Grow your own popcorn

According to the Popcorn Institute, Americans eat nearly 20 billion quarts of popcorn a year. That's over 70 quarts of popcorn per person! And surprisingly most of it is eaten at home, not in movie theaters where crowds of moviegoers regularly gorge themselves on humongous tubs of hot-buttered popcorn.

With popcorn being such a popular snack food, why do so few of us grow it in our gardens? There are a couple of reasons. The first is that most of us know that planting both sweet corn and popcorn in a small vegetable garden will result in cross-pollination, causing sweet corn to be starchy (and anything but sweet) and popcorn that will not pop.

There are, however, several solutions to this problem. First, you can plant an early variety of sweet corn that tassels and completes pollination before your popcorn begins to tassel. Or, if you have the room, distance your popcorn patch from your sweet corn by at least 100 feet. A third solution, and the simplest, would be to skip planting sweet corn next spring and plant popcorn instead.

A second reason we choose not to grow popcorn is because we think it takes too much space. But this isn't necessarily true. Most varieties of popcorn are smaller than most sweet corn. Plant seeds only 8 to 10 inches apart in double rows just 12 inches apart. Then allow 30 inches between each double row. By using this plan, you can grow 28 plants in a 5 1/2-by 6-foot patch, enough plants to guarantee good pollination.

Figure on each plant producing four ears. (Popcorn produces more ears per plant than does sweet corn.) This should yield at least 6 pounds of popcorn after shelling. Popcorn increases in volume by about 25 times after it is popped, so you will end up with about 150 quarts of this tasty, nutritious snack!

Growing popcorn

Because of the lack of demand, you won't find popcorn on local seed racks. And most seed catalogs carry only a few varieties. But don't be tempted to plant popcorn from the grocery store that is intended for popping. Virtually all of it is hybrid, and if you plant it, you will get an inferior harvest.

Plant your popcorn about the first of June in the Upper Valley and up to two weeks earlier in the Lower Valley. For a small planting, you can get a head start by planting your seeds indoors in peat pots two weeks or more before they can be safely transplanted into the garden.

Plant your popcorn in blocks of at least four rows. Since popcorn is pollinated by the wind, most of the pollen will likely be blown away if you plant only one or two rows. And what ears you do manage to harvest will be only sparsely filled and will look like a fellow who has lost most of his teeth in a fistfight.

Unless your soil is extra rich, fertilize at planting time, once again when your popcorn is knee-high and then finally when tassels develop.

Mulch your popcorn with shredded leaves or lawn clippings to keep the weeds down and to slow soil evaporation. In windy areas you should pull soil a couple of inches up around each stalk to encourage adventitious roots to develop, which will help keep your plants well anchored.

Corn ear borers can be a problem. Some gardeners apply a chemical insecticide, such as Sevin, to new silks. Organic growers sometimes use a drop or two of mineral oil, instead. Other gardeners just ignore borers and simply snap off the affected tip ends at harvest time.

Harvesting your crop

When the silks have all thoroughly dried, cut back on watering. Once all the leaves have turned yellow, stop watering altogether. Eventually your plants will die and turn brown. But hold off harvesting until just before the first heavy frost is forecast.

After husking, your corn will still need more drying time before it's ready for popping. To assure good air circulation, store your husked corn in onion or orange mesh bags and hang them in a well-ventilated, warm room. No mesh bags? You can use old panty or nylon hose just as well.

After a month of indoor drying, try popping a few kernels. If only a few pop and are tough and chewy, your popcorn needs more drying. Then pop a few kernels every week until most kernels pop out fluffy and flavorful. Now you can kick back on cold winter nights with a good book or movie and savor a bowl of your own homegrown gourmet popping corn that will be every bit as tasty as Orville Redenbacher's popping corn!

* Gardening columnist Jim McLain can be reached at 697-6112 or ongardening@compwrx.com.

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