Manual pollination of corn is a crucial task for home gardeners to increase yield and prevent sterile stalks. There are various methods to hand-pollinate corn, including separating male and female flowers, using perfect timing, and observing the plants carefully.
Corn is typically grown in rows in windy places where pollen can carry long distances. However, if you’re growing just a few stalks in a small garden, hand-pollination may be necessary. To ensure efficient pollination, wait until the tassels are fully open and begin to shed yellow pollen, which usually begins two to three days before silk.
To ensure proper pollination, it’s best to hand-pollinate corn when the air outside is dry and under 90°F, especially mid-morning. Corn is a type of grass, and like other grasses, flowers are wind-pollinated. Plant corn an inch deep, spacing them 8 to 12 inches apart in blocks, such as 15 plants in a 3’x5′ area. At least one pollen grain must fall on every single silk and fertilize each ovule for a full ear of corn to grow.
Corn is pollinated by the wind rather than insects, so planting it in blocks rather than rows is essential for optimal results. By following these tips and tricks, you can ensure that your corn plants receive the necessary pollination to produce delicious, juicy corn ears.
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Don’t cut the tassles off. Instead, early in the morning just after the dew dries, take a magazine and hold it under the tassles (preferably a dark magazine cover so you can see the yellow pollen), tap the tassle and pollen will collect on the magazine. Roll up the magazine a bit then dump the pollen on the silks one at a time.
So I have started a garden in my yard in Arizona… im a new-ish gardener. I did what you said from all your articles I have a damn crop going. Tomatoes. Strawberry Blackberries BLUEBERRIES Corn…so. much corn Pumpkins. It all took off. Because of you I have the greenest thumb in Az. Its crazy. Thanks for all your articles.
You can always try getting a piece of paper, shake the tassels onto the paper and then just shaking the paper onto the hairs to pollinate them. This is what I am doing just be careful not to bend to much and make sure its not windy lol cough. I have 40+ growing in my garden and 40+ at my allotment here in the UK feel free to follow me
Thank you for the article. It is just June in Zone 3/4a and I impulsively decided to plant corn this year. There were plants at the local green house and I just decided to try them. Everything is already planted and I don’t have alot space either. So I have been doing a little reearch and saw your article, it was a godsend. I was wondering about hand polinating corn and if my area would be too small. Very informative. Thanx
i found that using a newspaper which is something i learned from another article is better than cutting and doing what this article says, you grab the paper cover the other end so nothing falls out and then just shake the tassels onto the newspaper and then just dump or blow all the pollen on the silks and this way the tassels continue shedding and producing pollen through their cycle. and you can continue to do it for any new silks that appear because i see that some are later than others in appearing. so you dont wanna cut off all your pollen producers. and it seems to distribute it much better because i did the cut method and the silks didnt die off too quickly and some seemed to linger so then i tried the newspaper method and they died off with the others then other plants i did only did the newspaper method and the silks started dying within the next day. so you seem to get better pollination that the plant instantly reacts to.
Sorry but I grew the smallest patch! 4 stalks in a 58 qt Walmart storage bin. Daily pollen is only viable for a few hours and any hand pollination should occur in the morning. I did mine at 9:00 each morning for a week! I held a small jar up to the tassle, tilted it so a few anther stalks were in the jar (careful not to lose any pollen) and cut the stalks. I actually took a soft artist paint brush and swirled it in the jar then painted pollen over and under every silk, especially the very new silks. I ended up with 2 ears per stalk and each one had almost perfect rows with kernels grown all the way to the top of the cob (the newest silks!). Too much work. I now purchase corn at farmers market!
I keep kid’s electric toothbrushes in my garden shed. They run about $4.99 at Big Box stores. I just lay the neck of the vibrating toothbrush onto the stems full of open tomatoes blossoms and let it vibrate the pollen free for about 20 seconds. On occasion you’ll actually see a tiny puff of pollen. It works wonders for tomatoes, so I could guess it would do the same with corn pollinating!?
I’ve got my first tassel on a stalk of corn. No silks yet. Would I be able to shake the tassel of pollen into a paper envelope and later use that to hand pollinate, once my silks have formed? Or will the tassel of pollen remain for long enough? This is my first time growing corn. I’m very much still a beginner!
My corn patch is very interesting. The smaller corn stalk about 2 feet already have male tassel and corn silk BUT my nice big tall very healthy looking corn stalk about 4ft high does not have anything (no male tassel, no corn silk) just nice healthy looking stalk….so what happen and what do I need to do? Thanks.
Is that dragonfruit cactus back there? I actually have over a hundred corn plants, so I’ll probably be fine, but it really is a small area, so why not be thorough. It’s basically like, imagine the lawn area around a city corner lot. I’ve pretty much filled it with food plants. It’s amazing how people will just waste their land growing grass when they could get food for way less work tbh.
I just whack mine as I walk by. 😬😂 Lets out some frustration while knocking the pollen down. We’ve also had a bit of a Japanese beetle issue on the corn tassels so they fly off startled. Hate those jerks. I also have a tiny backyard corn patch. Next year I won’t be so minimal with the seed plantings. Gonna “go big” and plant a whopping 12 kernels 😄 in the tiny bit of yard I have. Sq ft gardening book says I can plant 4 to a square so I’m gonna do it!
I noticed tassels on my corn the other day, and now looking at it I see I also have silks. But my tassels don’t have those little hangy-down things you said had pollen, and if I touch them I don’t see pollen on my fingers. In other comments it said you have to do the pollenation within 10 days of silk appearing: is it just too early and I have to wait longer for pollen? Is the pollen invisible and I should just do it anyway? Is it something about this variety (sweet bicolor)? I have 24 plants in two recycling bins on my patio – this is the first year I have tried corn.
Plz don’t do this ppl. There are something like 2 million pollen on each anther. Tassles produce pollen for a week straight. So when you pick a tassle off, and tap it around, youre cutting off all the days after that where an anther produces more pollen. Tap the tassles onto a plate and move the silks gently as you blow/pour the pollen onto them.