Growing Popcorn

[Elven Dreams]

Quote:
I have heard that it will cross-pollinate. I've never tried planting it before though so no hands-on experience.

 

[dddCT]

so cool. My son decided he wanted to try and plant some corn this year and I thought popcorn would be fun but now I know I have to do it. So I can go and get some from the store and sprout it myself. When do you put it into the ground. This is our first year with a garden

 

[FarmerDenise]

You plant pop corn at the same time as other corn. Different corn needs to be planted apart from each other or you'll end up with a cross in this years ears. This can be done either with timing or by distance.
I found out that I did not dry my popcorn sufficiently this fall, it turned moldy

. We also place all seeds of any sort in the freezer for a week or so in order to kill any bug eggs. We have lost too many beans and other stuff to bugs hatching out, yuk

 

[crtrlovr]

I may have to try this; it would HAVE to be WAY cheaper than the small "Indian Corn" type cobs at PetsMart that are microwaveable to pop for birdies. My 'tiels & other birds love it, but I don't buy it very often b/c it's so darn high... this gives me incentive to try & grow my own. thanks for the suggestion!

ETA: do you leave it on the stalk to dry like commercially harvested seed corn, or do you cut it a bit earlier and hang it to dry as someone mentioned? When dry enough/completely dry, do you hull it & store it in a tightly sealed container or in the freezer? ... I know, I know... so many questions...

 

[FarmerDenise]

I dry it as long as possible outside, but I have to check for corn earworms. When the worms get into the ears, the worm droppings cause mold to form. We don't have rain til fall - early winter, so some years the corn dries quite well on the stalk. I cut it off the stalk, then lay it in a dry place to continue drying, as I have time I'll strip it. I have to make sure it stays dry, sometimes I bring it in the house to dry. We have a nasty rodent problem, and the rafters in the garage are usually being used for drying herbs, millet and broom corn. Sometimes we have room for some corn too. Then once we get to the point in the season when we spend more time inside the house, I start to seriously clean the corn and strip the kernels off the cob. I still leave it out for more drying time near the heater. When I think it is completely dry, I put it in a jar and freeze it for about 3 or more days to kill off any bug eggs. After doing all that last fall, I still ended up with moldy kernels

I plan on washing, then sprouting them and then letting the chickens have them. It was supposed to be really good popcorn too.

. I'm going to check the freezer though and see, if there is a stray jar of pop corn that I forgot to take out.

I will try again this year as it is usually still worth it and the critters do love it. I also pop it for my daughter's parakeets.