Corn is typically pollinated by the wind, having both male (tassels) and female (silks and ear) flowers. Pollen from the tassels needs to land on the silks in order to create a good crop. Tassels emerge from the top of the corn plant, then open to disperse pollen on the silks which emerge lower, from the immature corn ear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each individual silk is a potential kernel of corn, so if a silk doesn’t receive a grain of pollen, no kernel will form in that space on the ear, creating an empty space or “skip”. Under ideal conditions, both the tassels and silks emerge at the same time, a synchronicity called “nick”. Environmental factors, like drought, can interfere with nick, but even so, there is usually some overlap of pollen drop and emerged silks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because corn plantings are usually much smaller in a home garden than on a farm, utilizing a few tricks can ensure your corn ears fill out with few to no skips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n