How wonderful it would be to reap a bounty of corn if all we needed to do was drop the seeds in their little hole and watch them grow. Unfortunately for the home gardener, manual pollination of corn is almost a necessity. Even if your plot of corn is fairly large, learning how to hand pollinate corn can increase your yield and help prevent those sterile stalks that are often found along the edges of your planting. Before you learn about hand pollinating corn, it helps to know a little about the plant itself.
How Corn Pollination Happens
Corn(Zea mays) is actually a member of a family of annual grasses and while it doesn't produce showy petals, it does have both male and female flowers on each plant. The male flowers are called the tassel. That's the part that looks like grass gone to seed that blooms at the top of the stalk. As the tassel ripens, pollen is shed from the center spike downward to the lower fronds. The female parts of the stalk are the ears located at leaf junctions and the female flowers are the silks. Each strand of silk is connected to one kernel of corn. Pollination occurs when pollen touches the strand of silk. This seems like pollination should be easy. The pollen drifting down from the tassel should pollinate the ears below, right? Wrong! 97 percent of an ear's pollination comes from other plants, which is why it is important to know when and how to pollinate corn.
Timing for Hand Pollinating Corn
In larger fields, wind takes care of corn pollination. Between air circulation and stalks jostling one another in the wind, there is enough natural agitation to spread the pollen. In smaller garden plots, the gardener takes the place of the wind and the gardener needs to know when to do the job as well as how. To pollinate corn efficiently, wait until the tassels are fully open and beginning to shed the yellow pollen. This usually begins two to three days before silk emerges from the embryonic ears. As soon as the silk emerges, you're ready to begin the manual pollination of corn. Pollination will continue for another week under ideal conditions. Most pollen shedding occurs between 9 and 11 a.m., after the morning dew has dried. Cool, cloudy, or rainy weather can delay or inhibit pollination.
How to Hand Pollinate Corn
Timing is everything. Once you have the when, how to hand pollinate corn is a snap. Literally! Ideally, hand pollinating corn should be done in the morning, but many gardeners have bosses who object to taking time off for such endeavors, so early evening, before dew fall, is your best alternative. Snap the tassels off a few stalks and use them like feather dusters. Dust over the emerging silks at each ear. You'll be hand pollinating corn for about a week, so use your judgment as to how many tassels you snap per dusting. Start at the opposite ends of your rows each night to help equalize the distribution. That's it! You've successfully completed your manual pollination of corn. A relaxing stroll through the garden and a little light wrist action is all it takes. You'll be surprised at how relaxing hand pollinating corn can be. Sure beats a lot of other garden chores and the rewards will be well worth the time.
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FAQs
Hand Pollinate to Guarantee Success
How do you ensure good corn pollination? ›
Snap the tassels off a few stalks and use them like feather dusters. Dust over the emerging silks at each ear. You'll be hand pollinating corn for about a week, so use your judgment as to how many tassels you snap per dusting. Start at the opposite ends of your rows each night to help equalize the distribution.
How do you plant corn for best pollination? ›
Pollination is essential, since each kernel develops only when a pollen grain lands on the silk attached to that kernel. While it is possible for corn to be pollinated effectively when planted in a single row, planting several short rows in a block formation increases the likelihood of successful pollination.
How many stalks of corn do you need to pollinate? ›
Corn is wind-pollinated. To get ears with a full complement of kernels, you need to plant a block of same-variety corn plants that can pollinate one another. For good pollination, the minimum number of plants in such a block is about 18.
How many rows of corn do you need to cross pollinate? ›
Since sweet corn is pollinated by the wind, it cannot be planted in a single row. Even two rows of corn will not pollinate correctly. A plot 4 feet long by four rows wide is the minimum to getting good full ears of sweet corn. Sometimes you can get by with three rows.
What is the most effective way of pollination? ›
Bees are ideal pollinators because they visit many flowers while carrying lots of pollen, before returning to their nest. So the chance that a bee will transfer the pollen between flowers of the same species is very high.
Does rain help pollinate corn? ›
Prolonged wet and cloudy conditions prior to silking and through the early reproductive growth stages can reduce pollination and yield potential. wet weather it is not the only stress that can cause pollination issues. Poor timing of pollen shed (anthesis) and silk emergence can also lead to reduced seed set.
What are the methods to ensure pollination? ›
Hand-pollination can be carried out in a couple of different ways. One way is to simply remove a flower and pull back or strip off the petals, then rub it inside another flower. Some plants have separate male and female flowers, so make sure to get the correct ones!
What time of day does corn pollinate? ›
Pollination should take place in the morning after an- thers have opened and any dew has evaporated. Be sure to wait until tassel bags are completely dry.
What is the best fertilizer for corn? ›
Once the plants are established, the need then changes to a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Examples of fertilizers high in nitrogen include blood meal, urea, chicken manure pellets, or feather meal. The Natural Organic Blood Meal from Burpee has an NPK of 12-0-0 and is ideal for heavy feeders such as corn.
The "tassel" on top is the male flowers, and they produce pollen. The yellow silk halfway-up the stalk are the female flowers. When the silk is new and sticky simply cut a male flower and shake it over and around the silk, trying to get pollen on each strand of silk = each kernel of corn. That's a little small.
Can one stalk of corn pollinate itself? ›
While corn can pollinate itself, around 97 percent of the silks on a plant are pollinated by neighboring plants, so if we were to plant in a row the opportunity for the silks to intercept pollen of any kind would be dramatically reduced. Plant your corn around 14-16 inches (35-40cm) apart in both directions.
How can I improve my corn pollination? ›
When planting corn, it is important to plant at least three rows side by side to ensure adequate wind pollination. The female flower, or silks, are threadlike projections from the actual ear or cob of the corn. Each thread or silk represents an individual kernel on that particular ear of corn.
Will my corn pollinate itself? ›
While corn can pollinate itself, around 97 percent of the silks on a plant are pollinated by neighboring plants, so if we were to plant in a row the opportunity for the silks to intercept pollen of any kind would be dramatically reduced. Plant your corn around 14-16 inches (35-40cm) apart in both directions.
What happens if corn does not pollinate? ›
Silks will remain attached to kernels that weren't pollinated for a few weeks. Regardless, the end result of an aborted kernel is the same as a non-pollinated kernel: Yield loss. Many of the same stresses that can cause incomplete pollination will also cause ear tip die back if they happen during grain fill.
How long after pollination is corn ready? ›
When to Harvest
| Kernel Growth Stage | Days After Pollination |
|---|
| Dented | 40 |
| Late Dent | 45 |
| Half Milk Line | 50 |
| Mature | 55 |
7 more rowsJul 18, 2022
If field corn or sweet corn pollinate popcorn, it may not pop well after harvest. Likewise, if wind blows popcorn pollen onto sweet corn silk, the sweet corn will have poor eating quality. You must isolate different types of corn from one another.
