Sweetcorn silks disintegrating

[LexLucre]

This is my first year growing anything so this might be a a fairly obvious question but I'm having no luck searching for it.

Probably just over a week ago, my F1 Sundance started flowering with its tassels and silk. I don't have a very big block, and was slow off the mark but for the last 6 days I've been trying to help with some hand pollination.

The silks very quickly turned from yellow to purple, and I haven't been able to establish whether that was relevant to their pollination or just a natural process.

More worrying, today it seems like the oldest silks have all dried up and have started disintegrating, becoming a more brown hue.

Any idea of the cause? Is this normal or a disaster?

My only guess is that they've struggled with the first hot day they've probably seen.

Here's what the newer ones look like


And this is what the brittle dry ones look like


This is mid shed but there are few that look more sorry.

[Bigmallly]

It's quite normal for the silks to turn brown, nothing to worry about.

[LexLucre]

Thanks for the reply. It was more the issue they'd dried out and have started shedding until there's basically no silk left. Not sure why I took a picture of one mid shed as it doesn't help illustrate the issue

[Martin H]

Once the silks are evenly brown and crispy, it's time to check if the corn is ready to pick.

[LexLucre]

Is that possible just a week or so after the silks/tassels appeared? I thought it would take a lot longer, but I guess it's an early variety and it may have bolted.

[Nannysally99]

I would have a look and see if anything is ready yet, if not, it won't be long

[Jungle Jane]

It's normal & good they'll go a lot browner & drier still,they don't look quite ready yet,if you want to test,peel back the edge & pierce the end kernel if it's milky it's ready to pick if it's watery it's not ready yet,but I'd wait a few more days.

[Snoop Puss]

I must admit that a week seems quite quick to me too, but the appearance is totally normal.

Do the cobs feel a reasonable size? Have you peeled the leaves back a bit to check to see if the kernels are developing? (If you do peel the leaves back, don't go very far as you'll let ants and other nuisance insects in.) Press a kernel with a fingernail or something similar: if the liquid is very pale and transparent, they're not ready yet. If it's milky and the kernels look nice and plump, get a pan of water on the boil, get the butter out of the fridge and get ready to eat. It would be a shame to let them go over!

Edited to add: apologies to Jungle Jane. Not sure what happened there. I posted quite a while after you, but didn't see your post before adding mine.

[LexLucre]

I had a peak at the end of one of them but it hadn't really developed, the kernels were very small. Not sure if that's a pollination problem or time. Will have a look at one of the others at the weekend.

Thanks for all the advice.

[cptncrackoff]

The very end of the cob often doesn't pollinate properly, ive had this on quite a few cobs, often if you peel back slightly more you can find a good deal of juicy kernels.. depending on how many plants you have and how swollen the cobs are it could be worth having a good peel back on one cob, just to see!

[bario1]

^^^ agreed, last year only the bottom two thirds of my cobs had kernels. I'm guessing the pollen ran out too quickly from the available tassels? This year I've staggered my sowings to try and rectify this.

[Jungle Jane]

Looking at the photo they don't look ready & a week is far too soon,they don't look like the corns have bulked out yet. There's some pictures on this link that show how the silks should look all brown & crispy.
How to Preserve Sweet Corn | Peak Prosperity