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Everyone wants a potential harvest that’s as large as possible, well that is usually determined or established early in the season.
This is because successful pollination plays the main role in a bountiful harvest, but this would be interrupted if the corn or crop is not well pollinated.
Some farmers or those who own a corn farm don’t know how to tell if corn is pollinated or not.
Well, there are various means to tell if corn is pollinated.
This article will educate you on how to tell if corn is pollinated with these 3 visible watch signs.
It includes watching the formation of pollen tubes, monitoring the corn silk, and examining the plant to see if ovules have formed.
How To Tell If Corn Is Pollinated
It’s essential to know if pollination was successful or not, some people don’t know how to.
This is needed information because pollination is vital for the growth of corn.
The three (3) watch signs listed here will be explained and these have proven to be the best on how to tell if corn is pollinated.
- Examine for the formation of ovules
- Watch for the formation of pollen tubes
- Monitoring the corn silk
Examine For The Formation Of Ovules
You will have to examine your plant for the presence of ovules and this is an easy way or means to know if your corn has been pollinated or not.
How to identify this is if you see watery blisters (ovules) that’s what ovules look like, some often refer to it as the blister stage as one of the development processes.
The ovules can be seen in the ears of the corn, for a successfully fertilized corn ear will have the ovules grow in paired rows.
To check whether your corn has been pollinated, look for the development of ovules.
Approximately 10 days after pollination, ovules will start to form.
On a corn ear, ovules show as pairs of rows of wet blisters.
The ovules are difficult to observe on the day of pollination, but if the pollination is successful, the “blisters” will develop 10 days later.
As a result, you can start inspecting your corn shortly after it has begun to flower to find evidence of effective pollination as soon as feasible.
Watch For The Formation Of Pollen Tubes
For you to know that pollination has occurred, there will be the presence of pollen tubes.
Each ear of potential kernels is connected to silk.
When the pollen grains are connected or attached they develop a pollen tube, that in turn accelerates the length of the silk during the germination process.
Pollination successfully happens when the strand of corn silk has been fetched from the individual ovules.
It is the formation of pollen tubes that determines if pollination has started.
It grows the entire length of the silk after that, the silk separates from the ovules.
For a pollen tube to grow after pollination it takes 10-28 hours.
Look for indications that the silk strands have started to separate from the ovules in immature corn.
The pollination process and the formation of the germ tube require around 10-28 hours.
You may tell a young ear of corn has been pollinated if you examine it and notice that individual silk strands have started to break from the ovules.
Monitoring The Corn Silk
As the corn matures, identifying pollinated corn becomes simpler.
Unwrap the husk leaves from a corn ear in your corn patch and gently shake it to make one last pollination check.
Pollination has most likely been successful if the silks are loosely attached to the husk.
This is because silks get brown and dry after the pollination process.
Carefully open the husks to check if the silks are easy to remove from the leaves.
You have more fertilized ovules the more silks that drop.
How Long Does It Take For Corn To Become Pollinated?
Corn needs between 16 to 23 days to complete pollination.
Typically, pollen sheds after 5 to 8 days, then, silks will show up at the ear’s base.
Under typical growth conditions, this procedure takes around ten days.
Some silks, however, could take up to 14 days to mature.
The time it takes for corn to pollinate ranges from 16 to 23 days.
The fertilization process only requires 10 to 28 hours.
Corn silks may take up to 14 days to mature and start to separate, indicating that your corn has been pollinated.
When the pollen grain touches the silk, it immediately begins to germinate.
The entire fertilization process takes between 10 and 28 hours.
It is advised that you routinely inspect your corn for more indications of successful pollination because it takes time for the ovule to develop and for silks to separate and eventually become brown.
What Takes Place When Corn Isn’t Pollinated?
Ineffective pollination will prevent maize plants from yielding any palatable kernels.
This is so that the ovules, which will never grow and cannot develop into corn kernels, can never mature.
In rare instances, pollination may begin but fail.
To ensure you’ll receive a nice corn harvest, it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for more signals as the corn grows, even if you notice ovules on your corn ears early in the process.
There won’t be any eatable kernels of corn if pollination is unsuccessful.
After the “blister stage,” nothing happens if pollination is unsuccessful.
After you first notice corn ovules, check your corn patch every few days; other indications will show that the corn has been pollinated.
The “blister stage” will be reached if corn pollination fails, but nothing else will happen after that.
The watery-appearing blisters won’t develop into growing kernels.
The unfertilized ovules will still have silks attached to them if corn is not pollinated.
If the pollination is effective, the silks will appear young and healthy and won’t become brown and break off as they usually do.
With these 3 easy-watch signs, I believe the question of how to tell if corn is pollinated has been answered.
Just follow through with these watch signs and you can determine if your corn has pollinated or not on your own.