Hello and welcome to my corn patch! Homegrown
corn, slathered in butter has always been a favorite of mine and I suspect a favorite
of yours too, which makes poorly filled cobs all the more frustrating. Then let's do something
about it! Want to know how to get the very best, full cobs of corn from your garden? Then watch
on for my essential tips to the most perfect and oh-so-delicious crop. If corn doesn't get properly
pollinated it can't produce those delicious, creamy kernels that we're after, it's as simple as
that. So to find a solution to this problem let's first look at the basics of corn pollination.
Corn is actually a type of grass and like other grasses, the flowers are wind pollinated.
Plants produce separate male and female flowers, with the male flowers called 'tassels'
sitting right up at the top of the plant. Up here they can catch the wind and that enables
the pollen to drift down to the rest of the plant. The female flowers are located further down
the plant and are what will eventually form your cobs of corn. The female flowers have
protruding 'silks', whose job it is to intercept some of the pollen drifting down from
the tassels above. Remarkably, each strand is responsible for pollinating one kernel of corn, so
to get a fully-filled ear of corn you're going to need every single strand to be pollinated.
Pollination is very much a numbers game; something in the region of two to five million
pollen grains are produced by each tassel. That's over a thousand for each strand of the silk
and it only takes one pollen grain remember to pollinate one piece of silk, and yet
perfect pollination is far from a given... Farmers achieve much better pollination
because of course they're growing on a much much bigger scale; rows and rows of corn nestled
together cheek by jowl and swaying in the wind. It's going to mean no problem at all with pollen
reaching the female parts lower down. Gardeners however don't have it so easy but we can help
ourselves by growing in a block formation rather than long rows. Now something like
97% of the pollen that gets onto the silks comes from other neighboring plants, so if
you think about it, planting in a long row is greatly reducing your chance of pollen being
intercepted. By growing in a block like this, well it increases the chances quite significantly.
I've planted my corn here about 14 to 16 inches, that's 35 to 40 centimeters apart in both
directions. But most gardeners won't be planting more than say 10 to 50 plants. I think
I've got about 15 or 16 here so planting in a block certainly helps, but really we need
to take another step, so let's look at that. The tassels are at their peak when the anthers
dangling down from them are a rich creamy yellow. At this point, every time the plant is disturbed
it'll knock them and release that pollen in little clouds that'll drift down to the female parts
down below and we can use this to our advantage. If conditions are calm when the tassels are
at their peak, just go around and simply tap and gently shake the stems to dislodge
that pollen. This mimics the wind and will release clouds of the pollen to float down to
the silks below. Now the silks tend to mature a few days later than the tassels and even silks
on the same cob seem to mature in succession, starting with those at the base and then
maturing to those at the tip of the cob. So repeat this whole process every day over a
period of two to three days for as long as the tassels are viable to increase the chances of
every silk being pollinated. The pollen becomes less viable over about 90 Fahrenheit or 32 degrees
Celsius so if it gets that hot where you are, this is why pollinating in the morning is
much better because it's still cool. If you aren't around in the morning then just wait till
the evening to shake the stalks of your corn. To absolutely guarantee kernel-crammed cobs
you can also hand pollinate. To do this, carefully detach a tassel from the top of the
plant, then simply dust the tassel back and forth over the silks taking care to cover every
single strand. Repeat this process every few days and again take the time to reach all parts of the
silks, using fresh tassels each time. The silks themselves have a relatively high water content
so the best way to ensure that they actually emerge and are as receptive as possible to that
pollen is to keep your plants really well watered. Corn is a relatively shallow-rooted crop so give
the ground a really thorough soaking if it's dry at least twice a week. The silks will dry out once
their job is done and then all that's left for you to do is to be patient and wait for everything to
swell up ready for harvest. Eventually the silks will turn completely brown and brittle. Then,
to tell if your sweet corn is ready to pick, gently peel back enough of the husk
to expose some of the kernels beneath, then sink a fingernail into one of the kernels and
if the liquid that comes out is nice and creamy, well you're ready to go! Absolute bliss! Sometimes
we need to get creative to help things along in the garden and pollinating our corn is definitely
one of those cases. Now tell me, are you growing corn this year and if so what variety? Let me
know down in the comments below. What are we up to next week? Well with summer just around the
corner it's time for those pests to raise their heads inevitably. And there's one family of crops
that seems to get affected more than any other: the brassicas. If you've had problems growing
the likes of kale, cabbage and broccoli before because of caterpillars, pigeons and all the other
pests and you've given up, well I've got some nature-friendly solutions that will hopefully
encourage you to give this wonderful family of crops another try. Now don't forget to drop this
video a big thumbs up on your way out, check you are subscribed of course and why not check out our
other videos on corn? I will catch you next time.
