About a month ago I posted a message about the corn in my front yard. At that time, the corn plants--many of which were just a few feet tall--were tasseling, and I worried that all the pollen would be gone before we got any ears.
Fast forward a month. Many of my corn plants actually DO have ears! I have been stripping the tassels each time I see an ear, and crumbling it over the silk, hoping to pollinate them. There are currently quite a few ears that are large and full.
My question is: Would ears get large and full if they were NOT pollinated? Or can I actually expect some good eatin' out of these in a few weeks?
As an interesting side note, a couple of my stalks are a mere foot tall, and they have ears on them that are quite firm. I suspect that, even if these ears are pollinated, they won't get more than a few inches long. But I giggle at the idea that I might get a 6-inch ear on a 12-inch plant!
Here is a picture of a "good" ear, and a picture of the ridiculous tiny stalks with ears on them: