Any one ever planted Popcorn

Hello All

My wife asked if i would plant her some popcorn. I read some info on it and put some kernels in some MM in a pot. To my surprise in 3 days they broke ground.

I dug a trench a foot wide and deep. Put in some MM watered tossed in my kernels and replanted the ones from my pot and more MM than watered again. In three days the new kernels popped out of the ground the replants are still growing

Should i go along with the book on regular corn growth and harvest or is popcorn different.

Thanks

Your post has made me curious ..



I've always thought " POP " corn was maize kernels removed from the corn cob when it's almost dried out and the kernels are heated in a lightly oiled lidded pan till they explode .



We have an electric popper but it is only good for simple stuff .



If you know , would you please tell me about making the popped corn in a heavy biottomed pan on a gas flame or electric hob pan and how you add a butter glaze or toffee with cimamon etc. ?

POP corn is grown just like regular corn. The variety chosen may be better suited to popping, rather than eating or some varieties are bettter for growing for flour or feed for animals.I have a pic somewhere that shows a baby ear of corn that was popped in a paper bag , it was dried on the cob, then popped. I guess a microwave was used.

Any way, or machine, used to pop corn, can be used to pop any pop corn.

When I was a kid my Mom had to use a pan to pop corn. They still make 'kettle corn' at the fair or circus. It's got oil on it, just a bit, but oh so good!

Just put maybe 1/8 inch of oil in pan on med heat, heat til it sizzles, add corn kernals til you cover, in 1 layer, the bottom of pan, put on lid. Continue heating til you hear it start to pop. After it starts to pop good, shake the pan sideways on the bunner, this is to make the loose kernals stay on the bottom and the popped corn will move out of the way. When you hear the corn get fewer and fewer popping, remove from heat or you will burn it. I think this is a learned experience. I used to try this when I first married and burnt a few pans full!

As far as the corn toppings, you add them to popped corn.

Pop the corn any way you want, even in an air popper. Melt butter, or maybe carmel! in a pan, drizzle over popped corn in a large bowl and toss. It is 8am and I now want some pop corn for breakfast!

Only thing different is kettle corn, made with sugar. The sugar is added to the pan when you add the corn. I don't have a recipe but it sort of makes a coating on the corn.

Let us know how it goes!

Jo

Cheers Jo ..

It looks like we will be having a cinama night in the home tomorrow evening complete with POPCORN

My boyfriend made a great Cracker Jack style of caramel corn. I have the recipe, and can send it by email. If anyone wants it, just send me your email by PM.

Okay, there's not much I'm going to contribute to this thread, but I do know that if you are talking about making caramel corn the preferred gourmet corn to use is typically called mushroom corn. For other popcorn applications it's not always mushroom corn.

So, what I imagine that you did was go into the pantry and pulled out some un-popped popcorn and planted it. I would never have even thought to try this, but I would imagine if plants are coming up you can treat them the same as any other corn. They might need some support when they get big and good luck keeping the critters away.

Anyway, I found an interesting link to a blog where someone actually grows popcorn and I think that will help you with some of the other questions about when to harvest and what to do and what not.

http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2009/09/when-to-harvest-popcorn.html

my little girl grows popcorn in her three sisters garden. it as the same growing requirements as sweet corn.

Thanks All.

Well the wifes popcorn is doing just great. I was not sure how to go about it so tried it in a planter first.

In no time they had begun to grow. So i moved the crop from the planter to the ground. I now have 20 stalks reaching to the sky. They are between a foot and half and two feet tall. I love it when a plan comes together

Mike

Mike how did your *popcorn* turn out?

found this very cool video tonight

.....*Popping home grown popcorn on the cob in the microwave*....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QA4SB9WuR8&feature=channel&list=UL



i want to grow some next year!

anyone else try this?....if so how did it do and what kind of corn did you plant?

hugs
rose

One thing to always remember: if you plant both popcorn and sweet corn, be sure to plant them so the pollination dates are staggered. If they cross pollinate, both will be ruined. If you don't believe this, just ask a guy who's done it - me.

plantoid wrote:Your post has made me curious ..



I've always thought " POP " corn was maize kernels removed from the corn cob when it's almost dried out and the kernels are heated in a lightly oiled lidded pan till they explode .

. . .

I doubt they would ever germinate.

Pollinator wrote:One thing to always remember: if you plant both popcorn and sweet corn, be sure to plant them so the pollination dates are staggered. If they cross pollinate, both will be ruined. If you don't believe this, just ask a guy who's done it - me.

we do grow sweet corn......how far should we stagger them?

thanks
rose

I planted popcorn several years ago and it grew beautifully. However, my impatient husband harvested it way too early so it didn't really pop. I would suggest leaving it on the stalk, much like with feed corn, til the ears are relatively dry.

This is probably too late for this season, but there's always next year!

FamilyGardening wrote:

we do grow sweet corn......how far should we stagger them?

I think you'd want the bloom at least two weeks apart. Check the "days-to-maturity" from your seed packets for more guidance in your estimate.

If you have a lot of sweet corn and only a little popcorn, you could detassel the popcorn as soon as tassels show, using a couple for some hand pollination of popcorn and discarding the rest. You'll have to be careful of wind direction, if there is any, when doing the popcorn by hand. Of course the more the two kinds are separated, the less likely you will have inadvertant cross contamination.

There's a difference between popcorn corn and sweet corn?

I have a ton of popcorn kernels that I want to try this out with now. lol But sweet corn that's fresh might nice. Can you also use the popcorn corn's starch like sweet corn starch? o.o *might be confused on the corn starch part*

nycquilter wrote:I planted popcorn several years ago and it grew beautifully. However, my impatient husband harvested it way too early so it didn't really pop. I would suggest leaving it on the stalk, much like with feed corn, til the ears are relatively dry.

This is probably too late for this season, but there's always next year!

Yes, leave it just like we do field corn on a farm. Then, pick it and don't husk it at first. I put mine in a very dry place and allow it to get so dry that the kernels are very easy to remove. Then try popping some. If too damp - continue to dry it. One of my tricks is to put the popcorn in a container and store it in the freezer. For some reason it pops better for me.

as a kid...daddy had it in the garden nearly every year...always good. I tried it in SFG and it turned out to be the best I could remember. However, the next time I tried it...I left the ears on the stalk to dry...(duh)...and weevils got the whole batch. My bad. Just pull it and let it dry inside and you should be good to go. elwo