I don't know the technical term for it, but it's what pollinates the silk on the individual ears of corn.

That's a tassel.When it reaches full length,the silks will appear about half way up the stalk.Tassel will pollinate the silk and an ear will grow.Is that the only stalk you have?

The entire plant is the corn stalk. What you see in the picture is the corn tassle. It's the male flower of corn. A little later, you will see silks (the silks turn into ears) develop on the main stalk. The silks are the female flower. I don't know how long these things take to develop as I've only grown corn a couple of times because it takes up a lot of space. You need to plant corn in a block if you want good ears. Corn grown in rows or as just a few plants don't reliably pollinate themselves well and you'll end up with a lot of missing kernels (if you even get that).

Rodney

Thank you Rodney. I have 3 stalks

Here is a picture of my corn

Well, when you see the silks growing, shake the stalks so the pollen can fall on them.

When the tassels are up all the way.....you can expect cobs ready to eat in about 18-20 days.So mark the date on your calendar.

another interesting tidbit of info....when you see the tassle you'll see lots of pollen which falls onto the silks. Each silk pollinates one kernel of corn so if you shake the tassle, make sure to try and distribute the pollen to all the silks. It's an amazing plant!

Ok great thanks for all the great info!! Anyone have a photo of what the silk looks like?

Ok great thanks for all the great info!! Anyone have a photo of what the silk looks like?

Ok great thanks for all the great info!! Anyone have a photo of what the silk looks like?

I've heard that gently placing a paper bag over them when you shake the stalks will help with pollination. I was going to try doing that with my first corn crop this year... though, I'm worried that I started them too late.