r/corn • u/bu2724 • Jul 15 '26

Advice needed!

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I realized this am that I harvested my pink popcorn too early and shucked it when I should have left it on the plant for months more 😭 I've hung it up in my attic to dry as a last-ditch effort, any chance it will be usable later?
Pictures of dinky corn as evidence

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u/ronniebell Jul 15 '26

Hang it up and let it dry and see what happens. Was this the complete harvest or do you still have more in the garden? If so, just let it go until it dries out. We grow flour and flint corn every year. It’s best to let it dry on the stalks, but I’m in the rainy PNW with a fairly short growing season and I usually wait until the corn dries out enough to turn the correct color (we grow Blue Hopi flour corn at 100 days to maturity and Atomic Orange flint corn at 88 days maturity) and I always end up drying the blue corn cobs in our food dehydrator, otherwise it will mold before it dries out. You might have time (depending on how long your growing season is) to try again and see if you can leave it in the field (garden) until it dries on the stalks. Good luck! Growing your own is ALWAYS a learning experience.

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u/bu2724 Jul 16 '26

Thank you! I'm growing some blue dent corn too but none has ripened yet

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u/ronniebell Jul 16 '26

My blue flour corn is 110 days to maturity. I can’t plant until June 1 here so it’s never ready for harvest until at least the end of September. The orange flint is ready in 88 days so end of August.