OT When is it time to harvest field corn....

Short of hand shelling some ears and getting a moisture test, what are a few signs that might indicate that dryland corn is getting dry enough (14 percent) to harvest? Thanks funtwohunt

14% is very, very dry. It might happen this year in my neck of the woods but some years it never will get that dry in the field. Sometimes if you wait for the corn to get that dry it will end up falling over or dropping ears on the ground first. Shelling a few ears and testing them is the only sure way to tell the moisture and even then it only tells you what the moisture is in that particular part of the field. Maybe you should consider taking it out at 17% or 18%. How do you plan to store it? If it's going in a bin without air you can store it at 18% if you can wait for a 40 degree day to harvest it as long as you get it out of there before spring. There are a lot of variables here. Jim

Hey Jim! Just curious, What kind of a bin can you store corn at 18%? I store just a little dab of shelled corn (5 to 8 ton) in a modified gravity wagon with power ventilation and won't even accept it if it is more than 12%.

I use the corn as fuel to heat my home and my dealer usually offloads the trailer direct from the field into my wagon.

Regards, Brad Buchanan

When the tassels start to break off it is less then 21%. I don't think I have ever seen 14% corn standing so I don't know what that would look like.

More than 12%?!?! I have never seen corn at 12% here. EVER. even in the corn burner, I am doing 13.5 to 14% corn. harvesting at 18% is about as good as I can get in november with dry humidity and cold temps.

Some years I am at 20% standing in november and there isn't anything I can do about it except taking a hair dryer to every ear individually... not gonna happen, but I have thought about it.

So...

If you are looking at your corn adn you notice that the tassles have dropped, take an ear in dig your thumbnail into a few kernels. see how the outside is translucent and the inside is starchy opaque white? When teh starchy opaque white is 50 % of the size of the kernel, you are at 18% or 17%. That is the best way I can describe it. I could show you if you want to come over, but I don't have any corn standing right now. Next year, I can show you, will do twice as much...



The other way I can tell if it is ready is that I sleep walk... SO if I wake up in the cab onf the combine with the corn header on, and engine running, I know it is time to go. I can dream up 17%. can't store it in a bin in western PA unless it is below 15.5%. Our humidity will spoil it above that. I can smell wet corn, and can taste it when running the combine. I guess it comes with age, and an obvious lack of a girlfriend/wife, but some of us just live for the harvest. We have nothign better to do!

The ears will be hanging down. At that point it is below 17% and close to 15.5%. The elevators around here do not dock you if the corn is at 15.5% SO below that you're losing money.
Yes I've seen it at 13 but i was really late getting started.

Pick a bunch of ears at random. Put them in a tank of water . If they sink, it is too wet. If they all float, it is good to pick and crib as ear corn.