Started and transplanted out a mix of going to seed Grain Corn, local grain corn mix, and EFN Loft house grain corn. The bed wasn’t ready, so I started the seeds in flats, and transplanted them out once the bed was prepared.
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Corn waits for no one. They are about a foot long in three to four days. Most were easily separated, but some had grown into the flat and ripped when teasing them out. Any obvious root fractures were discarded. The extras are sitting on the sidelines just in case voles, nice, or slugs take out the transplants like last year.
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Your white corn photo reminded me… In this video Don Augustin (Oaxaca) talks about the reasons for not saving seeds from the tips or bases of the corn cobs— because the plants will be white. Pretty cool.
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That white corn suffers from chlorosis where plant has no or very little chlorophyll. Usually it’s root problem and plant will die soon.
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Oh yes it is dead.
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Latest adventure in going to seed corn is pictured above. While waiting for the corn to dry down, it appears, I’m assuming, is being enjoyed by the local bird community. Any recommendations for the earliest I can pick and dry the ears indoors?
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Since you said you had lots of ears, I would think the good time to harvest is when birds have picked the first one.
But each time I have this sort of pillage, I try to overcome the displeasure with the idea that I feed the local life and it may come back to me or someone else under another form.
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If they are torn open like that I’d guess there is squirrels/coons/etc getting it. Even if birds then come investigate the opened cobs. But that depends on bird species and I don’t know enough about that.
If the corn is starting to dry down then they are far enough along that they will be viable. If I remember correctly. So your option is to keep trying and select for whatever few survive the massacre. Or harvest it before the critters find it so that you have some to continue on with.
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I can now admit that I have been watching this thread and hoping in part that I would get one of the cool reddish wild type plants. There is at least one like that in my population 
I had a lot of low growing corn this year but this was among the shortest.
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I only know what corn ravaged by crows and corn ravaged by raccoons looks like. In my yard, racoons pull cornstalks over and then tear them up. Crows just land on the stalk and peck the hell out of the ears. The one above looks like crows to me.
(I’m selecting – or maybe it’s more correct to say the animals are, for stalks that don’t buckle and tight/thick husks the crows can’t get through.)
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I’ve seen that kind of damage before when I grew corn and red ring blackbirds used to tear it up I’d only have a few seeds left so it can be any kind of bird that need seed I think
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Well, in a way yes, it is a compliment. I have heard the higher the order up the food chain is stealing your food the better it is. Virus>bacteria > insects > herbivores > humans . It looks like I will have seed to share, so I am just going to be seeing what’s left after they dry down a bit more.
Somewhere else on this forum I had that same question answered, but of course now I can’t remember which thread it was or who’s corn. There was a picture of what looked to me like immature corn (think sweet corn) someone qas saving as seed and Joseph Lofthouse answered my ‘is that honna geow?’ question. He said that corn seed was viable x days after pollination. It was something much sooner than I would have expected, maybe 18 days after pollination? Sorry, I can’t remember, if I come across it I will come back here and let you know!
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This is the first time I’ve laughed out loud in all the time I’ve spent on this forum. Way to go.
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Found it! Here is the link to the post Corn (Grain and Sweet) - #50 by Joseph_Lofthouse
Apparently 18 days after pollination the seed becomes viable. Mind blown is all I can say
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