Sweetcorn in the greenhouse and pollination?

Angelina-M

Hi all

I have grown my sweetcorn in the greenhouse and its coming along nicely, however i've just read that it needs pollinating by the wind. Now I cant take it out of the greenhouse as its roots have grown into a gulley so they have to stay there.

At the moment I have a sort of fat wheat ear growing out of the top of it. Is this the male part of the plant and where is the actual sweetcorn? Would it be ok to just swish the plant a bit or is it too early?

Do you only get one sweetcorn from each plant? (i've only got four lol)

Sorry I know nothing about sweetcorn and im a complete newbie.

mjr600

Angelina you have an evening of sex with paintbrushes ahead of you !

Sweetcorn should be grown outside in a block pattern, the minimum really being a 3x3 block.

This is so that the pollen will travel to the next few plants no matter which way the wind blows.

There will be something akin to a flower head on the top of the plant, this will release the pollen and the corns appear further down and out of the side of the stem. At the head of the cob there will be silk like growth.

In you case your crop could well be poor with missing individual corns on the cob, you need a new, clean, soft paintbrush and you need to 'touch up' all the parts of the plants in an effort ensure that the cobs are pollenated. If you're not sure just make sure you brush each part of all the plants a couple of times and keep you fingers crossed.

Angelina-M

mjr600 wrote: »

Angelina you have an evening of sex with paintbrushes ahead of you !
.

I bet you say that to all the girls! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Thanks for that. The time isnt yet then as all i've got is my wheat like thing at the top. It doesnt look like it will flower for a little while yet.

I grow tomatoes and cucumbers in a gulley hydroponically (im a techie so have to be awkward) and I had some spaces so I chucked in the sweetcorn seeds, not really expecting them to take off so anything is a bonus.

The plants are well over two feet high but with the bad weather everything seems to have slown down a bit. Although my mushrooms are loving the cool weather and my woolies £2.99 box is doing great!

Thanks again

pauldreed

I would like to grow sweetcorn in my greenhouse (also hydroponically), and wondered how you did?
Was it worthwhile?
One concern I have is that the sweetcorn takes up too much space (I only have a small greenhouse).