Why is this corn still green?

[Bert]

Someone in the neighborhood puts out corn for some critters and the squirrels carefully buried it all over the place.

This year, lots of that corn sprouted and some of the neighbors allowed some of it to grow, producing some impressive stalks, 6+ feet tall with ears of corn and everything.

At this time of year, all the farmed corn has long dried out and been harvested.

But, the stalks in the neighbors back yards are still mostly green.

Is it just a matter of what variety of corn the squirrels planted, or is something else going on?

[Pat Kiewicz]

Could be the variety, but it could be that the corn never set seed. The stalks start to dry up and turn brown after the seed is matured. For most effecient pollination, corn should be planted in blocks. Squirrels tend to distribute the seed rather randomly. Not ideal for good corn pollination.