when to pick corn?

 Hi All,

I am trying to grow 'Ruby Queen Hybrid" corn this year again.
last year it only got about 1-1/2 foot high.  This year they
are getting about 5 to 6 foot tall.  And I am starting to get
some ears.

Question: is there a good way to tell when it is time to pick
the ears?

I see all kinds of advice on you tube as to "how" to pick corn,
but not a lot about "when" to pick it.  I got someone saying to
peal back a bit of the husk.  But I really do not like this idea
as it will expose my ears to all kinds of bugs and I am try to grow
organically.

Any words of wisdom?

Many thanks,
-T

 Todd wrote:

I assume you are growing sweet corn.  You do need to peel back the husk to
examine the kernels, you can fold it back where it was if you decide not to
pick.  Determining the readiness takes a little practice, the kernels need
to be full and plump and when you squeeze some juice out with your
fingernail the juice should be milky.  If the corn is tasteless you have
picked too soon, if it is chewy and starchy you have left it too late.

D

 Todd said:

Feel the ears. The husk should be tight, no 'give' left when you
squeeze.

Peeking if you must, carefully, and tie back the husk closed if
the ear isn't ready.  

I think it is safe to assume that you are eager, so there is almost
no chance of letting the corn go too long!

--
Pat in Plymouth MI
    
"Yes, swooping is bad."
 
email valid but not regularly monitored
  

 That's easy.  Humans consider it ripe about 2 days after the raccoons
get it. <g>

Or about 18-25 days after pollination.

Do you know how to pick "store corn" by examining the silks and
feeling the kernels through the husk?  If so, just use the same
technique.   Otherwise, pick one ear as your sacrificial ear...
pull back husks a bit near the tip  and squish a well developed kernel.
You're looking for a kernel in the milk to very early soft dough stage
-- you should get a milky, sweet juice squirting out from the kernel
you've punctured. If it's more like a dough than milk, it's a little
late for most people to enjoy as sweet corn.
Agronomists would call the "good stuff" in R3 or early R4:
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/rowcrops/a1173/a1173-2.htm#Reproductive


If the kernels are not well filled and the juice seems watery, replace the
husks you've pulled back and try a different kernel the next day, until
it's at your desired degree of ripeness.

Then compare the colors of the silks beyond the husks and just at the very
tip, barely inside the ears.  The silks will be pretty dry and brown
beyond the husks, but still yellow-white just as they get to the husks.
Outer husks should be dark green.

Find another ear in your corn patch that looks similar to the test ear
in feel of the kernels through the husk, husk color and silk colors.
Pick that one and have it for lunch.  If it's the ripeness you like,
you now know that you can recognize ripe by the silk and husk color.

Leave that sacrificial ear unpicked and test a kernel every day -- you'll also
soon find what "past its prime" looks like.  

 On 08/16/2011 08:42 AM, Kay Lancaster wrote:

Actually, I don't.  My corn, so far, comes frozen in plastic bags
with no cobs in sight.  And purchased in a grocery store WHERE
NO PLANTS OR ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE PROCESS!  :-D

Thank you for the help.

-T