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doriswk

When and How to Harvest Early Sunglow Corn

4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago

We are in Zone 5, Toronto. Our Early Sunglow corn was planted May 15th, and because we wanted to do the three sisters method of companion planting we planted pole beans Blue Lake next to the corn on June 26, and zucchini a week later. Some of the corn is now at least 4 ft tall, some still quite a bit shorter.

Now it is the end of July and we are facing a dilemma. For over a week I have been telling my husband that I think we should start harvesting some, the silk on the corn is going shabby / bald and what's left is turning brown. And the corn should be ready in 60 - 70 days. But he keeps telling me that the cobs are still way too thin. He eats corn a lot more than I do, so he should know.

I also noticed that the beans are winding themselves around the cobs- well I know the idea is that the beans climb up the corn, which all sounded brilliant. But no one who is writing about the three sisters methods talks about how to get the corn out from the clutches of the beans ?

Needless to say we are new to this.

How do we know the corn ready? And how do we harvest it without damaging the beans?






Comments (4)

  • 4 years ago

    If the bean vine is winding around a cob, just gently unwind the vine and move the vine around the main stem. The vine should start growing around the stem on it's own tomorrow.


    Your corn stalks seem short, not sure what the issue is but you have to pick the corn while it is good. Not an expert at picking corn, but when the silk hair ends start to dry out, the corn is ready to eat. You also can feel the top of the cob. When the kernels are filled up it will be more rounded and less pointed, if the tip feels very pointed the end has not filled in yet.


    In any event, you can always gently pull back some of the husk of the biggest cob and see how it looks for eating. You don't want to pull back on too many husks since that makes it easier for bugs to invade. Eat a couple, judge from that when you want to pick the others.



    doriswk thanked robert567
  • 4 years ago

    Did you side dress the corn with fert when it was knee high and again once the tassels peek out? If not then the corn plants and ears may end up rather smallish. The bean plants don't need side dressing with fert since they produce their own N source but that's not enough N to help the corn much. Side dressing with fert may be difficult to do when you have the 3 sisters method which grows overcrowded in time.

    As Robert above said you can peel back some of the shuck to check out the corn kernels, but know that corn matures from the bottom of the ear upward to the top so the top will be the last area to plump up, and sometimes the tip is bare due to incomplete pollination. Judging the ripeness by silk color is not always reliable but generally when the silk is dark brown (not black - too late) is when it's usually ready to pick.

    doriswk thanked vgkg Z-7 Va
  • 4 years ago

    Concur: Early Sunglow is naturally a small plant, one of the best of early yellow.s. Your photos show it is about ready. It is better to o pick an ear too early, then have a whole row get hard. Drying silk is a good indicator, followed by feeling the ear, and opening the tip of the husk and taking a peek. Yor beans have not overwhelmed the corn. so you should be able to cut the ears and remove them carefully.

    doriswk thanked farmerdill
  • 4 years ago

    Thank you all! I did as suggested, very gingerly unwound the vines ( which was easier than I had feared) and managed to move them around the main stems. For the beans that have not latched on yet, and next year's crop I will watch out and do this sooner. I removed two of the biggest corns and opened them up. The kernels were all perfectly formed, but still small. We had harvested a bit too early, but it tasted very nice. Will give the other corns more time.

    As farmerdill said, the Early Sunglow is an early small plant, I expected the cobs to also be smaller, but did not know how small...slowly getting the hang of it.

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