Corn Question

I planted 4 squares with corn even though it did not do very well last year. I had seed leftover and some space so I decided to try it again.  Only about 60% germinated, maybe because it was last years seed.  Now it is starting to get tassels, but there are no ears on it yet. Isn't this where the pollen comes from?




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On another note I found this little guy in the corn. Hope he eats garden pests.

Do you have wind to scatter the pollen?  If not, I'd suggest that you tap each tassel with your fingers a couple of times each day.

The pollen comes from the tassels.

Last year when I complained that my corn was tasseling but I had no ears, everybody just said to wait a while and the ears will come out.  Last year I waited and waited, the tassels formed and dropped pollen but there were no ears/silks to catch the pollen.  The ears finally came but all the pollen was long gone. 

The research I read said that stress (as in not watering enough) can cause pollen to drop before the silks appear.


Right now I have tassles appearing on the top of the stalks and I can see a few silks appearing.  Can't even tell it is an ear of corn yet but I do see a few straggly silks.  So look real careful and see if you can see any silks.  The ears will follow.
 
I could not find anyone last year who ever had a problem with the pollen falling before silks appeared so I guess it is very rare.  SOOOOOO keep waiting and the ears and silks will follow, or so they say.

If you do not have enough corn plants, you may have to hand pollinate the silks.

I was worrying that the tassels are here but I don't see any silks yet.  Maybe they will come in the next couple days. Last year we had a lot of rain about this time and they did not fill out very well. I thought the pollen may have been washed away. Maybe I am worrying for nothing. You know, like when your son drives 16 hours in his jalopy to work a summer internship. Whew.

Patience is not my best virtue.

Because I had NO edible ears of corn last year I did a lot of research over the winter to see what I was doing wrong.  The three biggest concerns with growing corn are:

Water
Fertilizer
Sun

Of course this is true for all vegetables but it is easier to see what is wrong with some vegetables but you have to wait 70 - 90 days to find out you did it wrong with corn and then it is too late to correct.

So here are a couple of web links that will give you some information.  The first link is geared toward commercial corn production but the information is still relevant for home growing.  The second link is geared to home gardening.  One thing I learned is that it takes a lot of water (at least 1" per week), a lot of sun (at least 8-10 hrs a day), and a couple of side dressings of high nitrogen fertilizer during the growing period.  So far, I have applied one application of blood meal but I have no idea if I applied the correct amount.  One indication of a lack of fertilizer is

"Corn plants with a nitrogen deficiency at first take on a pale, yellowish-green look. Leaves often de- velop yellowing in an inverted-V pattern beginning on the tips of lower or older leaves. "
 
The following pdf discussed all types of corn nutrient deficiencies

http://msucares.com/pubs/infosheets/is0864.pdf


The following pdf is a complete UGA article about growing sweet corn.  It is specifically for Georgia but is relevant elsewhere.

[url=http://www.caes.uga.edu/applications/publications/files/pdf/C 905_3.PDF]http://www.caes.uga.edu/applications/publications/files/pdf/C%20905_3.PDF[/url]

Sorry for the extra junk in here but I tried to edit it and can't get it to look right.  But better messed up than nothing.

I went out and examined my corn crop and found a few leaves on the later maturing corn (silver queen) that looked a little like nitrogen deficiency so I will try adding a small amount of blood meal to see if this will keep the rest of the leaves from turning brown on the ends and curling.


I am just guessing here and I don't know if this is what is called for if anything is called for.  But I am not going to have the same thing happen to me that happened last year (no ears at all).

Yolos, I've never had such green corn plants!

Here's a pic from last year.  You can see how the N is starting to peter out, but the corn harvest was still good.




A while back, I posted a chart of the development stages of silver queen corn based on GDDs. I forget what thread it was in, but it would give you an idea about when to expect silks.

boffer wrote:Yolos, I've never had such green corn plants!

Thanks Boffer, neither have I.  This is the first time everything seems to be working together.  Maybe it is the addition of the blood meal or maybe the wet weather we are having.  Who knows, wish I did.  It will take a few years of experimenting and also being lucky.

Were they planted too close to each other?

Sanderson,

Check this out from Ohio State Univ.
lots of pictures and descriptions


http://agcrops.osu.edu/specialists/corn/specialist-announcements/ear-abnormalities/troubleshooting-abnormal-corn-ears-and-related-disorders

LM - that is a great resource, thank you.

I'm having the same problem, Sanderson!

Thanks LM!

   You welcome.