growing sweetcorn

[biglongdarren]

i have never grew sweetcorn,but am gonna try this year,i have some honeydew sweetcorn seeds that i got off marshalls...is it hard to grow?do they like dungy ground or whats the story with them?...
all this info is much appreciated thanks.
Darren

 

[Cazza]

Hi BLD
Sweetcorn is prettu easy to grow.
I start mine off in trays in early April and then plant out in blocks when they are about 4-6 ins tall. Very easy to germinate.
They need sun.
My soil is light and sandy so i add muck and they always do very well.
I also grow mini sweetcorn under the same regime. again, it's a doddle.
Cazza

 

[drstitson]

just don't let deer get at them!

 

[For want of a better word]

just don't let deer get at them!

mine usually end up in the rabbit!

tried all kinds.. get big corn but only edible by rabbit!
Tried a mini sweet F1 hybrid last year... perhaps the allotment near Wembury is not suitable... can not grow brassicas there either!

 

[Skyhook]

Hi BLD
Sweetcorn is prettu easy to grow.
I start mine off in trays in early April and then plant out in blocks ...
Cazza

ie plant eg 5 plants by 5, not in a row, otherwise they don't wind pollinate properly.

 

[psafloyd]

First of all, make sure you plant them in drifts, not rows, or else they won't pollinate properly.

No problem growing them, but if you suffer from birds or rodents attacking htem, you can use cut off plastic bottles to protect the seed heads.

 

[picton farm]

I start mine in plug trays and plant out when they are really quite big. use the same method as leeks making a deep hole filled with water and dropping them in much deeper than you think necessary as they tend to catch the wind here. Plant as they all suggested in drifts or blocks but dony be too OCD about them or you find they dont pollonate well. We cant plant them antmore because we have chicken and therefore the rats visit us and sweetcorn makes their blood thicken up so the poison doesnt work

 

[Cazza]

We cant plant them anymore because we have chicken and therefore the rats visit us and sweetcorn makes their blood thicken up so the poison doesnt work

Well, you learn something new every day!

I have loads of rats but they don't eat the sweetcorn. Do they climb up the plants or do you feed it to the chickens?

Cazza

 

[picton farm]

rats

They climb up the plants. We used to eat the sweetcorn ourselves but the rats liked it sio much it kind of put us off eating it as well as keeping the rats alive when we were dolling out poison to them. We didnt realise that was what was going on until we called a pest control company for advice and the first thing they said when I said our bait wasnt working was....'are you growing sweetcorn?'..... I thought at the time he wanted part payment in sweetcorn, or perhaps some growing advice but he explained about the blood thing. Rat poison thins their blood so they die apparently but sweetcorn has vitamin k in it and so it thickens it back up again.

 

[Cazza]

They climb up the plants. We used to eat the sweetcorn ourselves but the rats liked it sio much it kind of put us off eating it as well as keeping the rats alive when we were dolling out poison to them. We didnt realise that was what was going on until we called a pest control company for advice and the first thing they said when I said our bait wasnt working was....'are you growing sweetcorn?'..... I thought at the time he wanted part payment in sweetcorn, or perhaps some growing advice but he explained about the blood thing. Rat poison thins their blood so they die apparently but sweetcorn has vitamin k in it and so it thickens it back up again.

EW!
That's gross but interesting. I wouldn't fancy the corn either then. What about minisweetcorn?
C

 

[Hombre]

I realised that vitamin K was an antidote for accidental Warfarin ingestion, it says so on the containers, but never gave a thought about what is rich in vitamin K.

As Cazza says, you learn something new every day. Self medicating rats, what next?

 

[grahambee]

Very easy to germinate but do not over water

foxs will all so eat Sweetcorn

 

[freethorpe bees]

If you grow the mini corn type don't plant them in blocks, plant in a straight line. You need to pick them before they are pollinated or they go tough.

 

[Ervyne]

I realised that vitamin K was an antidote for accidental Warfarin ingestion, it says so on the containers, but never gave a thought about what is rich in vitamin K.

As Cazza says, you learn something new every day. Self medicating rats, what next?

You need pretty hight doses to stop the effects of warfarin and the 1st and 2nd generation rat baits. We have to buy vitamin K capsules in from abroad now to treat any dogs that eat bait, as Vit K tabs are no longer made in the UK