Fleecing sweetcorn.

[StringfellowParticipant]

I have just planted and then fleeced my winter squash plants (red kuri and butter cup this year) and plan on planting sweet corn between each squash plant a la the ‘two sisters’ idea. Sweet corn plants are ready to go in but I found last year that laying fleece directly on them seemed to damage them; they got squashed. Is this ‘okay’ and the benefit of the fleece will counter act this perceived initial damage? I have my cloche hoops and wondered if their use was a better option…

[charlesModerator]

Yes this sounds worthwhile. Sorry about your fleeced sweetcorn last year. In the past mine have been a bit disfigured but then grow away. Cool weather forecast so fleece is going to be worth it.

[StringfellowParticipant]

Thanks Charles, I’ll carefully lay the fleece flat to trap as much warm air as possible. It is interesting how you are now expanding and developing your garden at Homeacres. Thanks again.

[RhysParticipant]

I fleeced my sweetcorn for 2 weeks in the second half of May this year and they’ve done very well. They kept on growing well under the fleece and were noticeably a lot larger when I took the fleece off than when I transplanted them….

[BethParticipant]

I live in Idaho and gardening folks here don’t seem to really know about using fleece. I have some fleece but it is not clean. I assume it is okay to lay it flat on top of veggies that I am trying to protect from frost after reading about the sweetcorn. I had a fleece laying over my eggplant but am removing it during day. Do you keep it on all winter and then remove it in Spring? Seems like it would compost down. If I used it only for frost protection can I pick it up this winter and store it again for reuse?

[charlesModerator]

Beth, you can indeed reuse fleece several times, though when used overwinter I find it often tears in windy weather. Its a polythene-based product so does not decompose naturally.
For winter use it gives some frost protection, but not a huge amount. Polythene cloches are more effective, but more work to erect and maintain.

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