I don't think you have done anything wrong. The ears should appear in a few days.

Agreed, the tassls appear well before the ears. Sound like your eastern end has more nutients. Corn needs a lot of nitrate ate this stage. You might want to hit it with a soluble high nitrogen foliar feed like fish emulsion or Miracle Grow.

Regarding the nutrients comment by Farmerdilla.. Could it be that you maybe you have a tree or bush on the side of your plot having the poorly looking corn? If so, then the encroaching roots may be stealing the nutrients from your corn. (I'm only guessing here..)

If things don't turn out this year, you might think about giving them some more room. 24 plants in 12 square feet is crowded. Personally, I put 24 plants in an 8'x4' bed. In overcrowded situations, plants along the edges do better cuz they get more light and they can send roots away from the group. But I would expect the west side to do just as well. Possibly the east edge of your bed has a more favorable expansion zone for the roots to spread out.

Thanks for your responses. I didn't realize the tassles came so long before the ears. And the reddish color is okay? The stalks with ears are much greener and thicker than the stocks without. I have some miracle grow, I'll try using that today.

Silks appear about 3 or 4 days after tassels appear fully. The purple stalks and yellow indicate stunting of some kind....obvious over-crowding and probably lack of phosphorus available.

Some varieties of sweet corn have purple stalks and also in the ears when they develop. Yellow leaves are usually the result from too much water when the plants are young. Look at the feild corn around you where water stood for a few days. They are not bright green. With the ground sealed from water, the roots dont get any air.