[strangerachael]

My sweetcorn is looking really healthy and big, but the male flowers are well underway and there is no sign of any tassels  Should I be worried? I don't fully understand how the pollination process works - do the tassels need to be present at the same time as the male flowers?

[Greengirl]

I wouldn't worry , the tassels should arrive in time for the pollen to be ripe & ready for pollination.

[mumofstig]

Well the wafty bits at the top are the tassels (I was recently told ) and they are the male bits, and produce the pollen. The cobs form lower down the stems but have their own
wafty bits called silks.
look here
 I must admit that i was wondering if the cobs would form as they seem to grow a bit later..........we hope the plant has timed it to perfection though

[Spana]

Mine are nowhere near that stage yet, but they never are at this time  and I usually get a good crop.  Ive got a pic in ' The best view from your plot ' thread, I think in this section page 2-3,  where you can see how big mine are so if yours are more forward you've got no worries

[Elcie]

I'm confused.  I didn't think sweetcorn had flowers? 

[realfood]

Well, they do not have flowers in the conventional sense, ie with petals. But they still produce pollen from the tassels, which has to be transferred to the silks lower down.

[mumofstig]

Actually if you look at the tassels at the top they are made up of hundreds of tiny little (pink on mine) flowers.Today as it's been windy i could see clouds of pollen blowing out of them
Hope they're not all spent as I've still got some plants with no silks yet