As of August 22 this crop was still a few days away from the ear reaching the blister stage. The area has received about 1800 heat units from May 30 to August 22, so subtract that from the 2775 required for this hybrid and we need 975 CHU to mature the crop. Unfortunately a significant amount of late planted corn faces this same dilemma. So while your checking your fields for progress here are a few things to remember. The blister stage generally is reached 2 weeks after silking.
Kernels are white, swollen blisters full of clear fluid.
This marks the beginning of the critical grain filling period. Grain filling proceeds quite rapidly for about four weeks until the kernel has slightly dented. Once the kernel has dented a line separating the solid and liquid portions of the endosperm can be detected. This is referred to as the milk line. The movement of the milk line down the kernel indicates further progress in grain filling.