Hand pollinating a sparse corn planting

[chrysanthemum]

I have a couple of pretty pathetic corn patches this year.  (To call them patches is even an exaggeration, I’m afraid.)

My first planting was very small, only sixteen seeds.  I had some poor germination and lack of vigor, and I have only three plants that remain in that “patch.”  Two are starting to send up their tassels, but they are about eight feet apart.

I know I’ll need to hand pollinate these guys to stand any chance of anything, and chances are probably pretty poor even so.  There are no signs of ears yet, but I wanted to think ahead.  I’d be hesitant to break off a whole tassel in case the timing isn’t right, but I wonder if I could snip the most exserted part of the tassel into a paper bag and use that to spread pollen.  If anyone has different suggestions, I’d be very grateful for any guidance or advice.

I have eight more corn plants (out of 30 more seeds) in another bed, but they were planted far later.  I hope they’ll be easier to pollinate when they start maturing because they are in blocks together, but I’d like to give a shot to getting at least one cob from my earlier planting.  My little kids were so excited about corn this year.  It would be hard on them (and on me) for it to fail completely.

I do have some more seeds in reserve, and I was tempted to try again because the space I had designated for corn remains empty.  Given my poor success this summer, though, I think I’ll wait till next year and see if the season is a little better.

[macmex]

It's too late for me to plant, now. I missed the whole season, which is a first.
The question besides "how will conditions be in the next month or two," is "will it cool down enough for pollination," and "will there be enough mild weather, before frost, to mature seed."

[chrysanthemum]

It would be pushing it for maturity if we had frost on the early side. Our average is the middle of November, but I’ve seen a hard freeze at the end of October more than once down here. Last year we didn’t even have frost or freeze till January 1st. It was crazy.

That’s why I figured I’d just save my remaining seeds, and try again next year. I even wonder about saving seeds from a crop this year (if any such crop can be produced) because it would be too small for good genetic diversity.

Any thoughts on the best way to hand pollinate?

[woodeye]

I'm miles from being an expert on corn, but I remember the last time I grew corn, I was real concerned about pollination because I had planted 4 rows that were 100 feet long. So when it tasseled and the silk was on the little ears, I walked between the rows and shook each and every cornstalk. 

I know that won't work on the situation you have, but what it taught me was that corn pollen is tiny and flies everywhere. I shook those stalks on a calm day and the pollen was easy to see drifting in the air.

So, you asked what the best method of hand pollination is. Well I don't know with any amount of certainty what the best method is, but if I was faced with the same situation as you are with corn this year, I would take a paper bag and put it over the tassel and close the bag with my hand below the tassel. Gently bend it over and give it a shake. Then take the bag with the pollen in it and place it over the ear of corn with silk, work slowly and put the bag over the ear of corn, again closing the bag gently with my hand, and give it a shake...

That's what I would do, but whether that is the best way, the proper way, or a silly way, I have no idea...

[chrysanthemum]

I realized just this evening that I never followed up on this thread. I ended up pulling out that tiny three-stalk “plot” of corn. They were tasseling at the point where we rain out of rain water, and since I was skeptical about getting any sort of ear anyway, I decided to cut the stalks up for compost instead of trying to water them on our limited resources at the time.


Thankfully it has since rained, and we have water in our rain tanks again. I have a second planting of corn that is still tiny, only eight stalks all told, but at least the ones that survived are all grouped together. Several are tasseling now, and there is one ear that’s silking. I did shake a little pollen on it this morning. I still don’t know if I’ll be able to get anything out of this planting, but I’m giving it a try.

[woodeye]

Good deal chrysanthemum, I hope you come back to this thread before long to tell us about your corn success...

[hmoosek]

I have a small patch of 5 stalks of Glass Gem corn in my Pigott Family pea patch. I have 6 peas to 5 corn stalks. I’m now wondering how to fertilize the corn without affecting the peas. The peas are more important to me, so I don’t want to do anything boneheaded.

[woodeye]

My thinking is that the cowpeas will provide nitrogen for the corn and help it grow, & since I don't know how your peas and corn are already fertilized, I'd probably leave them as is and see what happens. But please note that I'm notorious for having above average BHI's...

[chrysanthemum]

Aug 30, 2022 9:39:34 GMT -6 hmoosek said:

I have a small patch of 5 stalks of Glass Gem corn in my Pigott Family pea patch. I have 6 peas to 5 corn stalks. I’m now wondering how to fertilize the corn without affecting the peas. The peas are more important to me, so I don’t want to do anything boneheaded.

I’m no expert on corn or peas or fertilizing, but if you think the corn needs feeding, you might try a balanced fertilizer with about equal ratios of N, P, and K.  I know corn likes a lot of Nitrogen and peas don’t want it added, so it would seem safest to me to use a more balanced one that the peas wouldn’t mind so much but that would still give some N to the corn.

That’s just a guess and what I would try if I felt that the corn really needed something.  Otherwise, I’d be tempted to just leave it alone.  As I said, I’m no expert.  You’ll see that by my next post.

[chrysanthemum]

I had a second corn silk show up today on a slightly sturdier stalk.  Hurray!  (I know two silks is not all that exciting, but with the difficulty I’ve had trying to establish a corn patch this year, it was actually a cause for celebration this morning.)





I’ve been adding compost around my corn plants from time to time in an effort to hill them up, but I can’t do a lot in my raised beds.  A couple of plants have brace roots showing, and I think it’s interesting to see this color.

[hmoosek]

I think I will take a “watch” approach. Right now it’s looking pretty good. If it starts to fizzle, I can add a little something. I typically don’t use much fertilizer except for tomato tone.

[woodeye]

chrysanthemum

That silking ear and those roots are gorgeous! Definitely calls for a celebration...

[chrysanthemum]

I had two more silks showing this morning. (One was so small as to be barely visible, but hey, it’s progress!). I also saw pollen lying on some of the corn leaves, so it’s flying about. Maybe we’ll be able to get something.

[woodeye]

Aug 31, 2022 18:53:54 GMT -6 chrysanthemum said:

I had two more silks showing this morning. (One was so small as to be barely visible, but hey, it’s progress!). I also saw pollen lying on some of the corn leaves, so it’s flying about. Maybe we’ll be able to get something.

That is some great news for sure...

[heavyhitterokra]

Chrysanthemum,

That sure is some pretty dirt that corn is enjoying.