Someone else posted about this a few days ago, and I'll try to summarize what I told him. Brown silk is one possible clue to the state of ripeness of an ear of corn, but it's not a very reliable one. Some corn gets very brown silk long before it's ready to harvest, other corn has silk that is still quite greenish and not very dried out, except perhaps on the very tips, when the corn is fully mature. The only real way to know for sure if an ear is ready is to open the husk a bit and peek at the ear. If ready, harvest. If not ready, tie a piece of white cloth or tape around the ear with some masking tape or white duct tape to seal it up, since an ear with an opening in the husk is an invitation to crows and other birds. The corn forming in the little pocket around the stem in photo 2 is just a throwback to teosinte, the ancestor of corn, which still grows wild in Mexico and Central America. It did not bear ears at all, but had kernels on the tassels. Almost every corn patch, in my experience, has a few of these wierd formations. This year, I got a complete, almost normal-sized ear with no husk at all on the base of the tassel on one of my stalks. From the other pictures, it appears that the corn has been stressed during the ear development in some way that negatively impacted the quality, which is why you're getting the unfilled ears and ears with no kernel development at all. Possible causes could include drought (although its been very wet in MA this year from what I've heard), overcrowding, and improprer pollination (patch too small for good pollination?)

Thank you so much, I can not thank you anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway sorry I do not know the name but I was given these cacti with no roots and with in a week they had little starts, then after a week in pure bark this is what it looks like!!!!! BTW, what do you see in the first link? Just blank page?

Open Windows Explorer (easiest to right click on Start and left click on Explore). Click on Tools and Folder Options. Click on the File Types tab and scroll down to GIF and click to highlight it. Click the Change button and select the application that you want it to open with. Repeat with all of the affected file types and click Apply. That should do it. Pam

I just figured it out: Internet Explorer Saves Images As Bitmaps (.bmp Files) Applies To SUMMARY When you save an image in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the image is saved by default as a bitmap (.bmp). You do not have the option to save the image by using an extension other than .bmp. You experience this behavior even when the image uses a different format (such as .gif or .jpeg). For example, when you right-click an image on a Web page, and then click Save Picture As, the file name that appears in the File name box is Untitled, and the file type that appears in the Save as type box is Bitmap (*.bmp). CAUSE This behavior may occur if a damaged program file (for example, an ActiveX or Java object) is downloaded to the SystemRoot\Downloaded Program Files folder on your hard disk. RESOLUTION To troubleshoot and resolve this behavior, empty the contents of the Temporary Internet Files folder, and then delete the files in the Downloaded Program Files folder that are listed as either Unknown or Damaged. To do so: Start Internet Explorer (if it is not already started). Empty the contents of the Temporary Internet Files folder. To do so: On the Tools menu, click Internet Options. Click the General tab. Under Temporary Internet files, click Delete Files. When you are prompted to delete all temporary Internet files, click OK. In the Downloaded Program Files folder on your hard disk, remove the files that are listed as either Unknown or Damaged. To do so: On the Tools menu, click Internet Options. Click the General tab. Under Temporary Internet files, click Settings. Click View Objects. The list of program files that are downloaded to the SystemRoot\Downloaded Program Files folder on your hard disk appears in the Downloaded Program Files window. In the Status column, note the files that are listed as either Unknown or Damaged. Remove these files. To do so, right-click the file, and then click Remove. When you are prompted to confirm the removal, click Yes. Close the Downloaded Program Files window, and then click OK two times. Save an image in Internet Explorer to test and determine if the issue is resolved. If the issue continues to occur after you remove all downloaded program files that are listed as Unknown or Damaged, try removing the other downloaded program files that are on the list. Note: The next time that you need one of the files that you removed from the Downloaded Program Files folder, you will receive a prompt to download the file to your hard disk in Internet Explorer. MORE INFORMATION For additional information about how to troubleshoot a similar issue, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 260650 Internet Explorer Does Not Save Graphics Files in the Proper Format if Username:Password Is Part of the URL 250747 Right-Clicking, Selecting 'Save Picture As' Does Not Save Image with Correct Extension The information in this article applies to: Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows XP Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows 2000 Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows Millennium Edition Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows 98 Second Edition Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows 98 Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows 2000 Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows Millennium Edition Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows 98 Second Edition Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows