties,
Once the tassels turn brown and dry the corn is ready to go.
Harvest before the rats get to it. I usually boil the water and then go and pick the corn to put into it as the sugar content drops once the corn has been picked.

fryup

CJhaughey wrote: »

its a grass so responds well to heavy nitrogen loads.

its a grass

CJhaughey wrote: »

Harvest before the rats get to it.

rats :eek: oh no

CJhaughey

Yup. Corn is a type of grass, just like wheat and barley etc.
and yep I had a problem with rats one year climbing the stalks and eating the corn, right before harvest as well.
What aspect does that site have? as the sun gets lower the corn may not get full sunlight and may be shaded and consequently will just stagnate as you have found.

Tora Bora

[QUOTE=

rats :eek: oh no[/QUOTE]

Rats love corn :cool: