Corn - missing kernals

Posted by Caroline Gill on February 15, 2010 at 5:35am
Hi All,
My Dad has just grown some corn (it is his first vege garden) and he harvested his first ear a few days ago and when he took the outer leaves of he had the corn stalk (core) with about 12 kernals on and the rest was bare... does anyone have any ideas what happened and how to prevent it next time?
Cheers
Caroline

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Replies

  • Merren February 25, 2010 at 4:07am
    Just finished reading 'Dewey, the Library Cat" set in Iowa corn belt - I didn't realise that fertilizing the thread of silk creates the kernel. And I thought I was a gardener !! Block planting is definitely the answer.
    • Kali > Merren February 25, 2010 at 4:31am
      that gets me thinking Merren that also if anything eats the corn silks off before they can be fertilised then the kernals wont develop
  • Denise February 23, 2010 at 11:01am
    I have a similar problem only really (really!) small cobs on some of them and kernels only on one side! these ones are planted in a black but maybe too far apart? They are about 20cm apart but when I see commercial fields of corn, mine are a very poor cousin indeed!! sigh :(
  • Romain and Lucy February 15, 2010 at 9:24am
    Hiya, yes we had this problem too. The year we planted rows to fill about a metre square the cobs turned out fine... yummy in fact.. but the year we did just two longer rows produced cobs like an old hags teeth in illustrations of old :)
  • Kali February 15, 2010 at 6:03am
    HI Caroline, its a pollination problem. Corn is wind pollinated, the top flowering part sheds pollen whilst the silks collect it as it is blown about, you need lots of plants planted in a block pattern rather than a single row or two, to make sure the silks get a good share of the pollen.
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