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:
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k179/umshamrock/P8170028.jpg)
shamrock
sounds like mice to me - maybe they crept up the bottle!
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!
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??
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.
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
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.