I never knew how corn grew. When I read the Garden Guy book I was very confused about hairs and block planting and pollinating each hair??? Now that I have grown some corn, I've got it all figured out...Mostly;)
So first they grow nice and tall and these things shoot out of the top. They were much fuller but this picture was taken after the pollinating process so they are a bit spent:)
Then, down below, shoots of hairs start growing?? Crazy! So the goal is to get the pollen from the top of the corn to pollinate the hairs below.
For that reason they suggest block planting instead of a row so that the pollen is more likely to reach the hairs. I planted my in a row because they were going to shade squash but the squash didn't make it:( This is what happens when all of the hairs don't get pollinated...
See all the missing kernels?? I didn't eat them! Each hair is connected to each kernel and so if it's not pollinated...No kernel:( I haven't given up on my corn because I picked this yummy little guy today and it was tasty! And he had all of his kernels:)
I have a plan to plant a big block of corn this July so if you live near me you will probably get some for Thanksgiving;)
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