Kitchen Garden Forum

I saved a small cob from last years crop and left it in the potting shed over the winter. It is now totally dried out. Can I plant the kernels and expect to get a decent crop?

Not if the plants you grew were F1 hybrids.

I would not risk it ,sweetcorn are renowned for cross pollinating you would probably spend the summer waiting for something that won't happen the seeds are not expensive I think Wilkes have them a £1 a packet

Welcome to the forum PJD!

What the boys are saying is correct, but you know I would be tempted to have a wee experiment away from this years crop if you have the space, maybe a few in big pots just to see what you get. No good if they are F1 as Peter says but if you are unsure of the variety give it a try - & report back please!

I'm a great believer as Westie suggests, in experimenting on a small scale as you have nothing to lose. Just don't rely on your experimental sowings as your main crop. I,ve often found you can break all the guidelines and still get a reasonable crop. Just dont put all your eggs in one basket. And remember to save yiur empty seed packets for reference as they should tell you on the instructions whether they're an F1 variety.

I grow Ferline F1 variety tomatoes which are supposed to be a "blight resistant variety" although F1 saved seeds don't have their traits passed on to the next generation. Having said that, i have still saved their seeds, sown them the next year and got a perfectly decent crop of similar looking tomatoes. Last year was not a bad year for blight because of the hot summer so I was not able to put any "second generation" potential blight resistant properties to the test. However the tomatoes were still excellent quality so if you're willing to experiment, Don,t necessarily expect doom and gloom if you try growing a few. Perhaps just try and grow them as far away as you can from another variety .

Incidentally I sowed sweetcorn from a packet several years old last year and got a crop of sorts. Whether that was because the seed was old or the summer was too hot with water shortages, I don,t know.

robo wrote:I would not risk it ,sweetcorn are renowned for cross pollinating you would probably spend the summer waiting for something that won't happen the seeds are not expensive I think Wilkes have them a £1 a packet

Thanks for the advice!