Sweetcorn is an annual plant and a lover of summer temperatures.
Also known as:
Sugar corn
Pole corn
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Sweetcorn – (Zea mays convar. saccharata) is an annual plant and a lover of summer temperatures. Not to be confused with Corn stover that is widely grown as animal feed. The plant produces both female and male flowers. The female flowers develop into the corn cobs. In winter, the corn bed is prepared by applying large amounts of manure. Sweetcorn likes a slightly acidic soil (pH 5.5). Peat makes the soil a little more acidic. Sweetcorn likes heat: pre-sow in April in the warm greenhouse or on the windowsill. Sowing in open ground cannot be done until mid-May. In addition to sweetcorn, seeds for popcorn are also available.
Bugs
Growth tips are gnawed, more side shoots appear and a thickened foot: frit fly (Oscinella frit).
Feeding on root or stem of young corn plant: Wireworm (Agriotes spp.) – larva of click beet
Delayed growth, 2 to 4 mm small nodules at ends of roots: corn root-knot nema
Fungi & diseases
Cob is covered with mushroom-like fungi: Corn smut (Ustilago maydis).
