Growing Sweet Corn
The flavour of fresh, home grown sweet corn is amazing. Once the cobs are picked from the plants the sugar within them begins to turn to starch, that is why fresh sweet corn cooked and eaten within an hour of picking tastes so much better than shop bought corn.
There are still a lot of people who think that sweet corn can only be grown in semi-tropical climates and these people are so wrong. With new and improved varieties it is so much easier to grow this type of crop in colder climates. A variety such as Conquest will grow well in the UK climate.
Soil Preparation
Sweet corn plants are big plants and need plenty of water so soil with enough humus is essential. Good drainage is also a must as sweet corn plants don’t like growing in a boggy area.
The soil should be well dug in autumn incorporating compost while digging thoroughly. It is however important that the soil is deep and fertile.
Sowing and Planting
Sweet corn must be planted in rectangular blocks, the problem with planting them in rows is that the plants will not pollinate each other. Effective wind pollination is essential if you are growing sweet corn.
Outdoor sowings are not as reliable as sweetcorn sown in pots in greenhouses, on the window sill or under a cloche in late April. Sow each seed in 3 inch round peat pots filled with multi-purpose compost. Harden off before planting outdoors.
When transplanting them outdoors you should plant them in blocks with each plant being 18 inches away from the next.
Looking After the Plants
Sweet corn plants don’t really need much special care. Watering when dry will be required, keeping the soil weed free is also important but you should be careful not to disturb the roots.
When the tassels at the top of the stems are fully developed you may wish to tap them to encourage them to pollinate each other.
Harvesting
A lot of gardeners who are new to growing sweet corn are worried about when to pick the corn and pick them too early. You can test the ripeness of a sweet corn cob by pulling back the sheath once the tassels have turned chocolate brown and squeezing a corn kernel. If the liquid that comes out is creamy the sweet corn is ready to harvest.
Minipop Sweet Corn
Minipop sweet corn is harvested as soon as the tassels show, before the sweet corn is pollinated. As Minipop does not need pollinating it can be planted in rows rather than the traditional blocks.
This wads very helpful. My first time growing sweet corn and didn’t know what to expect from them
Thanks
Good information, well presented.
Thank you.
I’ve just been out and “tapped” my soldiers (a nickname given by my wife for the three ranks arrangement of the corn). The one in the “righthand-marker” position is about 5′ 10″ tall and leads the way (I call him “The Sarn’t Major) he leads the lefthand rank of three, which are known collectively as “The Guardsmen” and were planted out first. The second rank of three contain the Sappers and REME and were planted out about a month later.
I know; I sound crazy…
In 54 years this is the very first time I’ve tried to grow anything.
Absolutly astonished that from one little dried out seed a plant has grown to nearly 6 feet!!
Websites like yours, help idiots like me to take an interest.
Cheers and very best regards
Jack
We planted out 15 sweet corn plants that we’d grown from seeds in late spring – for a while nothing happened and then suddenly they shot up like Roman Candles. The tallest inc. tassels is about 6ft high the shortest a little over 3ft – of the 15 plants 9 have started to produce cobs but three of them are producing double cobs. A couple of them are just showing signs of browning silks now – so we will keep an eye on them over the next few days and perform the test suggested. So thanks for that tip.
Best laugh though – they’re growing in just FOUR INCHES of soil! (that patch of ground was originally intended for lettuce)
RE: sweetcorn
Hi there, can someone advise me what you do with the plants when you have harvested? Is it just a case of dig up and compost or can any part be dug in?
Thnak you.
Can anyone tellme why my corn kernals are small and hard. The tassels are brown and the cobs are large, but the kernals are small and hard.
i have the same thing, i thhought i hadd planted mini sweetcorn, but at 8 feet they could hardly be called mini. the cobs are large, and 2 to 3per plant, but the kernels although yellow are rock hard. even tried cooking them but to no avail, even the chickens arnt eating them. these were planted in raised beds, the normal size sweetcorn that i planted in the ground are great
please can someone help me, im growing corn, but the cobs are looking like seeds , and falling apart, any ideas as to why?
heather, i suspect you are looking at the seeds, the cobs will form further down the plant, underneath the tassles
Hello and thank you all for the info here i currently live in Spain and have a little land mostley with olive trees but i have just over an acre that i want to dedicate to my donkey. i.e plant food stuffs for him for the winter, i have just bought some sweetcorn seeds perhaps expensive 7 pound U.K for 1killo and i am afraid a little because they are pink and not yellow.
The info i find here has helped me a lot so far i just cross my fingers now to get a crop for me my wife and donkey.
THANK YOU AGAIN MARTINDELTROTA …………
Martin
I have also bought some pink sweetcorn seeds. Mine were that colour because they had been treated with something to discourage the birds and small mammals from stealing them all. They grew much better than the yellow untreated seedsm nad produced more cobs.
hi
Its my first time growing sweetcorn and i must admit i was at a loss on what to expect from my sweetcorn, however you have made my day looking at all the comments and instructions thankyou to you all
trisha.
omg this is soooo good