Not so Sweet Corn

The old adage of never count you chickens before they have hatched strikes again!

After growing sweetcorn for the 1st time this year we harvested some yesterday with brown tassels but kernels were only part formed up to about halfway up the cob!

Cue disappointed gardener (and kids) who were looking forward to freshly harvested, home grown sweet corn for tea. Any ideas please as to possible cause? The kernels that were formed were full size albeit a little pale. Hoping to avoid the same problem next year with a bit of timely advice!

Many thanks

 

A couple of questions.
Did you plant them in blocks or in rows?
What variety were they?

 

Mistake 1 - Rows not blocks! Once I realised I did try a bit of manual pollination to 'help' them on their way.

Mistake 2 - May have been inconsistent with watering. No running water on the paddock and rely on water butts. When we went on hols friend looked after plants but may have gone 10 days without much more than a wash over.

Not sure of variety - will post that up later. They grew really well, just the disappointment when harvesting! We still have some more left so have left them a bit longer to see if they are a bit more successful. Chickens will be happy though!!

 

My crop was mostly the same Mr Morgan, not formed properly, white kernels. Now mine where grown in a block, watered and fed regularly.

I put my failure down to the overall lack of sunshine we have had in the North this season.

Steve...

 

Left mine too long, simliar problem with only half the kernels. Sweetcorn needs the sun, its a c4 plant that can use it right throughout the day. It just hasn't had that advantage this year.

 

Mine were about 50 50, half ok, the other half look like they grew next to chernobyl , but we still eat them:D

Plant Potty

 

Thanks Peeps,

At least I know I'm not alone on this one!! Will throw them in the pan anyway and see what they come out like, if the kids don't eat them the chickens will!! Decided to start a new veggie patch next year, Mark 2 will be bigger and better and chosen a spot which gets more hours of sun!!

MrM

 

Just to annoy you all, my sweet corn have been mostly quite good this year.
I grow a variety called Sweet Nugget, I've raved about them on here before and they rarely let me down.
Not really sure why mine have succeeded when others have had poor results this year, although I can offer the following if it's any help.
Staggered sowings. There are normally about 50 seeds in a packet, I don't want 50 sweet corn plants all producing at the same time, so I do three separate sowings in small pots in the greenhouse, about 3 weeks apart. My first sowing this year was on 24th April, with the second lot three weeks later and the final batch being sown on 5th June.
Having a six week gap between the first and last sowings means that at least some of the plants are likely to get favourable weather at the right time whatever kind of summer we have.
This year, the first two sowings have produced really well, while the third lot have been indifferent, but I've been picking from early August until now, with a few more to come so I'm more than happy with that.
Companion Planting. Since reading a few years ago that sweet corn and squashes grow quite happily together, I've tried this and found it to be true.
I plant butternut squash and small pumpkins in amongst the sweet corn and the two always seem to co-exist quite happily. Whether this has any beneficial effects on sweet corn pollination I don't know, but it works for me.

(Although I have to report the butternut squash have been a miserable failure this year, six plants have produced not one single fruit between them).

 

Don't think i've got any Nutterbutt Squashes either, though I can't get to the plant for Giant Pumpkins yet.

Will leave the rest of the Sweetcorn to dry on the plant & then try making popcorn with it. Which probably wont work