My sweet corn patch is over 8' high now and the tassles are spread out, but I do not see any developing ears. Is this normal? I planted the first week in May. When should I see ears of corn start to form?
- posted
18 years ago
My sweet corn patch is over 8' high now and the tassles are spread out, but I do not see any developing ears. Is this normal? I planted the first week in May. When should I see ears of corn start to form?
My tassels are out too. Wait another two weeks.
You should be seeing little tufts of "silk" protruding from the tops of what will become cobs in the future. This silk is the pollen receptor for the pollen produced by the tassels. How close together did you plant the corn? Some sweet corn varieties will not produce viable cobs if severely overcrowded. Interesting fact: Each strand of silk leads to one individual kernel embryo and every kernel of corn in a cob must be individually pollinated before it can mature. Hope you see the silk soon.
Ross. To email, remove the "obvious" from my address.
I predict there will be silks showing on Saturday. Then things will start to happen.
Steve
wrote
I planted two seeds per hole, in holes about 8-10" apart, in rows about 15" apart, in raised beds with very rich soil and plenty of compost and mulch.
In one of the beds the corn is shorter and lighter green in color, and the lowest leaves have dried and turned brown. The corn in this bed looked as good as all the rest, at first, then it started to fade. I cultivated and dug in a lot more compost to this bed a few weeks ago when I saw the change, but it has not helped. The rest of the patch looks healthy and is a LOT taller than any corn of mine has ever grown in prior years.
"Steve" wrote
I hope you're right.
I got concerned after watching a short "gardening tips" segment on the local TV news broadcast yesterday. The topic was sweet corn, and the guy said he had planted at the same time I did, the same variety, and had not watered it enough (we've had a real dry season so far). His corn was only shoulder-high and not as dark green as mine, but it was full of mature ears, one of which he picked and stripped to show how nice it was.
Rampant growth of the stalks, due to high nitrogen and water levels will slow down development of ears. Of course when yours do arrive they will be bigger if the corn is not too crowded. 8 feet is tall for a sweet corn.
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