Critical Time For Corn

This is a picture of a corn field I took by Morristown this afternoon. Much of the corn in our listening area is entering the critical reproductive phase. One of the old phrases in the trade is the corn crop is made in July. While every day during the growing season is important, bad weather during pollination means lower yields in the fall no matter how good the weather was the rest of the season.

During the reproductive phase the corn plant shoots a tassel. A couple days later the silks emerge. The tassel is the male portion of the plant and the silks and ear the female. Pollen is shed from the tassel and captured by the silks. The pollen travels down the silk and fertilizes the egg which develops into a kernel of corn. If the corn plant is under stress from too dry or wet it can affect pollination. Another big concern is very hot weather during pollination. Under high temperatures the pollen can die before it is captured by the silk. Fortunately we are not under moisture stress and the forecast does is not calling for very high temperatures.