sweetcorn - in pots???

Megansmum

Hi,

Can i grow individual sweetcorn plants in pots as long as they are kept near each other for pollination:question:

I would like to do them on the patio this year as the ones i did at the lottie last year didn't grow very big and were eaten by birds before i got to harvest any!:mad:

If i can, how big would the pots need to be and would i need to add feed at any point?

Thanks

Farway

I suspect you would be struggling to grow in pots, they would be top heavy for a start & likely to blow over in wind

However I stand to be corrected by any one who has done it

Megansmum

could i put a bamboo cane in the pot to attach the sweetcorn plant to and keep it upright, or just plant the sweetcorn quite deep into the pot?

valk_scot

I think Farway is right...the whole pot would just blow over. They don't need canes btw. Sweetcorn stalks are very strong. There are dwarf varieties but their yiield is a lot smaller...usually just one cob instead of the more normal two.

I think the only way this would work is if you had a very large container, like a half barrel, and grew say three sweetcorn per half barrel. Bear in mind though that to ensure decent polination you'll need at least the recommended 9-12 plants. They also need a lot of water and it's hard to keep pots fully watered.

On my allotment I grow a special short season variety (Sweet Nugget I think, from the Kings seed catalogue) which is good for our nothern latitudes. I start the young plants off in the propagator, harden them off then plant out in May through holes in weed suppressing membrane. I don't feed them while growing but the bed will have been well prepared with bin compost and some pelleted chicken manure. I do water them well in dry spells....in fact, they are one of the few crops I bother to water and which has a leaky hose irrigation sysytem on the bed. Water and sun are the two keys to decent sweetcorn crops I find.

As to birds, I put a ring of tall canes round the bed and attach old CD discs and carrier bag wind crackers to strings on the canes. Never have much problem with the birds.

Wookey

I've read someplace that corn roots can go very deep, guess you would need a deep bucket or barrel as suggested above:)

Linda32

Megansmum,

IMO I really don't think it would be worth it, to be honest.

I think you would be far better using your pots for various salads, beetroot, carrots, spring onions.

With sweetcorn I doubt you can grow any that is any better than you can buy.

Kazipoo

Well, we grew them in pots last year, the yield was good, in high winds they did fall over though, so we did have to check them if it had been a bit windy. We put them in a fairly sheltered area along the side of one of our greenhouses in 10 litre pots which we bought from Morrisons for about 79p for 3 and we didn't stake them. It was the first time that we had ever grown sweetcorn, so we didn't know any better, but I would definitely do it again!

SurferDan

We grew sweetcorn inpots last year and very nice it was too.
Used plastic tubs from Poundland (2 for £1)
Approx 18 inch square and 14 inch deep
4 plants per pot
Harvested about 14 sweetcorn
Give it a go

bushie_2

I'm growing in pots for the first time this year and have been persuaded that sweetcorn would do well.

the advice i've been given is a 12" fairly shallow pot should be fine for about 3 plants (reassuringly, Dan's post confirms this) and will be growing them against a wall so hopefully won't fall over. Also been advised to only allow up to 6 corns to grow per plant, any more then they don't taste as good. :cool:

foreign_correspondent

Linda32 wrote: »

With sweetcorn I doubt you can grow any that is any better than you can buy.

I disagree, I think it is one thing that is definitely worth growing at home - sweetcorn loses sugar very quickly (half of the sugar can turn to starch in 10-12 hours after picking!) so freshly picked sweetcorn, cooked straight away, tastes far better than bought. I grew earlybird f1 last year, and it was brilliant.

valk_scot

bushie wrote: »

. Also been advised to only allow up to 6 corns to grow per plant, any more then they don't taste as good. :cool:

Most standard sweetcorn varieties that will grow in the UK only give two cobs, one larger than the other. If the plant is stressed in any way it will abort the second cob. Are you sure you're not thinking of mini sweetcorn varieties?