Beginner Gardening: Corn Horrors, 1 by Moonpye

Moonpye wrote:
Hi all...

I'm not a beginning veggie grower, but I'm definitely a beginner with corn, and right now, I'm pretty stumped as to what's happening.

Basically, the corn has begun tasseling (I believe it's called), and now, the top parts of the corn, including the leaves, are turning brown and breaking completely off the corn stalk. No tassel, no corn, right?

The only thing I think of is that I had a major problem a few weeks ago with ants HERDING aphids down into the developing tassels. I sprayed with soapy water, and I'm wondering now if I killed the corn by doing that?? The only tassels that haven't turned brown and aren't on their way out yet are the ones that didn't have aphids and, therefore, didn't get sprayed. :(

Any other ideas? Is it too late in the season to plant a new crop? I'm in Kentucky where the first frost is roughly mid-October. The variety I planted was an early variety.

Thanks so much for any advice you can offer. Here's a pic of the problem. The second pic is of the corn tops breaking over after they've turned brown: