Just wanting to comment on a few posts. I agree that my plants aren't 100%, like I said this is only my second year. However, I don't think its from underwatering. We've had a lot of rain here the past week or two and the days it didn't rain alot, I made sure I watered them deeply if the ground was dry. I think maybe I didn't put enough nitrogen. I read online early on that I should sidedress with a high nitrogen fertilizer once when they are a foot high and right before tasseling which I did but I guess maybe that wasn't enough. The reason I didn't put more was because I read somewhere when I was researching what to fertilize it with before planting that you can burn the plants by putting too much nitrogen on them so I didn't want to over do it. I used bloodmeal and they turned much greener after both applications. So that I know this for next year, how often should I apply the nitrogen??

I can't think of any stress on the plants and the silk is developing fine. The only thing that seems to be wrong with the plants is the tassel. The ears already have plenty of silk coming out, but they aren't getting pollinated. I did have aphids start to show up maybe 3-4 weeks ago and I sprayed with a bug killer as soon as I started to notice them. It seemed to kill the aphids and I haven't seen any signs of them since. I've had aphids show up previous years, but a lot later in development after the ears had already been pollinated. I don't know if this would stress the plant at all or if any thing else would affect it.

So further research led me to find that corn smut fungus also called huitlacoche in Mexico is eatin and sold as a delicacy. Some corn growers actually inncoluate their fields of corn with spores of the fungus because the huitlacoche is worth more than the corn itself. Maybe I'm on to something here!

Another look and I see the aphid skins - maybe whiteflies - on the leaves around the tassels. Thanks anyway!