today's harvest

I picked my first ears of popcorn today. The variety is Calico, the same as I grew two years ago. That crop would never pop for me but was very pretty. I'm leaving the ears on the stalk longer this year - until the husk is fully dried. And I'm hoping it will pop.

I also pulled a bunch of shell beans - Black Turtle Soup. I'll hang them til they dry, then shell them. I have a lot more still waiting for harvest.

And I picked all of my pepper that were close to mature. I want to have as many as I can for roasting and freezing tomorrow.

it popped!!

My popcorn popped! I'm so happy. And it's really tasty popcorn. Crisp and hull-less. Really nice flavor even without butter and salt. Super with them. I wish it was a open pollinated (OP) variety that breeds true so I could save the seeds to replant next year. But it's F1. Nevertheless, I'll buy this variety again next year. Pop!! We'll have it with our New Year's champagne!

popcorn test ...

Last year I grew a lovely multicolored popcorn (Calico) and had a pretty good yield. Unfortunately it didn't pop. I tried hydrating it more and drying it more. But I couldn't get any of it to pop.

This year, I went back to a plain old yellow popcorn, like one that's worked for me in previous years. Not the same variety as earlier, but Johnny's Seeds' best recommendation. Robust 997. I had a small yield because of this year's drought (and my inattention to watering).

Today is the day for testing! I just took it off the cobs and we're warming up the Whirley-Pop. Will it pop???

nine ears of Calico popcorn

 

I was thinking my popcorn was a complete failure, but no, 9 pretty ears. Yippee! I planted it late and then didn't water and lost most of the seedlings. I only had one row that grew well. With one row, I was surprised to get any pollination. I harvested today, even though the ears weren't fully dried on the stalks as it looked like a chipmunk started nibbling on an ear.

popcorn!

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.

popcorn silks

It is amazing how fast corn grows. Just a few days ago the tassels started showing and now full size tassel and silks.

corn is tasseling

My popcorn is tasseling! Also the pointy tips of ears are showing! I knew they would pop out any day now.

popcorn

My popcorn is looking good. Green and thick. My neighbor commented that she had never seen corn planted so closely. I suppose I plant everything a bit close. I think in a small bed it works because there is space at the edges. This corn is about 9 inches apart in the rows (8 or 9 plants in a 6 ft wide bed) and rows are 12 inches apart.
No sign of tassels or ears yet. When I do get ears, I will spray their silks with spinosad (Captain Jack's Deadbug Spray) so corn ear worms don't get in it.

parasitic wasps

My first shipment of corn worm parasitic wasps arrived 3 weeks ago. They need to go out to the field within 24 hours, so I ran over to the community gardens and distributed the four cards. Each card has pin head size wasp eggs glued to it. I searched through the plots and found about 10or 12 patches of corn. In four of them, I hung a card of eggs.

I am receiving more eggs about once a week and each time I place the cards in different patches.

The wasps parasitize the eggs of the European Corn Borer. Its an experiment to see if this helps with our worms. From looking back to my old photos (below), the worms I had two years ago were Corn Ear Worms, not Borers. My understanding is that the Ear Worm lays its eggs singly so its hard for a wasp to be effective against them because it has to find every egg. On the other hand the European Corn Borer lays eggs in a cluster, so the wasps can effectively parasitize all of them. It seem like a fantastic, organic method of pest control, so I am trying the experiment anyway.

popcorn sprouts

My popcorn is a couple inches tall now. I thinned it once to about 2-3 inches apart and will thin again to about 6 inches soon. There is a giant sunflower that volunteered at the far end of the bed. It should be able to outgrow the corn.

I am planning to order some parasitic warps this year to see it I can get ears without worms. I need to order these soon.

failed popcorn crop :(

I harvested most of my popcorn this week, but there were almost no kernels on the cobs and lots of worms again. I guess it had low pollination. It seemed the bed had richer soil at one end than the other - the corn grew well at one end and much slower at the other. It all matured at different times and I bet this was not good for pollination. Oh well. The worms enjoyed it anyway.

Next year, I will feed the WHOLE bed better. I'm also going to look into parasitic wasps. I asked a local organic farmer how they keep the worms away from corn and that is their trick.

popcorn ears

I was worried about my popcorn. Tassels but no ears. And then all of a sudden, I have a corn patch full of little ears. Even some big ones. Amazing how fast they form!

I think I may have had the same worry last year. Now that I see the ears, this seems like something that has happened before.

I've been meaning to figure out what to do to avoid corn ear worms this year. Last year they ate the tip of every ear. I haven't gotten a plan yet and it may be too late now.

I have one ear with bright red tassels! Now how did that happen? All the rest are pale yellow.

popcorn seedlings

This is my popcorn. I have about twice as much this year as last year. So far, so good.

how to make popcorn

how to make popcorn...

Plant seeds in the spring when the ground is warm. Pick the ears when silks are very dry. Pull back husks and let the kernels dry. Test kernels. When they pop well, share them. Remove kernels by pushing them off the cob with your thumb, starting at tip. Put about 1/2 cup of kernels in a big pot with cover. Add a bit of oil. Heat on high, shaking constantly 'til popped. Add melted butter.

My niece and nephew had a lot of fun with this. We adults had to work hard to get a handful of the popped kernels. They went fast and were yummy. Skippy made out pretty good with the ones that ended up on the floor.

© Skippy's Vegetable Garden

my popcorn is delicious!!!

I tested a few kernels of popcorn and they popped well we made a batch (1 ear). Small bright white kernels. Add salt and melted butter. First thing, we brought it to my 17 year old. Here's the conversation:

(I put the bowl down near him.... Munching sounds start.... more munching sounds..)

"Do you like it Sam?"
"Hmm"
(munching...)

"Is it as good as your usual popcorn?"
"Better."
(munching, I tried to wait for elaboration...)

"Ohh. What's better about it?"
"The flavor."

And that's very true. I completely agree. (And very nice to have such an involved conversation with a teenager.) The kernels are smaller. But they taste delicious. A very subtle nice flavor that tastes like, well, popcorn. (Instead of microwaved Styrofoam with fake butter flavor added.)

So good we made another batch tonight. Its going fast! My 30+ ears definitely won't last long at this rate. (Another 28 or so days.)

Another definite for next year's garden!

35 ears of popcorn drying

I husked and hung 35 ears of popcorn. I picked about 50 ears total, but many were not pollinated. That's what I get with a small corn patch I guess.

I enjoy the different colors. I planted two varieties: Faribo White Hulless and Baby Golden. I'm wondering if the multicolored ears were pollinated by both of two types? With corn, each kernel gets pollinated separately by a grain of pollen that comes down the silk. Most of the ears have round kernels, but a few of the ears have pointed kernels. The pointy versus round kernels is not mixed on the ears - must be a maternal characteristic. Next year I'd like to add some red or blue into the mix. What fun!

All ears had worms in the tips, so I cut the tips off. There seem to be many organic methods to prevent Corn Ear Worms. I'll try these next year if this crop pops well.

I hung them all in the basement. Out of the way. I'll test a few kernels now and then until they pop well and then I'll shell the ears and store the kernels in jars. I'm thinking they may make good Christmas gifts - in pretty jars with fancy ribbons. If Skippy doesn't eat it all before then.

unpollinated corn and corn ear worms

You'll have to click to see these photos larger. They're too ugly to show full size. I composted the under pollinated ones and cut the wormy tips off. This was the only ear that still had the worm in it. Others just had the worm damage.

my first popcorn harvest

I think my popcorn is ready to harvest! I harvested a couple ears to check. I picked four that looked like they had bug problems. (Most of the crop looks much better.) The four ears look really good to me. I just chopped off the wormy tips. I'm really impressed. The kernels are nice and hard, but the husks are only just starting to dry. I'm hoping get over to the garden today to pick more.

I think I need to let it dry before popping it. I'll try a test kernel soon.

Here's the information I found at U Wisconsin Extension.

All that is required to grow popcorn for home use is adequate space and a little gardening know-how. Maturity is important in variety selection because popcorn that does not reach full maturity before frost will have very poor quality. It is better to plant several short rows side by side than one long row. Also, do not plant sweet corn and popcorn in the same garden. Popcorn requires adequate nitrogen and should be fertilized accordingly.

Harvest popcorn only after the kernels are hard and the husks completely dry. After picking, remove the husks and store the ears in bags that allow air movement so ears can dry. Each week, shell a few kernels and try popping them. When they pop well, shell the remaining ears and store in moisture-proof containers. Because popcorn can become infested with several types of insects, refrigeration is the best long-term storage.

Determining if moisture content is optimum for the best popping volume is a difficult problem. If the popcorn is "chewy" after popping, it is probably still too wet; so allow the kernels to dry some more, popping a sample every couple of days until the flakes are no longer chewy. Popcorn that pops poorly with many unpopped kernels is probably too dry and needs moisture. Start by adding one tablespoon of water to a quart of popcorn, mix well a couple of times that day, then after 2-3 days try popping another sample. Continue this procedure until the popcorn pops well.

popcorn ears

I'm really pleased with how my popcorn is looking. 2 or 3 ears per stalk now. I have 3 8 foot rows with about 20 stalks per row. But I'm not going to count the ears until I harvest them.

I was talking with a real farmer yesterday who said to make sure I let the popcorn stay on the stalks a long time - until the silks are fully dry. She said this is the main mistake people make with popcorn. The trick she said is to pick it just before the critters find it. Funny...

popcorn

My popcorn plants are almost as tall as me. They're getting tassels now but no sign of ears yet.