North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> I think if it was frass (the technical term for insect poop)  it would probably be very soft and water-soaked after cooking and probably wouldn't stick to the kernels. 


Good to know! That's the first thing I thought of. It wasn't too 
appetizing (though I cut these areas away before eating, of course).


> Are the ends of the ears open with the husks pulled away a little bit?


Yes. And I'm worried that I might have done that on one or two ears to 
check to see if they were ready to pick,... and therefore taught the 
birds that there was something good inside.

But yes, all of the ears are like that. It's not caterpillars or borers, 
I'm sure. I haven't seen any sign of insect damage.


> I think with you being in Nebraska, your county extension agent probably 
> knows a fair bit about corn and it wouldn't be too hard to get an answer from 
> them about it.


Good point! They haven't been any help with fruit, so I've stopped 
asking questions of them. But corn might be another story. I should have 
thought of it before cluttering up this list.


> I am no expert and I don't stay at Holiday Inns but Is it possible that your 
> ears simply did not fill out all the way.


No. Thanks for the reply, but they were definitely eaten by something.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
Near Rio de Janeiro I lived opposite to an old lady, who kept screws to 
crush the fingers of her female slaves. I have stayed in a house where a 
young household mulatto, daily and hourly, was reviled, beaten and 
persecuted enough to break the spirit of the lowest animal... It makes 
one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our 
American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and 
are so guilty. - Charles Darwin