Lou McLeod: When To Harvest Corn | Homesteading Guide For Happy Harvesters

Sunday, 4 September 2016

When To Harvest Corn | Homesteading Guide For Happy Harvesters

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Need some tips on when to harvest corn? If you do, continue reading and learn the tricks of the trade for harvesting fresh and delicious corn!

The day will come when you’ll wind up gazing toward corn stalks which will be taller than you and thinking about whether it is already the right time to snap those ears off for tonight’s meal. Well, here are some tips and clues to help you make that big decision to harvest your corn.

When To Harvest Corn | Homesteading Guide

Harvesting corn involves picking the ears at the peak of their flavor. The prime harvest time for corn passes rapidly for most sweet corn varieties with the exception of the super sweet, so gardeners need to know how to judge when to harvest to earn the full benefits of their crop.

Corn is ready to be harvested when the ears are totally rounded out. This happens around three weeks after the silk has formed. The corn kernels become ready pretty much the same time as the silks become brown and wilted.

When To Harvest Corn | Homesteading Guide

If you don’t trust your judgment and want to make sure you don’t pick an ear before the right time you can pull back a touch of the husk and see whether the ear looks mostly filled and the kernels are creamy and yellow or white.

Numerous gardening guides instruct you to pierce a kernel with your thumbnail to test it for readiness. If the fluid inside is watery, that ear isn’t quite ready to be harvested yet. However, if the fluid is white or milky, you’re ready to go.

Although opening the husk is a sure test, try not to do this because once you open an immature ear, it becomes an easy target for pests. It takes just a little practice to be able to know when is the right time to harvest your corn.

The Right Time

If you have a choice, it’s best to harvest corn as close to the time you’re going to use or eat it. Since you have around three days after they are picked before the sugars in the kernels become starch, most gardeners have generally practiced on cooking corn as near to harvesting time as possible.

The loss of sugar is much slower at lower temperatures, so refrigerate corn in case you’re not going to eat or use it immediately. In the case that you are not near a refrigerator and you already have some harvested corn, it is best to keep your newly harvested corn in single layers, rather than stacking them. Corn has a tendency to overheat inside the tight husks, so it is best to provide much breathing room as possible.

When To Harvest Corn | Homesteading Guide

In the case that you want to store your corn over the winter or grind your own cornmeal, give your corn time to completely solidify. This implies it has gone through its whole starch creation cycle. It will then contain such overwhelming starch that it will be too difficult to nibble and it will keep for a long time.

So there you have it! Happy harvesting!

Need some more tips when to harvest corn? Let’s the video from LDSPrepper

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