Emmalea Ernest, Extension Agent – Vegetable Crops; emmalea@udel.edu
Growers have reported problems with split sweet corn kernels and we also observed this defect in some of our earliest planted fresh market sweet corn in variety trials at the Georgetown research farm. Kernel splitting results from excess soil moisture during the time when kernels are filling. The unusually wet year we have had is to blame for this problem. Split kernels make ears extremely prone to spoilage and can render them unmarketable.
Sweet corn ear with split kernels