Forum home Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Sweetcorn

Is this normal, or have I done something very wrong?

image

 

«1

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,139

    That's the male flower - it will soon develop pollen.  Further down on the stem the beginnings of a cob or two will form and you'll see silky tassels emerging from the top of the cob. They are the female flower.  

    When the breeze blows  the pollen from the male flowers will fall onto the tassels of the female flowers -  this will fertilize the female flowers and produce your lovely juicy cob.  When the silky tassels have turned dark brown (looking a bit like loose tobacco) your corn on the cob is ready to eat image

    By the way, they need plenty of water at this stage - keep the soil nice and moist. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FavourFavour Posts: 25

    Thanks very much. Appreciated.

  • busybee7busybee7 Posts: 14

    i am a first time corn grower , i thought mine had gone wrong as well.now i know better............

    image

     

  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • FruitcakeFruitcake Posts: 810
    Thank you for posting, especially with the pic, I have the same on mine too mad thought I'd done something wrong image
  • busybee7busybee7 Posts: 14

     

    let nature do her work,no need to interveen.............

     

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Just an interesting fact for you:  Every single kernel on each cob sends its own tassel up to the top of the cob which is why there are so many.  A grain of pollen must fall onto each tassel otherwise the individual kernel connected to that tassel will not develop and is why you sometimes see this:

    http://www.honeybeesuite.com/what-is-incomplete-pollination/corn-incomplete/

    Nature is amazing and it's sometimes not obvious why things like this evolve the way they have! image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • artjakartjak Posts: 4,167

    That is quite amazing Bobimage

  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    Thanks Bob, we live and learn image

    Hi, John, you aren't doing anything wrong,  your sweet corn is way ahead of mine. I tried a mini pop variety this year on account it would mature earlier... I don't think so, it's about 3ft-4ft high with no sign of flowers yet.  

  • FruitcakeFruitcake Posts: 810
    I took the net frame away from my sweetcorn this evening as the flower was starting to bend against the top of the net image



    I have tassels image
Sign In or Register to comment.