A traditional Central American practice is to bend over the maize stalk to help dry the maize and to protect it from disease and pest damage. If you do this at just the right time, you will harvest more. Maize grains keep growing until a black spot appears at the base of the grain. At that time, the plant has lost all of its green color, this is when you bend the maize stalk, to allow the grains to keep drying.