I Germinated Popcorn Kernels and Grew Corn
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Published 2023-08-19
Growing corn is such a fantastic way to teach kids about plant life cycles, pollination, and where our food comes from. And to know that even if you live in a busy, urban environment and have a very small space like a balcony, you can still grow and harvest your own corn on your tiny little balcony. Just like I did.
Some unique facts that you’ll learn in this video:
1. Popcorn kernels from your seasoned, buttery bag will not grow. You’ll need to grow popcorn kernels from the store, unseasoned.
2. Corn plants can grow surprisingly tall, sometimes reaching heights of 7 to 10 feet or even more.
3. Even though corn is usually yellow, it also comes in a variety of other colours, like red, blue, and even multicoloured.
4. In order for your corn to grow successfully in a small space, you’ll want to plant your corn kernels at least 4 inches apart from each other. Otherwise, they will suffocate each other and your corn will grow pretty miniature.
5. Corn can be a great team player in your garden. It can provide support for climbing beans, and squash plants can help shade the soil around corn roots, creating a natural and beneficial partnership. So they are great companion plants to grow with your other plants!
6. The number of hairs the corn has is the number of kernels that will grow in the corn. Each piece of silk is like a tube that goes down to one kernel inside the ear.
7. In order for the corn to actually grow, the tassel at the top of the corn plant, which is actually the male part of the plant, has to be shaken by hand many times a week, so that the pollen from the male tassels gets transferred onto the female silks, or hair, and the corn grows successfully. They basically have corn children together, with the help of the tassels and the silks.
8. The male and female parts of the plant are used for different things, like as mulch to cover up soil, as animal bedding to provide a comfortable surface for livestock, as a great addition to your compost pile, as material to create woven mats or baskets, as a food source to make cornmeal, corn flour, corn oil and tamales, and even in herbal remedies for its great medicinal effects.
9. Some types of corn, like sweet corn, are delicious when picked fresh from the garden and eaten right away. The sugars start converting into starch quickly after harvest, so homegrown sweet corn can taste incredibly sweet and tender.
10. I actually did auction off a storage unit for $35 and used 14,000 pounds of wood to build my garden box. Sam built it for me ;). I really wanted to grow the most epic apartment garden this summer, so if you want to watch the videos of the storage unit and garden box journey, follow the links here:
TIMESTAMP:
00:00 - 03:20 Popcorn Kernels
03:20 - 05:07 Corn #1 (2021)
05:07 - 07:32 Corn #2 Packaged Seeds (2022)
07:32 - 08:21 Building A Corn Garden Box
08:21 - 13:02 Corn #3 Garden Box Corn (2023)
Thank you so much for watching! I love you all SO much. It really means the world to me that you support me and my channel. In the wise words of the ending of my videos….I LOVE YOU.
All Comments (21)
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It took 3 years to make this wow such commitment
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this came JUST in time for me ! ive been very excited to try the three sisters growing technique and i've been begging my dad to get me corn seeds for like a MONTH and today he finally got a pack and now i see this video!! i'm so excited to start growing them and your tips are so helpful !
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You can cook a cob of corn still in all its leaves for 3 or 4 minutes in a microwave .it tastes better than boiling it and retains all the flavour .when cooled slightly pull back the leaves twist into a handle dip corn in good quality salted butter and bite into deluciousness
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I hope you and Sam stay together forever ❤ Love your seed experiments, btw 👍
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Wow! I'm surprised you could germinate popcorn kernels because there usually dehydrated and I would've never thought about it, I'll try it soon!
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I love that this vid took 3 yrs to make, amazing!!!!!!
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Just freaking love these longer video's. Full of humor and twisting around the words.
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Wait you thought corn grows under the surface? That surprised me as I came to know you as a plant nerd - but I grew up beside (and sometimes in) huge corn fields, so it was normal for me to see them grow and sometimes yoink a young one to eat it. Edit: so where's the homemade popcorn from the homegrown popcorn kernels? (It needs to be the right strain, normal corn doesn't work)
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That's so cool! I'm tryna grow a bunch of things too. It started when I wanted to grow a passionfruit bush, but all my seedlings died :(. After that I grew some other fruits and vegetables. Next year I'll try growing passionfruit again :))
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The multicolored corns are not actually that hard to find. If you buy Indian corn around thanksgiving you can plant the seeds and get colorful corn. I have been growing the stuff for years now and I managed to breed blue and pink corn.
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the corn dance !
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The boyfriend’s a keeper
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the corn with the juice !
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You should grow cloudberries. Or maybe artic raspberries.
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Wow That’s awesome. I love your videos by the way.
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When harvesting corn, twist and pull, don't just pull down.
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Whoa...intense... thankfully you got some to grow...i wouldn't be able to sleep.. great job ❤ gidday from Australia 🦘
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WOW
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Thank you! Luckily I have a whole basket of them
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Your channel was in my recommendations today and it was the video with the caterpillar 🐛 and strawberries 🍓. When I looked at all your videos, I was happy to discover that you are doing things I’ve always wondered about. So here I am watching this video wondering how the small baby corn on the cob, like what is found in Chinese cooking, is grown. I’ve even seen small cans of the baby corn on the cob in cans at the grocery stores. It’s usually found in the international food section of the store. So, would you be willing to make a video about how the baby corn on the cob is grown?
