Don't tell the wife, I'm growing fodder in the 2nd bathroom!

[Kusanar]

Post a comment on how your experiment with sprouting/growing popcorn fodder works out for you. I asked my local mill if I could sprout whole corn and/or grow corn fodder, but they told me that the whole corn kernels were "dead" and would not germinate. I think the whole corn is dried out somehow and kills it. It's good for feed, but will not grow.

When I was a kid, I planted popcorn in the backyard and it grew. I only got 1 ear off of about 6 plants... but that's a whole other issue... It does grow.. but, popcorn isn't dried out as much as field corn due to needing moisture inside to pop

 

[BDutch]

....

Post a comment on how your experiment with sprouting/growing popcorn fodder works out for you. I asked my local mill if I could sprout whole corn and/or grow corn fodder, but they told me that the whole corn kernels were "dead" and would not germinate. I think the whole corn is dried out somehow and kills it. It's good for feed, but will not grow.

Day 1-2: 36 hours soaking
Day 6: The corn is sprouting well.

 

[gtaus]

Day 1-2: 36 hours soaking
Day 6: The [pop]corn is sprouting well.

Thanks for the update. I added [pop]corn just to make it clear for those of us in the USA that you are using popcorn, and not whole corn. Whole corn here is typically used for feed alone and will not germinate or sprout because the kernel is killed in the whole corn drying process.

 

[wyoDreamer]

A friend of mine buys "deer corn" from the local farmers and plants that for his deer food plots on his hunting land. The deer corn is not dried for storage or sale so it is growable - however, it has a 99.99% chance of being a GMO corn that is round-up ready.

 

[gtaus]

A friend of mine buys "deer corn" from the local farmers and plants that for his deer food plots on his hunting land. The deer corn is not dried for storage or sale so it is growable - however, it has a 99.99% chance of being a GMO corn that is round-up ready.

I really have never heard of "deer corn." I asked my local mill what kind of corn they carried in 50# bags, and was told that they had cracked corn and whole corn, but neither would germinate or sprout. I explained to them that I was interested in obtaining corn to grow fodder, but they told me the only corn seed they had was in little garden sized packets for dollars per ounce. Obviously, that would not make any sense to grow fodder from those corn seed packets, at about $16 per pound of plantable corn seed, when you can buy a 50# bag of barley for $8.00.

The corn feed we have in local stores for feeding deer, that I am aware of where I live, is the same 50# bags for cracked and whole corn. If you can get "deer corn" directly from a farmer and that corn does germinate, that might be an option to consider. I just don't have that option available to me.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have 3 farmers within 5 miles of me that have little hutches with 50 lb bags of deer corn at the end of the driveway and a coffee can for the $5, plus a gas station with a pallet of deer corn and 2 pallets of deer apples at the pumps. The beauty of living in farm country, lol. Unfortunately, they had a deer test positive for CWD in the northern part of the state, so deer corn and deer apples are going to be going away as baiting deer for hunting is no longer allowed.

 

[Kusanar]

https://hancockseed.com/collections/corn-food-plot-seed-1/products/dwarf-corn-forage

This is likely what they are buying as "deer corn" more or less. It's used for planting food plots for deer.

 

[wyoDreamer]

No, it is regular commercially grown corn, just the leftover stuff from regular corn growing fields. The piles of corn that are created when emptying the combine into the trucks, emptying the trucks into the dryer and such. It is swept up and bagged by the farmer or his kids. Way back in my high school years, a friend of mine used to sell deer corn for her spending money. She gathered any cobs that were missed in the fields, usually in the corners of the fields where the planter could reach and the combine couldn't, cleaned up the spills and swept out the equipment after harvest was done. We lived in a tourist area, with a lot of cabins owned by city folk. They want to buy a cheap sack of corn to dump in the woods to bring the deer to their hunting stands or so they can see deer out their cabin windows.

My friend who buys it for his food plots uses round-up on his fields to control the weeds and the "deer corn" grows nice and tall.

 

[gtaus]

https://hancockseed.com/collections/corn-food-plot-seed-1/products/dwarf-corn-forage

This is likely what they are buying as "deer corn" more or less. It's used for planting food plots for deer.

I see that "deer corn" costs $115 per 50# bag. Again, I have no interest in making corn fodder at that cost when I get 50# of barley at $8.00. But thanks for the link and the info.

 

[Kusanar]

I see that "deer corn" costs $115 per 50# bag. Again, I have no interest in making corn fodder at that cost when I get 50# of barley at $8.00. But thanks for the link and the info.

Yeah, I knew you wouldn't be interested due to pricing, but I figured it was the most likely bet.