Corn Stalks Not Producing Ears – Poor Pollination

Q: I only got three scrawny ears off my thirty stalks of corn. Any idea why it didn’t produce? It doesn’t look like any ears developed on most of the plants.

A: Poor pollination is my first guess. Corn pollen travels on air currents from the tassel at the top of the stalk down to the silks of immature ears below. The pollen grains travel down the individual silks to cause kernels to grow. Insects are not involved. To get the densest pollen distribution, it’s best for home gardeners to plant corn in a square block rather than in rows.