What to Do About Corn Staying Green and Maturing Late? Detailed Explanation of Effective Solutions

During corn cultivation, you sometimes notice corn staying green or regreening. The plant should have reached maturity, yet the stems and leaves are still lush and green, as if it has no intention of ripening. This kind of situation is generally an abnormal growth phenomenon. So what exactly causes it, and what should be done?

1. Causes of Staying Green

Corn staying green is generally caused by sowing too late, which delays seedling development. Or it may be caused by nutritional imbalance, such as a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio that is too small, which affects growth and development. Sometimes vegetative growth is too vigorous, so the plant enters reproductive growth late, grows excessively, tassels late, and its growth is pushed back. These are the main causes, but other causes cannot be ruled out.

2. Promoting Development

Use a small amount of nitrogen plus phosphate fertilizer as seed fertilizer, loosen the soil after sowing, and after jointing the plants need water and fertilizer to promote seedling stem elongation. Loosening the soil should be done around the time several true leaves have grown. This can improve the soil environment, promote root growth, and benefit microbial activity, which is good for corn growth and can promote early development.

3. Supplementary Measures

Remove barren stalks or small plants in the field that bear no corn or only very small corn, to avoid nutrient consumption and also increase ventilation and light penetration. With sufficient pollination, after complete artificial pollination the remaining tassels can be removed. After the ear silks emerge, the husk leaves need to be cut off, which can promote silking. Be careful to remove ineffective ears.

4. Weeding and Topdressing

During the grain-filling stage, loosen the soil and weed, cutting some roots to promote soil aeration and raise the temperature. This can promote early maturity, but you must not cut all the roots, or the sources of nutrients and water will be cut short and the plant will die. Do not water unless it is dry; this can also help prevent staying green. Topdress during the silking stage, applying roughly 200 jin of chemical fertilizer per mu. As long as the corn is growing well, do not fertilize again later, as it easily causes staying green.

Corn is often prone to staying green and maturing late, which affects quality and delays harvest. Therefore, in cultivation and management, certain measures can be used to avoid it.