What Caused My Corn Ear Tips To Not Completely Fill? Aug 05,
2011 Question: I’ve been checking my corn this week and the ears
are filled out pretty decent except around the top; the tips are
mostly empty. It’s been hot here, so I’m guessing I don’t have
good ear fill because of the heat, but I’m wondering if you can
give me any better idea of the cause? Answer:You’re probably
right about it being the result of the heat, if you’re in an
area that had a lot of high temperatures hit your area during
pollination. Tips of corn ears pollinate last and so are most
susceptible to kernel abortion. If you look at the ears and see
fairly uniform kernel loss around the top, that’s probably what
you’ve experienced. A potassium or nitrogen deficiency is
another possibility. Both of those nutrients are mobile and move
from the oldest to the newest part of the plant but will look
different on the crop’s leaves. Nitrogen deficiency starts at
the tip of the leaf and comes down through the mid-rib, so there
will be a V-pattern