Thinning Sweetcorn?

[SausageParticipant]

My neighbour is growing sweetcorn for the first time this year. He sowed 2 seeds a module and planted them out as is without thinning the doubles. Now he has a little forest of sweetcorn twins and he wants to know if he should thin them. I haven’t a clue as I always set mine out as singles. Should he have thinned them and is there still time for him to thin them now?

[J S BeanParticipant]

I’ve got some doubles too, and had wondered this.

[JDParticipant]

I had some doubles last year. Was late to get around to thinning and plants grew away. Didn’t seem to be a lot of difference in the growth of doubles and singles so I thinned some and left some just to see. One thing I did notice is that when it came to pollination there was a ‘forest’of leaves between the tassels and silks which impeded pollen transfer somewhat. Didn’t help that it was very windy when the pollen was ready which stripped the plants of the ‘dangly bits’. Had to try to hand pollinate with some of my neighbours. Anyway, upshot was I had incompletely filled cobs, which may have been from shielding or wind.

[charlesModerator]

I imagine doubles will grow smaller cobs, depending on spacings and soil fertility

[SausageParticipant]

Thank you for your replies, that’s really helpful. I’ll let him know.

[J S BeanParticipant]

I’ve just split my doubles, spacing them out more. There’s a good chance I’ve just killed half the crop, as I’m sure I’ve torn some of the fine roots, but I thought I’d give it a go in case it works. My corn went in late, so at any rate, my chances of a decent harvest are fairly slim as it is.

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