Sweetcorn plant/leaves/husks

[Hath]

Hi all,

I grow some veggies for my piggies. So know no pesticides are used. They love the silks and husks from the sweetcorn. Seen recently that they can actually have the sweetcorn plant- the stalks and the huge leaves. Never gave them the long leaves.

Has anyone dried them to use as a forage at all? Would that be basically maize?
Was thinking of trying to dry more of my forage with how expensive everything is these days.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all,

I grow some veggies for my piggies. So know no pesticides are used. They love the silks and husks from the sweetcorn. Seen recently that they can actually have the sweetcorn plant- the stalks and the huge leaves. Never gave them the long leaves.

Has anyone dried them to use as a forage at all? Would that be basically maize?
Was thinking of trying to dry more of my forage with how expensive everything is these days.

Hi

Sweetcorn belongs in the grasses family, so everything is edible. It is a sugary variety of maize that is specifically grown for human consumption. They belong to the same family (zea mays) but other varieties of maize are also grown for other purposes and ripen at different times.

I would however not recommend to dry the corns because they have an unpleasant tendency of getting impaled on the incisors of guinea pigs and are not easy to get off again.

Personally, I like to feed a bit of organic sweetcorn fresh once a week at this time of year (about one cob between 5-12 piggies). Please be aware that it is very energy dense and should be rather seen as a treat than as a vegetable because of its high sugar content, similar to carrots - i.e. see it as feeding a bar of chocolate to a guinea pig or rabbit.

Mine will eat the fresh green leaves but don't show any interest in any older or dry leaves. I have never seen maize/sweetcorn leaves featuring in a piggy diet but other members may have more experience with home grown sweetcorn and guinea pigs.

Seeds - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I hope that this helps you?

 

[Merab]

Mine love sweetcorn.
I buy half cobs and the piggies get to share one piece about once a month.
They also like baby corn - they get half a baby corn occasionally

 

[Hath]

Thank you both!
I don't give them the sweetcorn ears I grow as I usually dry that and leave it for the wildlife over the winter and knowing it's not the healthiest of parts for the pigs. They do get baby sweetcorn occasionally. Mainly give the husks and silks. Not tried the leaves yet.

It's more of the leaves I was wondering if I can utilise the whole plant and if people tried drying it as a forage. For now, I just pick as and when needed, but reaching the point of wanting to pull out all the plants and replace with something else in the garden.

I've seen maize leaves as part of mix in Nature's own forage.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you both!
I don't give them the sweetcorn ears I grow as I usually dry that and leave it for the wildlife over the winter and knowing it's not the healthiest of parts for the pigs. They do get baby sweetcorn occasionally. Mainly give the husks and silks. Not tried the leaves yet.

It's more of the leaves I was wondering if I can utilise the whole plant and if people tried drying it as a forage. For now, I just pick as and when needed, but reaching the point of wanting to pull out all the plants and replace with something else in the garden.

I've seen maize leaves as part of mix in Nature's own forage.

The leaves should be safe to feed since corn is a member of the grass family. Unfortunately, none of us here has ever tried it.