I know you need to plant sweetcorn in a block to help pollination, is it OK to have 2 different varieties next to eachother though?
I tried swetcorn for the first time last year, and even though they grew OK I wasn't sure when to harvest so I think I missed out on ripe cobs. The minipop cobs are meant to be small just wasn't sure how small!
I've got a big variety to plant too this year (see if it's any easier!)
ahh, good point. So, as long as I have a blco of both it won't matter if they ar next to eachother I guess.
I grew them in a horrible bit of clay garden nothing really takes to last year, so this year I've put aside a corner of the lovely fertile allotment so hopefully, fingers crossed I will be drowned in lovely sweetcorn!
Thats certainly what happened with the broccoli- the garden stuff was tiny, and the same batch of plants we raised went to the lottie and have fed the five thousand and some!
I have read that sweetcorn varieties easily cross-pollinate (as they are wind pollinated) and this is produces a useless crop. I also seem to remember that 8 metres was the recommended distance in between blocks, though I´d check that as it doesn´t seem very far.
Personally, until I manage to grow sweetcorn at all (3rd time trying this year) I shall not be making life more complicated and will stick to just one variety.
baby-loving, earth-digging, bread-baking, jam-making, off-grid, off-road 21st century domestic goddess....
I grew 3 varieties last year - the small chinese ones, normal & the red indian type. I grew them in blocks but they werent very far apart. I did find that the small type werent very small at all (I was expecting the tiny ones u get in chinese food) they were about half the size of normal cobs and very tough. Dont know if that was cos of cross-pollination. Am looking forward to see what the saved kernels are going to produce this year - should be interesting!
It's funny you should say that- the minipop I expected to be the tiny ones you get for stir fries, but they grew bigger. I kept guessing at what stage I should pick them and ate loads underripe and overripe (pretty hard!).
They weren't near any others last year, in the back garden surrounded by fence and other peoples ornamental gardens.
Mareowner you are right. If the varieties cross pollinate it will not affect the product of each variety only the offspring grown from the cross.
Think of apples - we all cross polinate apples - it gives a better crop, but we get coxs from coxs and worcesters from worcesters no matter what apple variety pollinates them. Only the 'germ' is crossed not the fruiting body so a cross affects the offspring not the parent.
It happens with humans too. It doesnt matter who we mate with; mother and father remain the same and if fertilisation occurs only the offspring is different!
I did find that the small type werent very small at all (I was expecting the tiny ones u get in chinese food) they were about half the size of normal cobs and very tough.
At what stage did you harvest them?
Technically, any corn could be used for those mini stir-fry cobs. The key is to harvest as soon as the silks apear.
I tried corn for the first time last year... We did the baby corn only and couldn't understand why they were so big and tough when we harvested them. I have just read the above message sayingyou should harvest them as soon as the silks apear and NOT when they turn brown. I will try again this year and hopefully have more success. THankyou for yet another nugget of useful information!! I don't know how I managed before joining?!!
