Sweetcorn, what happened?

[Tretinker]

Hi all,

It seems I am posting in every forum today!

I am aiming to grow as much of our produce as possible. I would love to can and dehydrate etc but this is not popular and so very expensive to get started in the UK. So we will try eating seasonally and freezing what we can for winter.

That is all in the future. This year was about growing a few things, having a practice, seeing what works and what goes wrong.

We've had some success. Namely cucumbers, courgettes and Tomatoes. We managed 4 broccoli despite the caterpillars and butterflies. 1 cauliflower, potatoes were ok. Green beans would have been better had the chickens not trashed them. Lettuce I've struggled with! Brussels sprouts we are still waiting on, along with sweet potatoes and peppers. Chilli's were ok.

To my question, what on earth happened to my sweetcorn it was really juicy! Have we picked it too soon or has half not pollinated maybe?

 

[sourland]

Looks like incomplete pollination to me.

 

[GravityWaves]

Yes, I'd say that's incomplete pollination. One thing I see all the time when I'm driving around are gardens that have one or two looong rows of sweet corn. I always think "there's no way all that has nice, full ears of corn." Barring severe weather right around tasseling time, I've always had a very high % of my sweet corn be fully developed with nice sized kernels. The key for me is to plant in blocks, not long rows, and be mindful of your prevailing winds. If you plant a "block" of corn next year, make the slightly longer area face in the direction of your prevailing winds so any pollen that falls will have a much higher chance of landing on that silk and forming a full kernel as opposed to longer, skinnier rows. Some folks will even bag the tassels to gather pollen and then hand-pollinate if they're not having much luck.

If you're gonna try growing a larger variety of vegetables and such, I'd recommend looking into "companion planting." Most vegetables have a couple other kinds of plants that grow well in the same vicinity and will actually ward off pests and such.
Also, if you're saving any seeds you'll want to make sure that certain plants in the same family are not right next to each other. For example, hot and sweet peppers can hybridize and give you slightly different offspring the next year.

I realize you might not have a large amount of space in your garden so theseare just suggestions. Whatever you grow next year, I wish you the best of luck.

 

[raingarden]

Look up the Three Sisters: corn, beans and squash.

 

[Tretinker]

Thank you all. I thought this might be the case as I did the companion planting but it didn't work for me, my squash only produced male flowers, my green beans were assassinated by black beetles. The corn was the only survivor but I didn't realise until too late how the pollination worked.

One more question is why did the centre corns grow so tall and the outer ones so small? Some haven't produced an ear of corn at all.

As this was a test it's been interesting to see the outcome here. I think I will use the whole bed for corn. I might add in the beans or the squash but not both next time and see what happens.

 

[Acre4Me]

Good luck to you in your garden next year!

Maybe there is a class offered for free or low cost through an organization there. This is common here. Also, in the US, every state has a department of Agriculture, and every county in each state has an agricultural extension office - these are people there to help with questions, etc. they can often help you when dealing with local pest issues, or other local ag issues.

For green beans, I end up having to spray a pesticide (Sevin) when they first emerge bc some bug eats the young leaves, leaving them to die bc they have no leaves. Then might have to spray again before they produce beans if the flea beetles or baby grasshoppers are bad. But, once they are full grown, I don’t spray them.

For squash, know they are HEAVY feeders. Compost is helpful here and a balanced fertilizer, along with watering if dry.

One way to help your soil is to plant a “green manure” crop. This is something that is planted, then turned under to rot before it produces seed. Winter peas are good here- shallow roots. We once used a particular grass for this (often unused as a cover crop), but won’t use a grass again bc the root system made it really tough to turn over….so maybe we let it grow for too long.

 

[Tretinker]

Good luck to you in your garden next year!

Maybe there is a class offered for free or low cost through an organization there. This is common here. Also, in the US, every state has a department of Agriculture, and every county in each state has an agricultural extension office - these are people there to help with questions, etc. they can often help you when dealing with local pest issues, or other local ag issues.

For green beans, I end up having to spray a pesticide (Sevin) when they first emerge bc some bug eats the young leaves, leaving them to die bc they have no leaves. Then might have to spray again before they produce beans if the flea beetles or baby grasshoppers are bad. But, once they are full grown, I don’t spray them.

For squash, know they are HEAVY feeders. Compost is helpful here and a balanced fertilizer, along with watering if dry.

One way to help your soil is to plant a “green manure” crop. This is something that is planted, then turned under to rot before it produces seed. Winter peas are good here- shallow roots. We once used a particular grass for this (often unused as a cover crop), but won’t use a grass again bc the root system made it really tough to turn over….so maybe we let it grow for too long.

I'm trying to avoid the pesticides and so I did a washing up liquid spray which I think aided the demise of the green beans. It was a lemon and aloe soap

The lack of nutrients could be the reason for the squash failure I fed but probably not enough if their hungry plants. I'm struggling with pumpkin, I've had tons of male flowers but the small start of a pumpkin keeps falling off! I've lost 4 and about to lose 5th by the looks of it. I thought blossom end rot so I've upped the calcium and general feed but no joy.

 

[Tretinker]

I forgot to add I was going to plant broad beans in all the beds as a cover crop, do you think this would be ok?

 

[Chicken poppy]

Looks like incomplete pollination to me.

Exactly. I’ve had it happen to many of my corns.

 

[Acre4Me]

I'm trying to avoid the pesticides and so I did a washing up liquid spray which I think aided the demise of the green beans. It was a lemon and aloe soap

The lack of nutrients could be the reason for the squash failure I fed but probably not enough if their hungry plants. I'm struggling with pumpkin, I've had tons of male flowers but the small start of a pumpkin keeps falling off! I've lost 4 and about to lose 5th by the looks of it. I thought blossom end rot so I've upped the calcium and general feed but no joy.

Yes, I try to avoid pesticides too. But, no bees harmed when the plants are little, and no beans present yet. Plus, I’m not gardening to feed the pests! But, I try to walk the fine line of treating things only if bad infestation or to protect the new sprouts, yet not harm the beneficial insects. We have a healthy population of praying mantis, parasitic wasps, spiders and ladybugs, plus some bees.

Beans are just fine as a cover crop