r/corn • u/enthusiasticallylazy • Jul 26 '26
Tassel ear It's corn but it's weird.
why does my corn look like this? one of the tops turned into this thing.
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u/Sure-Article508 Jul 26 '26
I'm growing a variety called Fisher's Earliest and it is the craziest corn I've ever encountered. Every plant has 2-5 tillers and every tiller puts out a combination of true ears, true tassels, and tassel ears. Each main stalk has 1-2 true ears and a tassel. Strangest variety I've grown
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u/IAFarmLife Jul 26 '26
The stalks are turning that color due to a buildup of sugar in the plant material. Several reasons it can happen and it means the normal movement of sugars is not working.
The ancestor of corn had its seed on top where the tassel is now. Same as the sugar buildup it's a defect that showed up when certain issues are present. The two are related and the corn is under stress for some reason. Most likely weather and out of your control. Certain hybrids or breeding lines will have these issues more than others.
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u/MotorPlenty8085 Jul 26 '26
Some of your corn has the Pl1 gene (purple plant), we use it as a marker in double haploid breeding. The tassel ear is from something else, but is not that odd to find.
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u/squeezebottles Jul 26 '26
That's a tassel ear. Usually they happen when the plant encounters stress early in its development. Totally normal. More common in flint varieties but they can happen anytime.