Sweet Corn Development
 

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?

"Pat" wrote in message
...
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.

"Pat" wrote:

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?


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.

Pat wrote:

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?


I predict there will be silks showing on Saturday. Then things will
start to happen.

Steve

RR wrote

snip
How close together did you plant the corn? Some sweet corn varieties
will not produce viable cobs if severely overcrowded.
snip

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 predict there will be silks showing on Saturday. Then things will
start to happen.

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.