That is corn silk. Each silk goes to an individual kernel of corn. The pollen from the tassels should be placed on the silk on the ears. In other words now is a good time to "rough" your corn up so it gets pollinated well. The better it is pollinated, the fuller the ear of…
Read the full replyI have some sweet corn that's about a week or two from being ready to harvest (I hope). Some of the ears are sprouting what appears to be "tassles" out them. What are these? Should I worry about them? What should I do about them?
Thanks,
Matt Stauffer, Zone 7 (I think)
No, what I should've said is that the ears are fairly well developed and the "tassle" is in addition to the silk at the top of the ear.
Snip them off before you cook the corn.
I've had side shoots develop an ear + tassle thing at the tip. I've never had it happen on a regular ear, though.
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