Topic: missing kernels!

[umshamrock]

HI,
I just got back from my allotment...and my corn has like no kernels! i have never seen anything like it. i have probably picked 6 ears already this year that were all fine...then today i picked six more and all of them had very few kernels. one had yellow kernels but were all shriveled - they looked old even though the tassels were just light brown. the ears were all covered in plastic bottles to prevent mice attack, i don't know if that had anything to do with it.

any ideas?? here is a pick:




shamrock

[OliveOil]

sounds like mice to me - maybe they crept up the bottle!

[umshamrock]

don't think it was mice - they kinda strip the leaves off and the leaves were very tightly wrapped still...it's crazy, i'm telling you. the tassels were missing though.

oh, and i saw pics of bottles covering corn on another thread - i didn't cut the ends off my bottles.

maybe it got too hot for the cobs? they were only covered a few weeks and i didn't cover them till they were big!

[greenscrump]

Me too!!  This is my first year so everything is a revelation/mystery, I just assumed that I'd been too enthusiatic and picked them too soon ....  anyone no whats's afoot??

[laurieuk]

Do you think that there were kernels there or is it just poor pollination.I have seen corn like this when people have grown corn in rows instead of blocks.

[cleo]

It could be poor pollenation-I get someting similar with about 10% of my crop. They are still OK to eat though or put them in the stock pot

[Mrs Ava]

Yup, agree, poor pollination.  If the air is still when the flowers and flowering, walk through the plants and give them a little shake, you will see the pollen floating around in the breeze - this ensures nice full cobs.  My urchins did it for me, and I did it again a few days later, and our cobs are packed to the very tips.  Even if you are only growing a few plants, get them close and in a blockor little group, as mentioned.