Garden Experiment Report: Growing and Harvesting Popcorn

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. We do not share your information with other sites. All views expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support!

     This has been one of my favorite and successful gardening years ever!  I've tried so many new things and we've harvested so much already, while the garden is still producing pretty well, even though the temps are high and things are starting to finish up.  
     I've told you about some of the things that I've been trying out this year on this post  and I gave you a report about our successful garden workshop that we held at Anita's on this post. 
     One of the things I tried this year was growing popcorn in my 3 Sister's Garden.  I just finished eating a bowl of it and now I'm going to tell you about what this popcorn experiment has taught me and whether it was a success or not.  

     One thing I already knew about corn is that it is difficult to grow in a small plot and I had already decided NOT to grow it anymore in my backyard garden because:

• Corn needs lots of companion stalks to fertilize properly!  All of those little silks on your corn cob need to each be individually be fertilized in order for the corn kernels to form and grow.  You can go out and shake the stalks and have high winds and try to help the process along,  but your result will most likely be sketchy.
• Each corn stalk will only produce 1 or maybe 2 corn cobs.  So, in a small yard, you aren't going to harvest more than a few meals worth of corn. 
• Corn needs a lot of water for a small return in a small plot. 

     Then, my assignment came to teach about ways to grow crops using the seeds that you may already have in your home.  (Click this Post)  I figured sprouting and growing popcorn was a good choice because: 

• Even if the cobs didn't fertilize properly, it wouldn't matter because I was just going to let it dry, take off the kernels and pop them, not serve them for dinner on a plate.  They didn't need to be full of kernels and beautiful!
• This was an experiment and I wasn't going to be depending on this popcorn for my long term food storage.
• Since I was planting the popcorn amongst the 3 Sisters Garden Plot, I was watering the squash and pumpkins anyway, (the beans in this plot didn't make it),  so the corn could just share that water and the large leaves on the squash helped to hold in moisture.  
• My grandkids might get a kick out of growing and popping their own popcorn! 

I loved this site in my backyard!

     I started my popcorn plants in containers because I was going to have to transport them to teach my gardening class.  Corn isn't usually a plant that you start indoors and it prefers to be planted from seed directly into your garden.  But, I took the risk and transplanted them and let them grow a bit before adding the squash, pumpkins and beans.   (Beans also hate to be transplanted and they didn't make it in this plot.  I did have success in other areas which I will report about to you in a later post.)   My corn took off growing pretty well, though I did lose a couple of plants.  That blotchy garden also made it harder to fertilize the plants.  Corn needs to be in well organized rows.

     In a couple of months, the stalks began to get tassels and cobs began to form and put out the silk. I did go out and try to help the corn pollinate by shaking it in the wind and, rubbing my hand over the tassels and then the silks.  We also had quite a bit of wind during this time period, so I hoped that the wind was doing its job.    Then, it was just a waiting game as the corn continued to grow and SOME of the cobs got fatter.  I had to wait until the stalks started to dry out, as well as the cobs and kernels. 
​

​Harvesting & Popping:

     When you think that the corn is dry enough to be popcorn, harvest one of the smaller cobs.  Husk it and see if there are any kernels on it!  Remove the kernels from the cob and take them to your stove and try to pop them.  
      My first harvested cobs looked like this:

     The kernels were hard, but now dry enough. When I tried to pop these, they merely split open within the skin of the kernel.  They were still good to eat, kind of like parched corn, but definitely not ready to be called popcorn.  

      So, I waited a week or more longer.  

     This time it popped!  Here is how I pop corn on the stove top:

• Put a couple of Tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a pan and put in a couple of kernels into the heating oil.  Heat them until they pop! 

They popped!

• Add the rest of the popcorn.  I had about 2 ounces of kernels.  That popped up to make enough for one person to eat! I burned it a little because I thought I was still seeing unpopped kernels, but I wasn't, they all popped! 

Sorry about my green bowl giving a weird color. They aren't as big or fluffy as my regular popcorn, but they did pop!

    I popped some of my purchased popcorn and mixed them together.  I guess you could call it the mother popcorn!  LOL

There is a big difference in the size of the popped kernels. I think it is all about finding the optimum moment to harvest.

     I am calling this experiment a success for the following reasons: 

• My popcorn grew from actual popcorn kernels!  I didn't have to spend any extra money on seeds.
• Even though my crop was small, I still harvested something that we could eat! 
• It was fun! Some of my grandkids got to try it the other week. 
​

​

     You may be asking, Will you try growing popcorn again?  The answer is probably not.  We are planning on laying out our garden differently this next season and we won't be doing the 3 sisters garden again, so I think popcorn has had its moment and I will try something new in my next go round!   I find that it is probably better for me to purchase corn from our produce distributer when they have good deals than to grow it my self.

But!  WE LOVE CORN! And, here are some other posts that you might enjoy that talk about corn:

• Coconut Creamed Corn
• ​Fresh Corn Griddle Cakes
• Fresh Corn Salsa
• ​Making Parched Corn
• Grilled Corn With Cilantro Lime Butter