Hi, we have grown 12 sweetcorn plants, all of which have grown brilliantly, but after they are ready for picking the cobs are small and hard after cooking, any ideas ??
Were they ripe? To check the hairy bits on the top have to turn brown and open up the cob a little and put your mail in and see if a milky stuff comes out then it is ready to pick and cook right away
My sweetcorn also are small this year especially towards the top (like little pale beads). I think it was shortage of water earlier in the year whilst I was away. Last year they were very good. If your sweetcorn are hard after cooking Pam, it sounds as though they were not ready when you picked them
Not all the kernels have been pollinated, so that's part of the problem. And I think that maybe they've been left on the plant too long and they're over ripe
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Poor pollination. Plants need to be in a block, not a line, to give the best chance of wind pollination, the bigger the block, the better. Even with my block of 9 x 7, the ones on the edge do not get pollinated as well. The best cobs come from the middle of the block.
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The hairy bits have turned brown, but the sweetcorn centre is hard and sweetcorn are small and the ends not ripened at all
Pam, can you post a photo please ....... perhaps we'll find a clue
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My sweetcorn also are small this year especially towards the top (like little pale beads). I think it was shortage of water earlier in the year whilst I was away. Last year they were very good. If your sweetcorn are hard after cooking Pam, it sounds as though they were not ready when you picked them
ok, thanks for your replies
Dunno 'bout the corn, but that's a nifty pastry board. I want one!
Not all the kernels have been pollinated, so that's part of the problem. And I think that maybe they've been left on the plant too long and they're over ripe
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Poor pollination. Plants need to be in a block, not a line, to give the best chance of wind pollination, the bigger the block, the better. Even with my block of 9 x 7, the ones on the edge do not get pollinated as well. The best cobs come from the middle of the block.
Harts of Stur do a very similar one http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Pastry-Board-Work-Surface-Protector-CTL212.html?gclid=CJukqtzagckCFcFAGwod3qoFWg
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.