Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I seem to be having a problem with some plants growing like crazy but instead of getting good fruit wether it be a good hearty iceberg lettuce or getting cobs of corn they seems to bolt and go to seed. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is so.

Those corn look ok to me

The hot weather stressing the plants into survival mode, thereby they want to reproduce..though I'm puzzled by the corn as the cob is the seed? are you sure its gone to seed, it looks very young.

Himzo.

This is not how I have had corn grow previously in the ground. The seedy stuff on the top is what has happened in the past after all the cobs have grown and even picked and then eventually what I call seeds which is the same as pix above?? I could be very wrong and are open to correction - I am not really a gardener

There are no cobs or signs of them.

Corn is pollenated by the wind. The top of the plant is the male flower and the cobs usually form lower down are the female part.
These do not seem to be forming the female flowers. Maybe the weather, or the season. But I think theu may be too sheltered to pollenate well.

If you transplanted, then it was bad timing.
If you grew from seed, I'm not sure.

Transplanting is stressful for a plant, and usually you're shifting from soil to water, and the plant does not have roots set up for sitting in water, so it freaks out. The excess fertiliser available in AP when a plant freaks out, only worsens the problem.
Keep them cool and baby them for a week at least.

I thought all flowering happened before fruiting - they need the genetic material from another plant to put into their seed. I might be mislead....

Nah if corn is annoyed it will bolt straight to the flowering stage, and give out cobs with nothing in them.

Whats the nitrate readings first, and if there are some nitrates present, have you added any trace elements to the water?

Corn doesn't technically form fruit. As said above, the top is the male (you can get a puff of yellow pollen to fly off if you shake it when it is "flowering" and these grains pollinate the seeds on the corn ears (one seed per silk thread). I'm surprised that the plants avoided forming ears (as that is usually a response to limited resources), but it could be caused by deficiencies in some essential nutrient or (possibly, as KP said) transplant shock.

Interesting. I would have thought you would get multiple ears per stalk....

Yes very weird I thought. My nitrates are usually between 5 and 40 and I give regular doses of seasol and chelated iron every few weeks or so. I would have thought there was plenty of nutrients for them

It seems corn does not like the high nitrogen content of the water and forces growth.
This applies to most AP plants.
When corn starts to flower you must gently shake the stalks to allow the pollen to float down and settle on the silks of the forming cob.
This pollenates the cob and seeds,ie the corn forms.
In nature the wind will make the plant wave in the breeze and shake the pollen down onto the silks or bees if you have enough of them.
You can use a soft large make up brush(Cosmetic) and brush the top flowers and then transfer the pollen to the silks also by brushing.
Most AP systems are under cover and well protected so good pollination fails to happen.
If you gently shake the stalk at night and using a torch you will see the ultra fine pollen falling onto the silks.
Gently spread the silks out to obtain more coverage.
Do this to many AP plants for better fruiting.
Tip, prune tomato plants heavily for better fruiting also.
Gav

Yeh
Might be time for some benificial bugs to do your pollenating eaglerm.

I don't have any issues with anything growing in my system

Those are all good tips, but I don't believe he even has the fetal cobs (the fertile female bit of the plant) forming and it is really hard to pollinate without any female parts present. Bugs and brushes and even feathers won't help.

That is correct
If the seeds/seedlings where planted out of season the cob won't form.