A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Corn!!!!

our corn has sprouted little tendrils . does this mean we may get corn this year,after all?

It's a good sign. My corn isn't doing anything this year.

Mrs. Bradley,

It is definitely a good start! You will see the ears starting to grow and silk soon, that's when you know you might have corn. (Those tendrils are called tassels. )

I grew up in deep south Texas and my dad always planted at least 20 acres of corn--just for my family!!--Of course we always had an abundance, and what we couldn't pick, we would let dry, then come through in the heat of summer on a tractor & trailer and pick the corn for the animals.

The tassels are usually the end step of the vegetative stages of development, and soon to follow will be the reproductive development (the kernels will grow, fill with the milk, and then turn into the delicious yellow kernels that we so love to devour)-yummmmm. You should start seeing silk on the husks in about a week.

How much corn do you have planted? Sometimes corn doesn't do too well in a "stressed" environment, or with too little "friends" around--lots of corn stalks.

I think you should get the best results if you can protect a smaller crop from wind or other things that might stress it out. If it's not stressed the silks will catch the pollen needed from the tassel to start reproducing (making the kernels), and the kernels will develop without a hitch, otherwise it might be a little delayed, and the kernels will not produce.

About 2 weeks after you see the silks appear, then the kernels/blisters will begin developing (they're called blisters at this stage because they're so small).

You'll want to pick the ears about 3-4 weeks after the silk appears, any longer and the kernels will start hardening, and won't be nice and juicy.

I hope you get lots of corn out of this! I just love fresh corn on the cob!

thanks for all the great info!! this is our very first crop,and we didn't know anything.

I am glad you said when to pick, too. we probably would have ruined it by leaving it too long....

very small crop.maybe 20-25 stalks with carrots planted in front of them.just right for a family of 4 this late in the season.=)

Normaly you plant corn in a block of at least 4 row.

I planted 3 rows but due to the hot weather , the corn didn't do anything.

we don't get really hot weather here on the coast of Oregon ( the banana belt they call our area)so that could be the reason.
unfortunately, we don't get a whole lot of sun either. lotsa ocean fog,and overcast skies.and so far this year we have gotten 100.something inches of rain,so no drying out here.
heat doesn't often get over 85 degrees.


we've got it soooo bad!!!!!!..........

CajunMama,
That's alot of really good info,
Thanks!!!!
(We'll have to consider you our reside "CORN EXPERT" )
Out of curiousity, what all did you do with your corn growing up?
Always love to hear of recipes and such...
(I actually have a "tip" for "eating" or "buttering" corn, I should go and put that in the Recipe section, if you do have any...
please put them in)

*I planted corn, and between the Japanese beetles, cuke beetles, corn aphids and ants..
I will considerate a true miracle of GOD,
If I get one ear!!!

But I never fear, cause at the veryyyyyyy least,
I HAVE HALLOWEEN/FALL DECORATIONS!!!!!

I learned this on Agphd one morning when my husband was watching - which he always does, being a farmer and all. I thought it was so interesting! The silks - each one of those is 'attached' to a kernel. When the tassel is up - that is where the pollen is, when it drops - it touches the silk which fertilizes it and makes the kernel grow. Each one of those silks need to be 'touched' by a piece of pollen.

We farm about 2000 acres of corn, soybeans, and sunflowers. We usually have corn by the main farm here and just plant the sweet corn along the end row with it - just put it in the planter. But one thing we learned from watching this is that when it's windy - that pollen is blowing all over, and the field corn can 'touch' the sweet corn silks and making the sweet corn not as sweet! So - we won't be planting the sweet corn by the field corn anymore, even though we had a very good crop of sweet corn this year, almost done with it.

Just thought that was neat - the tassle, silk, kernel thing.

You're right ND farm girl! That's how everything works! And to think that God created everything to work the way it does....It's pretty amazing! And that's why you should always plant "more" corn so that they can fertilize each stalk and each and every kernel!


We had A LOT, and I mean A LOTTTTTTTTT of fresh corn on the cob. (Went great with the BBQ, fresh beef of course, or chicken if you preferred that.) My mom also used to fry the corn. She would heat some butter in a frying pan, then cut the kernels off of the ears straight into the pan. Yummy! We froze a lot of fresh ears to eat after the season. We also would cut the kernels of the cob and mix in with other veggies like squash, zucchini, eggplant, green beans....Oh, how I do miss life on the farm.

Anything that we didn't eat or give away we harvested after it dried out and put it in the old barn and would shuck it, then put it through a machine to remove the kernels from the cob to make feed corn to give to the animals.



I do miss all of the fun on the farm. As a kid and teen you don't think of all the work we had to do as work, we just had funnnnnnn! And all of my friends and my brother's friends loved coming over to help. We'd have big feasts to feed us all. Ahhhh memories.

I have a post here very similar to that...
I too grew up on a farm, and we hay'd and had horse's and chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, dogs, cats, turtles', birds.. *NO COWS*

But it's very similar in deed...
When you're growing up as a child, you kinda resent it, but looking back it's one of the best
times of your life and memories....

CajunMama,
That sounds really good-frying up fresh corn in butter.
I'll have to buy a couple of ears to make it, but I want to cook that ! Bought corn is as close to fresh as I can get right now.
I've never heard of cooking corn like that. YUM.

Weezie, I can relate to all of your animals... we had all of the ones you mentioned (except horses...for some reason those didn't come until after I graduated HS and moved away), but we also had goats lambs, and turkeys. And we always had to clean to pens - YUCK!!! But I've got stories out the waazoo to tell my kids!

Deborah, I haven't had fried corn in over 10 years, but it is sooooo good. And any left overs can be used to make hash, or sometimes we'd put the corn in our taquitos {that's "tah-kee-toh" for those that don't know Spanish, and it's scrambled eggs (and potatoes, onions, cheese, & chorizo or sausage) wrapped in a hot flour tortilla - it's a Mexican dish that I love to eat, and not just for breakfast. I used to make this and called it a "trash" taquito because you put a lot of leftovers of all sorts, not just corn, in it. But boy is it good!!

I wasn't going to read this thread Since I don't grow corn. And the reason I don't grow any is because I thought it required a lot of work etc...But it is a very interesting topic, and I have learned a lot about growing corn. Thanks for all the info...Maybe next year I'll try growing some corn, I've always heard that if it didn't tassel by 4th of July then forget it, you would have no corn...But of course that is probable a regional thing for my area???

I love growing corn...
And even if I don't get any corn
for some reason or another...

I stilllllll get fall/halloween decorations for free..

Works for me..

Remember corn is a heavy feeder.....

we had fresh corn this week and it was awesome! very juicy and yummy. when i make sauted corn and i cut it off the cob i also use the flat side of the knife and scrape all the "leftovers" off the cob and put that in too. it's more juice and flavor and it's all yummy. less waste.