Greetings! I'm growing corn, stalks are now about 18 inches tall. I've noticed several stalks have a smaller side stalk, are those like suckers that need to be pulled off or just let them be? Also if they do grow out will they ever bear? Thank you.
leave them alone. they won't produce anything but I have heard it actually slows the plant down when you remove them.
I often get those and they produce small ears that I can harvest and eat. Perhaps this all has to do with the type of sweetcorn your seeds are. I do not have the good fortune every year.
They are small sucker like growths that may produce small ears or may not ! I would leave them since as Carolyn said removal can cause a slight setback in the main stalk ! What variety is this corn ?
Thank you Carolyn, Sjoerd and Mart for answering my question. Mart these are Burpee's Triple Crown Bicolor Hybrid. I've left any extra shoots alone, have not noticed any cobs on them though. Getting ready to harvest the first few any day now! So excited. I check up on them about every other day and have been tapping the pollen tassels into so folded newspaper and transferring it to the waiting silks. Yay corn!!
If you have two rows side by side you shouldn`t have to transfer pollen ! Wind does a pretty good job of it ! 3 or 4 ears per stalk is about average ! Try peaches and cream corn ! Good size ears and very tender and sweet ! It is a bi-color corn !
Well, I picked two of the ripest ears I could find. The silks had dried up and turned mostly brown. A bit disappointing. Not too sweet, kernels were small. So now I know to wait until the silks are really dried up. Live and learn.
There is an art to picking corn ! Silks need to be dead dry not just mostly dry ! If they are still wet at the tip of the ear it is not ready to pick !
