Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My first lot of corn I got as seedlings. I was pretty rough when washing off the dirt as the seeds had been treated with thiram. I planted them in the GB on a nice calm morning and then we had strong winds all afternoon so they got smashed. They are slowly coming back now.

2nd lot of corn I planted from seed in seedling trays and then transplanted to GB. These seeds had also been treated with thiram but I had presoaked and washed the seed before planting it so didn't need to be quite as vigorous when washing off the dirt. I also checked the weather forecast and planted them out when there was lower wind risk to give them better chance. They are going OK.

I finally got hold of non-treated corn seed and planted some in seedling trays and some direct into GB on the same day. The seedling tray corn is going great but I am still yet to see any corn rise up through the gravel.

I had thought that planting direct might give them a better chance to develop root stock without being disturbed by transplanting. But as none of them have come up there must be another problem.

Anyone got any tips of information they can share on this?

I was wondering the same about the thiram treatment . So have planted mine in punnets and will put them in the growbeds when they are bigger.
Anyone know if the treated seeds are a problem if planted direct??

Cant comment on growbed corn, but corn generally hates having its roots disturbed and is always better sown direct, however if the seed was permanently wet I think it will rot, as it does in wet soil. Corn, peas and beans are known for rotting easily

I've sown my treated seeds in directly without any problems so far

I have done both. I have direct seeded the gb with treated corn (didnt know it at the time) and also transplanted some. I pealed away the red treated outer coating before transplanting and they are doing well too.

Perhaps I planted them too deep in the GB. I only planted them an inch down though, unless they've fallen down further since. I did think about them rotting but also didn't want birds to find them.

Has anyone noticed if they maybe take a little longer to come up when planted direct into GB?

i did sweetcorn outside last year, it grew ok, but i didn't have enough plants for good pollination with about 8 stalks in 4 growbeds

ive only done seedlings before had good results too biggest tip ive been given with corn is to plant them in blocks rather than rows and to plant close together to aid pollenation

im trying this year to grow some from seed (saved from last years crop )in punnets but im having a poor strike rate

Cheers
pete

Thiram is toxic to fish so I haven't planted the seed straight in the bed, only ever seedling, though you can still see the pink thiram on the seeds in the seedling punnets.

This is from Wikipedia, would this mean that after 15 days being planted in soil it would no longer be toxic?



Being the slightly impatient being that I am, I dug around in the GB to see what is gong on with the seeds I planted direct. I found one and it had sprouted but only just so I covered it back over and will try to be more patient.

Non-treated seed is now available to be sent via post to WA but apparently this is only recently change. I purchased my seeds from Green Harvest