Corn is native to the tropics, but over the past hundred years it has become so widespread that it is grown almost everywhere. Perfectly matures in the middle lane. Many grow it in their dachas for their own consumption or for livestock feed. But the time when it is necessary to harvest corn depends not only on its variety, but also on the purposes for which it is grown. Different levels of crop maturity are needed when harvesting for boil and for popcorn, for grain and for silage, combine and by hand. So, when can you harvest?
Types of ripeness of corn
In dachas and household plots, this crop is most often grown by those who like to eat tender grains with salt boiled right on the cob at the end of summer. For this purpose, the crop is harvested at the stage of milky ripeness. It is at this time that the grain contains the most sugars, the delicate sweet taste is especially loved by children, who often eat grains, biting them from a raw cob. Milky ripeness is characterized by a delicate, very light, almost white grain color. Covering leaves tightly fit the cob, they are difficult to remove, and the hairs are silky and moist, they are only brown at the very base, then a little beige, and just white at the exit from the cob. If you press on the grain with your fingernail, you can splash juice – it is so juicy under a thin skin. Such corn is not harvested by a combine harvester.
At the stage of waxy ripeness, the inside of the grains is no longer liquid, but not solid either, it can be compared in texture to soft cheese, which hardens more and more as it ripens. Sugars turn into starch, the tender milk of the juice becomes just pulp, when pressed on the grain, a dent remains.
Biological maturity comes a little later. The grains have acquired a rich color – yellow or orange, corresponding to the variety. The covering leaves dried up and became like thin parchment. The hairs dried up, became intensely brown. A harvest of such ripeness can already be harvested with a combine.
Cleaning time
Grain corn is harvested at different times depending on the variety, the place of cultivation and the time of sowing. In agricultural production, this is done with the help of special combines, when the dry matter is already at least 60% – this is on the cob, and in the grain itself after threshing it should be more than 70%. This level of ripeness is checked by evaluating the black layer that appears where the grain is attached to the stem. You should not hurry with the collection, but if the autumn rains begin, they will reduce the quality of the crop. And the first frosts will completely spoil it – the grain will simply freeze.
Corn for silage is harvested when there is still a lot of sugar in the grains, when they are wet – at the end of the period of milky-wax ripeness. This is the period of the best chemical, physical and qualitative composition. Silage cooked after milky-wax harvest is the most nutritious.
But here it is important to determine the right time – it is best to harvest at the stage of wax ripeness. At the beginning of the period of milky-wax ripeness, the grains contain too much liquid, the loss of 5% of the dry mass is fraught with rapid oxidation, which is not desirable for silage. And when the corn has already reached wax ripeness, the grains are still wet (up to 70%), but the sugar has not yet turned into starch. Silage made from too early harvest will not be of high quality, because the necessary nutrient compounds will not be in it. This is very important, because the quantity that needs to be prepared for animals depends on the quality of food.
If at the right time to harvest corn at the stage of wax ripeness of grains with a combine, then the silage will give the animals 20% more energy, that is, it is possible to prepare as much less concentrated feed.
In dachas and household plots, for eating or preserving delicate grains, the crop is harvested when the grains have reached milky ripeness, since at this time they are the sweetest and most tender. Neither harvesters nor any devices are used here except for the gentle hands of the owner. It is impossible to determine the exact timing of collection, you can only check the degree of maturity from time to time just by hand.
It is necessary to check by touch whether the grains are swollen along the entire length of the cob. In a ripe cob, the end becomes elastic and rounded, in an unripe one it is sharp. The silky hair of the mature cobs is dry and brown. They say that it is at the peak of maturity that the grains have the highest concentration of sugars and all useful substances.
If you don’t understand anything by touch, you can bend the covering leaves a little and look at the grains. They should no longer be white, but the delicate cream color should not gain its bright intensity. You can pierce a grain with your fingernail and look at the juice – if it is completely transparent, then collect it early, if it has turned into ordinary pulp – the moment of the best taste has already been missed.
If it is too early to harvest, then after examining the cob, the covering leaves must be returned to their place, otherwise the birds will eat your crop.
Cobs never pluck all at once. It is known that the top ones sing first, they lean from the stem. As soon as the top ear becomes almost perpendicular to the stem, it’s time to check its ripeness. It is advisable to pay attention to the lunar calendar of 2022 for country work.
Corn is harvested for livestock feed from household plots when it reaches biological maturity, otherwise it will be difficult to store it in winter. Grains are stored on the cob if there is enough space.
How to collect
Silage corn at a height of 20 cm is cut with a special combine, a PNP-2,4 device is attached to it, and another one is attached to it, which collects windrows and grinds the plants. Agricultural enterprises always use machinery for harvesting. Combines with special corn headers harvest corn for grain. If only combines are used, then the quality of harvesting will be worse, and the loss of product will be greater. Plants are cut at a height of 15 cm above the ground.
At your dacha, you are your own harvester and harvester. After waiting for the moment of milky ripeness of the upper cobs, they need to be removed with your hands – they simply take the stem with one hand, and unscrew the cob from it with the other. Each plant usually has more than two (especially on hybrids) ears, and so, the lower ones can ripen 10 days later than the upper one. It is worth keeping the lunar calendar of sowing works for the fall of 2022 on hand and consulting with it.
Dairy corn is not stored for a long time, it must be eaten immediately or kept a little (up to 1 week) in the refrigerator. It will lose sweetness all the time, but the cold will delay the transformation of sugar into starch a little.
Corn for popcorn is removed in the same way. It will be even easier to break off the cob from the stem – since this happens much later, the stems and leaves should dry out. After that, the grains are dried and dried for more than a month. Do this in a warm room with adequate ventilation. After the drying stage, the cobs are stored in a cellar or similar room, and the grains are simply in a tightly closed jar on a kitchen cabinet shelf.
Seed corn is harvested one month after the tender and sweet ones have been harvested for eating. By this time, the leaves were completely dry, the trunk darkened. Cobs are torn off the stem with hands, slightly turning in different directions. Then the grains are dried, removing the integumentary leaves. Well dried, they easily fall off the cob if you take it with both hands and rub it in opposite directions. Store them in a hermetically sealed container, the place for it should be dark, dry and cool. After proper collection and drying, they will not lose their germination for up to 10 years.
US Corn Harvest Video
This video shows Iowa farmers harvesting huge crops of corn.