Growing popcorn

Like the title says I'm looking for the do's and don'ts on growing popcorn, looking for INFO. on planting depth, plants per acre, growth time, what % of moister is dry enough to store and then % it will pop good at, can it be shelled with a combine or picking on the ear better for storage and where can I buy somewhere around 100 to maybe even 200# popcorn seed at? I have been asked to grow what think is a lot of popcorn. lol   

Well, don't plant it anywhere near sweet corn or Indian corn. It cross pollinated with em last year and I had a whole bunch of half breed popcorn. Worthless basically. Grew another 4 rows 75ft long this year. Filled a basket full of cobs. Have them drying in the shop now. I believe 15% is the sweet spot. The worms like the cobs I know that for sure. Planted ours at 32k. But I believe the happy number is around 20k.

Kids and I grew about a couple of acres Amish Pennsylvania Butter Popcorn.  (A heritage variety).  Hand howed, hand picked and shelled.  Kids were not happy:).  Anyway we went on line for a hand sheller.  Everything went well.  Goodluck

We grew some popcorn a couple years ago, about 12-16 95’ rows. Picked it by hand, and shelled it with my great great grandpa’s John Deere 1A hand sheller. I set up an old 6’x10’ 100 bushel wagon in the shed with some air flow through some corn tunnels, and filled the wagon 3/4 full of ear corn. If I remember right, there was 17 bushels of shelled corn. I put it in gallon and quart bags, gave it as Christmas presents, sold some of it, and filled a freezer full of it.
It was a job, but it was kind of fun to re-live what my great great grandpa did, and my great grandpa in his younger years. Even my dad used that sheller when he was a kid for popcorn!

I've been thinking of growing some myself. May just do it out in the huntin pasture so it's far enough away from field corn to limit cross pollination.

I  would suggest you follow the above guidelines and grow several varieties as a test for your location .  Might take a few years.  I would volunteer  (being from the volunteer state) to evaluate your progress free of charge.  Please send a minimum 20# sample to our address after harvest and we will assess your product and progress.  :-)

My grandfather raised some, but it were with a pair of ole army mules. He told me he was pickin by hand, in late october, with them ex-corporals on the wagon, hadda bout half a load on, and they stopped pullin...  Well, the old trick to get stubborn mules to move, was to start a fire unner 'em.  Well, he did, they moved just far enough forward, to set the wagon afire...  You know what comes next, fire started alla the popcorn a poppin, mules thought it were snow, and froze ta death, afore he could put tha fire out!

DiyDave wrote: My grandfather raised some, but it were with a pair of ole army mules. He told me he was pickin by hand, in late october, with them ex-corporals on the wagon, hadda bout half a load on, and they stopped pullin...  Well, the old trick to get stubborn mules to move, was to start a fire unner 'em.  Well, he did, they moved just far enough forward, to set the wagon afire...  You know what comes next, fire started alla the popcorn a poppin, mules thought it were snow, and froze ta death, afore he could put tha fire out!

E&R seed in Indiana has bulk popcorn varieties.

Thanks for all the great INFO. I was not not up on popcorn before but now with all the help  from you guys I'm thinking we will plant some popcorn this year, I have 6 seeds planted in a big flower pot for one week and all 6 are now up so the test is coming along, more to come. If we find the need for testers I know we can count on you guys. lol

I plant it in the garden every year, last year I decided to go “Big Time” and plant 2 acres. I planted with my regular field corn plates on 32” rows. I slowed the rate way down because I had doubles and triples in the cells of the plates. Had good emergence but still very thick. I fertilized and cultivated as you would field corn. I harvested it this fall at 18% moisture with my All Crop 66. I dry it in a small homemade batch dryer and store it at 12-14% moisture.
What I learned
1. Don’t plant it too thick, as said before you’ll get lots of blank stalks and small ears. I’m going to try sorghum plates next       year.
2. Don’t wait too long to harvest. Unlike field corn popcorn has a small stem and tends to break and fall down the longer you wait to harvest. Also the deer and birds love to eat it and will eat a lot of a small stand.
3.You need to be very careful when harvesting mechanically, any cracked or chipped seed coats will not pop, harvesting by hand prevents this but it’s a lot of work.


Edited by Travis2766 - 19 Dec 2018 at 8:16pm

farmerzzz wrote: I have try growing in the past, but always plants to thick. what plate do you use to keep from dropping  two seeds.

Smaller ones.

I know the stuff at the store will germinate and grow in butter dishes in the middle of winter but had to move and the test didn't get finished!!!

I guess I'll just buy a packet of seeds, Don't want no cornysteins stalking me in the patch.

You can re-size them in paint!--That's what I do. 480 x 640 is ideal post size. thanks; ac fleet