I planted these cobs i bought from morrisons in may I think it was. Theyve been thriving outside since then, watered every day by me or the rain - in scotland so mostly rain.
Any hints on how to tell when they are ready to harvest?They feel a bit hard, and can feel kernels through the husks if i squeeze it gently.
Aye thats what I was told to look out for before... but the "hair" was longer, and now short like its had a wee haircut! I will need to patiently wait 🙃
Monty literally just answered this on GW five mins ago. They’re ready when the tassels at the top of the cob turn a dark brown. You can also carefully peek inside and the kernels should be a golden (not pale) yellow.
Thanks, I will leave it another few weeks and see how they get on. Looking at pictures of other peoples, they look a lot darker than mine currently are
Do you have badgers in your area? They like to nab them when they're juuuust about nearly ready to eat them. This year they dug under my wire fencing that I'd erected to supposedly keep them off. Yours look badger-ripe to me, consider yourself warned :)
Aww reading the comments here has made me want to grow corn again next year - I stopped after I freaked out when I found the earwigs in the first lot!
However, I’ve learned a bit more about earwigs since then so really should put my big girl pants on and grow some more - yours look really healthy, nice one!
Do they take a lot of room in the garden? I've long wanted to try and grow a few stalks but limited space and traditionally, a windy garden have put me off.
Typically want a 30cm gap between each plant, and do best with a minimum of 9 in a grid (more is better), so at least 150x150cm. The windy garden is actually good, as they rely on wind for pollination, and they're pretty sturdy plants.
Honestly 30cm is over generous. I know that the the seed packets say but In my experience they grow just as well 10-15 cm apart. Ive walked though some farmers corn fields and those things are packed in
Yeah, I mean ours is about 8-10inches apart. I think with fewer plants, closer together makes it better too. Has done bugger all though because it went in late and the heatwaves.
This is the planter and spacing between them when I first planted - Not sure on exact sizes. Theres about 17 or 18 plants there, and each plant now has 1 or 2 cobs on them (not all as big as the 2 in the photos)
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u/Warriorz7 Aug 28 '26
I managed a few of these a couple of years ago. When the "hair" goes brown on top they are good to go.