Topic: What has eaten my sweetcorn tassels?

[tricia]

My Applause plants have grown well in spite of the weather, but although there are lots of cobs I don't think they will have been pollinated. All the tassels have been bitten off very neatly right to where they emerge from the cob. Is it possible mice were the culprits? The tassels disappeared within a day or two of sprouting from the cobs - so not much chance of the cobs being pollinated I would think.

Anyone else had this problem and put it down to mice? My garden is fully enclosed by walls and fence so I'm sure it couldn't have been rabbits or other wildlife.

Such a disappointment  :(.

Tricia

[goodlife]

Even the tassels have been 'trimmed', not all is lost yet. There is plenty of tassel left inside that you can pollinate by hand..providing male parts still produce pollen. Collect some pollen from various heads...place dish straight underneath the heads..bend it slightly and give it little shake.
Once you got some together..cut little slit on the cob edge where the tassels should emerge and spread the 'paper' slightly to reveal the tassel ends and with brus transfer little pollen into each 'cob'.

Some corn seed growers practice tassel trimming in purpose to keep their varieties 'clean' from possible 'contamination'... ;)

[tricia]

Oh! what a pity goodlife! I wish I had posted the problem earlier. It's been quite windy here the past few days and though I've just tried to follow your advice there is absolutely no pollen left on any of the flowers. All I got on the dish were ants, spiders and the spent bits of the flowers! I counted 21 cobs on 15 plants - such a shame. I'm going to leave the cobs for a while though - just in case some did get pollinated.

Never mind - I'll know what to do if the same thing happens next year.

Thank you for the great tip  :).

Tricia

[Jayb]

I've had problems with eaten silks too. Seems to be earwigs that are eating/cutting my silks also eating some of the tassels  :( They have been a right nuisance this year and I guess will be doing more damage if they have managed to get in with the developing cobs. Agree with Goodlife's advice, expose a bit of silks and hand pollinate if you have available pollen.

Is anyone else growing some sweet corn nearby, perhaps they would be ok with you collecting a little pollen as long as it is a suitable type? Seems a shame to miss out.