Good day, everyone. I hope you're well and that this meet you well. The last few days have been more tasking, and for me, as I stated in my last maize farm report, it has reached the tasseling stage. Since that happened, I've been doing everything possible to prepare for the next phase before harvest, and fortunately for me, I've noticed among that maize crop that some of it has reached the silking stage.
This is a very peculiar stage in maize farming, as it's the last stage that precedes harvest, and it's often called the R1 stage. It's the time when the female flowers or silk come out of the maize plant. Just like the tasseling is regarded as the maize flower, the silking is known as the female flowers, and during this time the pollination of the tassel is what determines how well the pollen that goes to the silk will react and aid in a bigger and healthier maize harvest.
Luckily for me this time around, the weather was very favorable for me because the sun wasn't too much and neither was the rain, although the rain was getting too much at a time. But like I said, I worked on the farm with my irrigation system to flush the water out of the farm, but it wasn't like the ones I planted earlier in January when we were still in the heat season.
Back then, I almost regretted planting the maize because not long after the silk started coming out of the ear of the maize plant, it started getting dry, and being someone who's familiar with the process of maize, I realized it's not supposed to be so and that the hash weather of the sun was what caused it. Then I had to use the same irrigation system, but this time around, to get water to flow into the family and under each of the stems of the maize.
At the end of the day, it started buzzing and booming again, before pollination happened between the dry flowers of the tassel and the silk. This time around, things are going smoothly, and I'm thrilled, although not all of the maize plants have arrived at the silking stage; in fact, some haven't even gotten to the tassel stage, even though I planted them all together on the same day. That's just the peculiarities of crops for you.
Well, now I'm looking forward to harvesting in the next few weeks, and I can't wait to share my experience with you and how excited I'm to reap the fruit of my labor. That's what gives more farmers joy the most, and I'm no exception.
Thanks so much for your time. I hope you enjoyed the read. Have a great day, and stay blessed.
All photos are mine.