Unless your stalks are several feet away from each other, I wouldn't pull any stalks out of the ground until you are done harvesting. Why? Because if you pull one, you will disturb the roots of the others. You can take loppers and cut them to 2-3 feet from the soil line, then pull them later all at once.

As for freezing, there are three ways to freeze corn: corn on the cob, whole kernel and cream style. Details here:

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Freeze Corn with Photos

Thanks Violet. I was thinking pulling would be a bad idea. Yes, my stalks are planted rather close together. I hadn't thought of the lopping off at the knees idea.

And thank you for the informative link!

Michelle

You might want to leave them if they still have the tuffs on the top of the stalk. That way they can still fertilize ears on the other stalks and you don't get places without kernals on the ears.

Bill S

"...and you don't get places without kernals on the ears"

The cause for this is not lack of pollination, it is actually lack of consistent watering towards the end of the ear production. Corn out of any vegetable is pretty prolific when it comes to pollination.

Sorry, violet - corn is wind pollinated which is why it should be planted in blocks not single rows. Leaving tassels in place isn't a bad idea. Fewer tassled stalks = less pollen = better chance of unpollinated ears.

Another "fun" reason to leave the stalks is to have them as Halloween decorations. :^)

oldroser, I never said corn was not wind pollinated. I was only stating that the tip of corn cobs where the kernels are undeveloped is more often a result of lack of sufficient watering thru to the end of cob development rather than lack of pollination. Lack of pollination results in cobs that would look like this:

{{gwi:82498}}

*wink*

Severe heat and moisture stress during the first seven to ten days after pollination will cause kernels at the tip of the ear to abort.

shellva will have to make a personal decision as to whether or not there are enough stalks close enough together before taking any out.

Too high temps will dry up the silks before they polinate.

Ah, violet...you say one thing but show another. I was talking about what you are showing which is a cause of lack of pollination. Which goes back to leaving the stalks in to keep a good solid block of corn to pollinate. but as you say, it is up to the individual person to decide if it is needed for their corn plot.

Bill

All is good with the corn everyone. I must have had good spacing, good temperatures, good watering and good pollination because so far all the ears are well developed with kernals up and down the entire length of the cob even on the tips. Good taste and pretty good texture too.

I was just wondering if I should leave the stalks until all corn is harvested or not. I was worried about disturbing the roots of plants still with ears but then I was wondering if stalks just standing there with no ears would be depleting the soil, draw bugs or possibly put out diseases for the rest of the corn.

Hey guys - y'all sound pretty knowledgable about corn and ear developement so maybe you can help me figure out why my corn is making really small ears. They are only about 6-7" long. kernaling is fine, every kernal is full, but they're tiny things and the corn itself is really short.
Hints?

High probability, that you planted a cultivar, that is supposed to be short with small ears. Many of the extra earlies fall into this category.

Farmerdilla is correct but it also could be affected by drought. The variety I grow is usually 7-8 in, long but his year was only 5-6 in even though I watered twice.
Violet, sometimes the second ear on my plants, which mature later than the first, looks exactly like your drawing. Excellent drawings BTW.