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#1
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picking corn?
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#2
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picking corn?
Splitting the end is NOT a good idea.
Monitor the silk. The ear will be ripe 21 days after the silk appears. Ripeness is near when the silk begins to dry at the tips. At this point, grab the top of the ear with your hand (thumb pointing down toward the stalk). The top of the ear should feel full and blocky (not sharply tapered). Shuck the ear and look at the kernels. They should be just snug against each other. Too snug and bulging, and the ear is over-ripe. Wide gaps, it/s immature. If it looks good, pick more of the same. If it/s immature, give it a couple days. After the silk appears; be sure to provide good irrigation if rainfall is lacking and monitor for ear worms to ensure nice, full ears. "Stephen Snow" wrote in message om... | i have some corn in my garden -- first time thing -- and wonder when i | should pick the ears. when the tassels are white? when they are brown? | ??? help! | | thanks in advance for any assistance, | | steve snow | |
#3
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picking corn?
Oh. yah... forgot to mention.
Put the water on to boil before venturing into the corn patch. Don't pick the corn until the water is boiling. Then, pick it, shuck it, and pop it into the water as quickly as possible. Sweet corn rapidly loses its sugar after it is picked. I understand that one guy experimented with cooking the corn while it's still attached to the stalk. That's carrying it a bit far, but not by much. We haven't had room to plant corn in years. This year, we planted a bunch. I can hardly wait for the stuff to be ready. :-) Ray "Ray" wrote in message ... When in doubt, pick a little on the young side. If you happen to pick an ear that isn't quite ready, cook it anyhow. It'll taste just fine -- maybe even better than a 'perfect' ear. Ray "TQ" wrote in message ... Splitting the end is NOT a good idea. Monitor the silk. The ear will be ripe 21 days after the silk appears. Ripeness is near when the silk begins to dry at the tips. At this point, grab the top of the ear with your hand (thumb pointing down toward the stalk). The top of the ear should feel full and blocky (not sharply tapered). Shuck the ear and look at the kernels. They should be just snug against each other. Too snug and bulging, and the ear is over-ripe. Wide gaps, it/s immature. If it looks good, pick more of the same. If it/s immature, give it a couple days. After the silk appears; be sure to provide good irrigation if rainfall is lacking and monitor for ear worms to ensure nice, full ears. "Stephen Snow" wrote in message om... | i have some corn in my garden -- first time thing -- and wonder when i | should pick the ears. when the tassels are white? when they are brown? | ??? help! | | thanks in advance for any assistance, | | steve snow | |
#4
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picking corn?
"TQ" wrote:
Splitting the end is NOT a good idea. Monitor the silk. The ear will be ripe 21 days after the silk appears. Ripeness is near when the silk begins to dry at the tips. At this point, grab the top of the ear with your hand (thumb pointing down toward the stalk). The top of the ear should feel full and blocky (not sharply tapered). Shuck the ear and look at the kernels. They should be just snug against each other. Too snug and bulging, and the ear is over-ripe. Wide gaps, it/s immature. If it looks good, pick more of the same. If it/s immature, give it a couple days. Stephen I was going through the same and the pattern above is working for me. The silks will defintiely brown--some web sites say if they are brittel you are too late--this didn't seem so for me. The thing about feeling the tip--when you get a ripe one you'll understand it better. The corn looks like it ripens from the stalk to the tip. The tip when immature is tapered to a point and looks like those minature corn stalks you see in asian dishes. As the tip ripens they spread and the end becomes blunt--you can definitely feel the difference without peeling the silk/leaves back. Also I noticed one small detail which hasn't been explained. A common tip is to peel back the tip and pop a kernel. If the liquid is clear-not ready--milky is good. But when I did this the smallish kernel I popped was solid inside--this is apparently very immature. I did harvest one when the tip kernels were small and I thought the rest of the cob was still good. Peeling the silks back can be a probablem because it enocourages bugs to get in the silk and to the cob. I did find a lightning bug in the silks of the one I had opened. I'm now just feeling the tips. After the silk appears; be sure to provide good irrigation if rainfall is lacking and monitor for ear worms to ensure nice, full ears. "Stephen Snow" wrote in message . com... | i have some corn in my garden -- first time thing -- and wonder when i | should pick the ears. when the tassels are white? when they are brown? | ??? help! | | thanks in advance for any assistance, | | steve snow | DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email) Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound 2nd year gardener http://members.aol.com/DigitalVinyl66/Garden2004.html |
#5
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picking corn?
I agree. I, personally, enjoy my corn slightly over ripe by other
people's standards. Under ripe corn is rather a waste. Also agree about peeking into the ear being a bad idea. If I do that, birds start to discover the corn and are soon opening the other ears on their own. The tip starts to feel blunt as the corn ripens. Under ripe corn tapers right down to a point. Stephen, I suppose it would be OK to peek inside to confirm what you feel until you got the hang of it. Just close it back up real tight if you don't pick. Steve TQ wrote: When in doubt, wait a day. Inedible, immature corn where the kernels are tasteless little nubs is a waste of time and effort. |
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