Corn plants seemed to have stalled?

[gaffer]

Popcorn plants were growing real well, They look healthy and they have started to grow their ears and have sprouted their ?tassels? on top. the ears appear to be about half size, they are long but only an inch or so in diameter. Started noticing about a week ago that they that they seem to have stalled.....I fertilized when they first started to tassel which was about 3 weeks ago. Have 4 rows, about a dozen each row and they get full sun. I have never grown corn before, so not sure if this is a problem.

[Brooklyn1]

Popcorn ears achieve only about half the diameter of sweet corn. A fact you may want to know about corn is that *normally* there are 16 rows on an ear (always an even number) totaling 800 kernals so popcorn's smaller kernals result in a much smaller diameter ear. It seems your corn is ready to harvest.

[David Hare-Scott]

Depending on the cultivar they may be as big as they are going to get. Start checking the cobs for ripeness.

D

[allen73]

Number of harvestable kernels per ear is an important contributor to the grain yield potential of a corn plant. Severe plant stress during ear formation may limit the potential ear size, and thus grain yield potential, before pollination has even occurred. Optimum growing conditions set the stage for maximum ear size potential and exceptional grain yields at harvest time. The size of what will become the harvestable ear begins by the time a corn plant has reached knee-high and finishes 10 to 14 days prior to silk emergence.

By about the V5 or V6 stages of development (five to six visible leaf collars), the growing point (apical meristem) of the corn plant finishes the task of initiating leaf primordia and completes its developmental responsibilities by initiating the tassel primordium of the plant. At about the same time that the tassel is initiated, the uppermost harvestable (and final) ear is also initiated (Lejeune and Bernier,

1996). This uppermost ear is normally located at the 12th to 14th stalk node, corresponding to the 12th to 14th leaf of the plant.

[Kay Lancaster]

Popcorn ears are typically smaller than sweetcorn ears. You'll get better pollination if you plant your 48 plants in a 6x8 block instead of a 4x12.

You may not get good fill anyhow -- corn pollen is very heat sensitive at an early stage of development (field, sweet, and I presume popcorn too) -- temps in the high 90s can produce sterile pollen.

Kay