Rest of popcorn devoured by birds/animals -- so my timing was good for the harvests I did in recent weeks

The popcorn I harvested on Sep 20th and 23rd, when the ears were full and in some cases the covering was still quite green (dried tassels though) and in other cases the covering had started to yellow (but nowhere near completely dry on the plant) are all looking very promising -- they're still nice and plump and golden, ie they haven't shrivelled into nothingness the way the ones I harvested on August 20th did.

And ALL of the remaining ears still at the garden have now been finished off by birds and/or other animals.

So, in future, as long as the harvested kernels will be poppable (I'm hopeful but won't try any for at least another month), definitely harvest around Sep 20th in future years to beat the birds/animals -- DON'T wait until end of September / end of October.

Oh -- and this timing was based on my popcorn sowing dates starting on May 20th 2026 (with subsequent rounds as needed to fill in gaps).

GA: Results of popcorn ultra-early harvesting experiment = flop

The cob of popcorn that I harvested on August 20th after the tassels had turned mostly brown/crispy but everything else was still very green, and then placed loosely in a paper bag, ended up completely drying up whereby there were no kernels to be had whatsoever.

The cob of popcorn that I harvested on August 28th, in a similar condition as the August 20th cob noted above, was in a bit better shape in that there were some kernels, but they are tiny.  I decided to try popping the tiny kernels on the stove, just to see if they're usable at all.  Results:  No good -- they just burned without popping.

GA: Birds ate several of the popcorn cobs; have been harvesting gradually before birds or future raccoons get them

^^^

GA: Sweet corn Peaches and Cream started developing ears 1-2 weeks ago; Golden Bantam not yet; Popcorn just now starting to develop

Probably eating corn within a week!  Peaches and Cream ears definitely starting to fill in!

GA: Popcorn popped!!! Yielded 3/4 cup of kernels (since raccoons got most of the ears)

After sitting in a stainless steel bowl since harvest a few months ago, today I pulled off the kernels from the few sad ears that had escaped the raccoons.

The kernels measured up to 3/4 cup.

Popped 1/4 cup of them on the stove -- and it worked fabulously!  Used margarine, with some salt; heat at medium.  Started by putting just three kernels.  After the first three popped, added the rest of the kernels and shook the pot nearly continuously until they were pretty much all popped.

Only three or four kernels didn't pop, and these were nicely easy to crunch/eat.

Very tasty!

Will definitely try growing it again, and will try to harvest before the raccoons find them.

GA: Raccoons got most of the popcorn!!!!

Argh!!  The popcorn had been untouched up until today, when I found most of the cobs vanished and some of the stalks broken.  I presume raccoons.  Sigh.  So, I harvested what remained.  It's definitely still nowhere near being dry, but hopefully it will be okay to dry on the counter.  If it works, then next year I'll try again and would just harvest much sooner rather than thinking they can last until fully dry on the stalk.

GA: PT-started popcorn seeds have now been transplanted

The R2 popcorn seeds that this time I started in paper towels sprouted great in a couple of days and have now been transplanted to fill in the gaps.  This time I put them on and under the GA compost rather than vermiculite.

GA: Carrots, beets, and popcorn update

Will preface this by saying there has been tons of rain/showers, and when there hasn't been I've gone to water, so I'm pretty sure no seeds have dried out.

Carrots:  See earlier post for sowing method.  Have been under burlap until today.  Today I fully removed the burlap because I think I see some carrot seedlings.  However, I'm not seeing a lot of carrot seedlings......  So I'll probably have to go back and fill in gaps.  My theory is that the corn starch gel was too thick and they got stuck inside.

Beets:  Quite a few have appeared, so removed the burlap.  Hopeful it will be a good showing.

Corn:  No sign of the popcorn yet.  (Haven't sowed the sweet corn yet.)

GA: Popcorn planted

First time trying to grow popcorn!

This variety is called "Robust" (the package says it's a popcorn variety), by OSC, bought from Ritchie's.

Here's the method I used:

Forked the bed.

Used hand to create planting holes every 8" in all directions.

Put sprinkling of this mixture (roughly):  3 parts kelp, 2 parts mrp, 2 parts az, and a scattering of alfalfa pellets.  (No leaves yet -- will add those later on top after they germinate.)

Half-filled holes with vermiculite.

Placed one to two seeds per hole, ~2" deep.  (The north-most three rows have one per hole; then the south-most two rows have mix of one to two seeds per hole.)

Filled up the holes with vermiculite.

Covered with frost cover -- just to block the seeds from birds.

Watered over the frost cover (the water seeped nicely through the cover).  Used the frost cover instead of burlap because I think it would be easy for birds to peck through burlap to get the seeds.

Later on, when I plant the sweet corn, I'll try an experiment so that some will use less or no vermiculite -- because it's a lot of vermiculite otherwise!