Someone else posted about this a few days ago, and I'll try to summarize what I told him. Brown silk is one possible clue to the state of ripeness of an ear of corn, but it's not a very reliable one. Some corn gets very brown silk long before it's ready to harvest, other corn has silk that is still quite greenish and not very dried out, except perhaps on the very tips, when the corn is fully mature. The only real way to know for sure if an ear is ready is to open the husk a bit and peek at the ear. If ready, harvest. If not ready, tie a piece of white cloth or tape around the ear with some masking tape or white duct tape to seal it up, since an ear with an opening in the husk is an invitation to crows and other birds.

The corn forming in the little pocket around the stem in photo 2 is just a throwback to teosinte, the ancestor of corn, which still grows wild in Mexico and Central America. It did not bear ears at all, but had kernels on the tassels. Almost every corn patch, in my experience, has a few of these wierd formations. This year, I got a complete, almost normal-sized ear with no husk at all on the base of the tassel on one of my stalks.

From the other pictures, it appears that the corn has been stressed during the ear development in some way that negatively impacted the quality, which is why you're getting the unfilled ears and ears with no kernel development at all. Possible causes could include drought (although its been very wet in MA this year from what I've heard), overcrowding, and improprer pollination (patch too small for good pollination?)

Have you not had the cool, wet, dreary summer the NE US residents have been complaining about all summer?

Corn does not do well in the conditions I've heard described for the NE this summer. I'm not having a great year in Kansas, either. Has been warm and sunny enough, but way wetter than normal. Have had rampant disease of everything in the garden.

My own corn does strange things when the weather gets weird. I've had a lot of fungus (smut) this summer. In other strange years, I have had corn get confused and grow kernels from the tassels (at the very top of the plant). Was very warm at times, and way wetter than I'm used to.

My corn maturity/harvest should have spread over about 60 days. Planted 4 varieties with differing maturities, from 62 to 90 days, and staggered 1/2 of the planting of each variety by about 18 days. It was mostly over in 40 days, finishing way too early. I'm still getting some late second ears, but the good stuff is gone or way too mature.

Did not even freeze any this year. Still have enough left over from last year to get me through the winter. Better get a good crop next year, or I'll be eating grocery store corn, something I've not done in years.

This is my first year trying sweet corn and I was also not sure when it was ready. I was checking them everyday and even ate a few that weren't quite ready. Now I have a surefire way to tell though. Just have a furry expert tell you when it is ready! I woke up one morning to find about 20 ears on the ground, perfectly shucked, with every kernel eaten. I guess they were ready :) Now the masked bandit comes back every night to check for more because I did staggered plantings. Needless to say I am done with corn, but at least I have free space to start some peas and lettuce now.
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molanic,

The trouble with the furry bandit is that like a kid, they harvest 2 days early and you can't get much that way for yourself.

After checking an ear and deciding it isn't quite ready yet, I wrap a corn leaf around and around the ear and tuck the end underneath.

I've learned to keep track of when the estimated harvest date is. and keep an eye on the ears. The tassles will brown, the ears will fill out and expand, and the ear itself will tilt to approximately 45 degrees. I will then check the kernels by opening the ear slightly. If you pop a kernel and it is a really thin clear liquid - it's not done. If it's thick, it may be overdone... look for a middle ground. After a while, you can just look at the ear while its on the stalk and tell that it's ready. I've been growing corn for about 5 years now and it's getting much easier now that I know what to look for. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way though!

Good luck!

Im going to post a link to my photos, I hope this works.

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Here is a link that might be useful: My Gardening photos

Molanic,

Have you though about using an electric fence? About 7 years ago after dealing with raccoons raiding the corn crop every year, I decided to install an electric fence. This has worked perfect as long as the weeds don't short out the fence. Note the short poles in the photo below. My fence can be taken up and put back down in a matter of minutes.

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I had read about using an electric fence for corn being the best deterrent. If I had a larger garden I would consider it. I think in my garden with limited space, corn was just not worth the effort. It takes up a lot of space for a long time, blew over after the first rainstorm, then the raccoon got it all. If the raccoon hadn't come the squirrels probably would have gotten into it. I'd rather use the space for something easier. We don't have a problem with rabbits here so that makes a lot of other crops easier.