Knee High by the 4th of July

The 4th of July is a great time to celebrate our country's independence, show off your patriotism, spend time with family and friends, shoot off fireworks and check crops.  It's been tradition for decades that farmers check their crops, especially corn, to see if it is "Knee High by the 4th of July."  Now while knee high isn't the benchmark for farmers anymore due to hybridization and improved genetics, it is still a fun tradition for our family to benchmark our corn (and family's) growth every year (see 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012).

What is a Corn Tassel?

What does it mean when corn is tasseling?  Corn has started to tassel in our area over the last couple of weeks, which is a few weeks behind a "normal" year.  Tasseling is an important milestone in corn plant's growth.  Corn's growth scale is divided between two different sets - vegetative (designated as V-stages) and reproductive (designated as R-stages).  The transitional stage between the V and R stages is VT - also known as tasseling.  This stage is also important for another reason, because corn plants have reached their final height, or close to it, by the time tasseling begins.  Tasseling is a very vulnerable stage for both drought (which we have been pretty dry the last couple of weeks) and hail (which we had earlier this week...)

What is a tassel?
Simply put, the tassel is the top most part of a corn plant.  Here is a picture that shows a corn plant with the tassel fully opened or out.

The corn tassel is the part of the plant where the pollen comes from.  The pollen pollinates the ear of corn, which causes the ear of corn to grow.  Pollination occurs when pollen falls off the tassel and then blows through the wind and eventually comes in contact with the silk on the top of the ear of corn.  Ears of corn start growing silk at the beginning of the R stages.  When the silks dry and turn brown, the pollination process is done and the ear of corn will continue to grow.

What is detasseling?
You may have heard of high schoolers having the summer job of detasseling - so what exactly is it?  Seed companies hire detasselers to help them create specific cross pollination of corn plants.  The work done by detasselers will eventually result in new corn hybrids that farmers will want to plant.  To produce this specific cross pollination, seed companies designate male and female rows of corn.  All female rows have their tassels pulled by hand.  Male rows are left alone so their pollen in their tassels will cross pollinate in the neighboring female rows.  Cross pollinating is when you have pollen from one variety of corn fertilize or pollinate the silk of another and different variety of corn.

So now when somebody is talking about corn tasseling or you see those "yellow tops" on the corn, you'll know what tassels are and the importance of this corn growth stage!

The simple things...

Today as I was playing with my son after dinner I was reminded of how the simple things in life are what makes life great, from seeing the corn begin to tassel, despite the hot weather and no rain in over a week...

To hearing my son laugh...

All I can say is life is good and God is great!

Farm Friday

Today's Farm Friday edition is coming a little later than I normally like to post because I've been away from home for most of the day.  Things have been busy on the farm this week.  We have been working on several jobs and projects around the farm, as well as taking care of things like certifying our acreage at the FSA-USDA office.

In "my backyard," the corn is still coming along well, even though we haven't had any rain this week.

The corn is now over 6 feet tall and is about ready to tassel.

My "hog's backyard" of soybeans is coming along well too.

The soybeans are at V7...

or at R1.  R1 means the soybeans have begun their Reproductive Stages and are flowering.

Do you have any questions about the development stages of corn or soybeans?  Be sure to ask any questions or make any comments in the comment section below.  If you farm, how are your crops coming along?

Also, be sure to let me know what your favorite summer pork food is on my Tuesday Tasty Pork Recipe post to win a pig silicon pot holder.