In article ,
Kay Lancaster wrote:

3) If you're growing
corn at home and planting several batches at several dates, plant in squarish
blocks rather than a row for each date. That helps with pollination.
If you're not growing many corn plants (20 or so), I'd suggest hand
pollination, or your ears will likely have a lot of "blanks" (undeveloped
kernels). Break off a portion of tassel that seems to be releasing pollen,
and shake it over the silks of each ear, every morning, for a week after the
pollen starts releasing. Tedious, but the difference in yield per ear
can be pretty amazing. (amaizing???) Each kernel has its own silk, and
that kernel isn't going to develop unless the silk is pollinated.

This is new to me and fascinating. I won't be making use of it because
I'm limited to one ear per summer due to dietary restrictions, but it's
still fascinating.

Thank you!

Priscilla