Today we pop-tested my new crop of popcorn. It was delicious and popped great. Very small kernels though. It looks like we can work on eating the rest of the crop now. Ha! I harvested way more than we can eat ourselves. I look forward to packaging it for gifts.
Mid-spring, I planted a 6 x 6 foot bed with 6 rows, 9 plants per row. My neighbor commented she'd never seen corn planted so close together! The popcorn variety: Robust 997 from Johnny's. The corn sprouted great and grew into a dense patch of 9 foot stalks. Mid-August (finally), ears formed and filled out fast. I watched and worried that racoons or corn ear worms would find them. I meant to spray with spinosad in case there were worms in the ears, but finally decided to wait and see how the harvest went without any spray. Late September, I harvested and shucked 43 ears of corn! I was relieved to pick it before any racoons found it and amazed there were NO WORMS in ANY ears!! I pulled the husks back and hung the ears in a back closet to dry.
The ears have now dried for about 4 weeks. I plan to strip the kernels soon and store them in canning jars with lids closed.
2 comments:
I am a huge popcorn fan and lover. I have decided that next year I am going to plant and harvest popcorn. Thank you for this post. It came at the right time since I was thinking about my garden for next year. I will try this method and this type and see how it works. Can I ask....and special types of soils? I live in the Fingerlake Region of NY (Central NY)
I think the main think is fertile soil - lots of compost - and full sun. Plant the corn in a square block or patch rather than a single long row so that there is good pollination. And then just hope that the birds, racoons and corn ear worms don't find it.
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