Scientific Name: Zea mays everta

Common Names: Maize 'Popcorn', Corn 'Popcorn', Popping Corn

Family: Poaceae

Origin:

Popcorn is an ancient food, the oldest popcorn variety ever found came from the New Mexico region and carbon dating revealed it was over 5,600 years old.  While the origins of this variety are unknown, it's an open-pollinated variety meaning that you can save the seeds year after year and they'll grow true to type.

Culinary Uses:

This variety of popcorn has rich golden kernels that can be popped into a fluffy white snack.  The easiest way to pop popcorn is to heat a small amount of oil in a heavy saucepan with lid, once hot add the kernels and shake the pan constantly so that they don't burn.  Once the popping has mostly stopped your snack will be ready to eat.  The cobs from this variety can also be harvested before they fill out and used as baby corn in Asian stir fries. 

Growing Tips:

Popcorn grows fastest in a location that receives full sun.  Maize plants are heavy feeders so be sure to digs lots of organic fertiliser, compost, well-rotted manures and/or worm castings through your vegetable patch prior to sowing.  Fertilise Maize plants at least monthly with a complete organic liquid fertiliser, pelleted fertiliser or worm juice.  Water regularly and mulch around maize stalks well to retain moisture, keep their root systems cool and suppress weeds.  Maize is wind pollinated and for cobs to fill out fully you'll need good pollination between plants.  To achieve this plant maize plants in blocks rather than rows so that the pollen from the upper male flowers can fall down onto the tassels of the female flowers on surrounding plants.  To prevent your maize plants toppling over in strong winds support each row of plants within the block by driving in a stake at either end and running string on either side of the stalks.  Corn earworm can be a major pest which will attack and eat your maize cobs, you can control them by applying organic Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) to the silks of each cob as soon as they start to turn brown.  Keep an eye out for the small white eggs of the earworm on the tassels of your cobs, if you see them you can remove the eggs by hand.

When To Sow:

You can sow Popcorn seeds all year round in tropical regions of Australia.  In subtropical regions of Australia sow Popcorn seeds from August to March.  In temperate regions of Australia sow popcorn seeds from October to January.

How To Sow:

Sow Popcorn seeds 2cm deep spacing plants about 50cm apart to give them room to grow.

Germination Time:

Popcorn takes 4 to 12 days to germinate once sown.

Time To Harvest:

Popcorn takes 13 to 14 weeks for fully filled cobs to form.  Harvest popcorn cobs when the kernels are hard and husks have fully dried.  De-husk the cobs and allow the kernels to dry for a couple more weeks off the plant before trying to pop them.  If the kernels fail to pop it's likely there moisture content is too high and they'll need to dry out for longer.  Baby corn can be harvested several weeks earlier than popcorn, pick them when they're at there most tender before the cobs have started to fill out.