Mil8ball
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Sweet corn releasing pollen, question

Well it is my first year doing sweet corn and it has tasseled and two of my corn plants have started releasing pollen yay! But I have a couple concerns.

#1First and foremost I'm 99% one of them is a different type of sweet corn. It has a very purple tassel while all the others are very light green. Should I cut the tassels off the purple one to avoid cross pollination?

#2 its starting to pollinate but the silks havent appeared yet! Is this a concern too?

While I don't know exactly what kind of sweet corn I will try to explain its features...as I'm regretting not doing notes. I will make sure to do that next year! Anyway, the plants themselves are between 4-5 feet, I count approx. 6 leaf levels, the tassels main beam is over a foot, the tassel has well over a dozen sticks coming off of it. I really can't remember the maturation speed but they are on a slow pace.(though early cold condition probably effected their speed)

I'd like to also note the tassels main bean is the only one that is releasing pollen if that matters. As fair as the future cob holders go they vary in size a lot from plant to plant. Some are just appearing while others are 6 inches long.

Feel free to ask any questions! Thank for the help!

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Sounds like for whatever reason, your corn plants are at different stages of growth. The light green tassels would be new. When the tassels are getting older, have shed their pollen, and are starting to dry out, they get that purplish color.

SOB
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I always worry too because it always seems like the tassels are ready but the silk hasn’t come out yet. The link below has some great info that might help you better understand the characteristics.

https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/new ... ssels.html

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Its been a few days since you posted this, How about a report? I am the sort of guy who just lets things go and do as they will. With corn that usually works as long as there is a fair sized patch so there is enough pollen to go around. Long single rows sometimes don't get pollinated well. How is it looking? You didn't say how large your patch was. Three or four short rows works well. (Rows spaced 30 inches and plants about 8 inches apart in the rows.) Corn does not do well as a specimen plant. It needs company to get pollinated.

Gee, come on over, mine is ready. This year I planted 3 rows once a week for six weeks. I should have nice corn for the next six weeks. :)



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