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Post by DarJones on Jan 16, 2012 17:14:16 GMT -5
There are three primary traits and a half dozen secondary traits that can wait. The primary traits are: 1. Number of kernels that pop when the moisture is in the correct range. This varies depending on kernel cracking as it dries. Cracked kernels let the moisture escape which prevents popping. 2. Volume of the popped kernels. 3. Shape of the popped kernel, some pop like mushrooms, some explode, some are irregular.
The secondary traits are: 1. Flavor of the popped corn. 2. Kernel pericarp characteristics - I hate popcorn husks between my teeth. 3. color of the popped corn, yellow pops are nice. 4. Ear shape and volume of corn per ear 5. Stalk traits 6. anything else for agronomic traits.
DarJones
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 16, 2012 17:38:07 GMT -5
The first thing I do when I pick up a cob to begin testing it is to look closely at the kernels. If many of them are cracked I discard the cob without even trying to pop it.
Another common failure point in the popping process is that too much moisture escapes through the tip of the kernel where it attaches to the cob.
One agronomic trait that I want to pay more attention to in the coming years is how tightly the kernels adhere to the cob. I would like a strain that is easy to shell by hand. (As long as that doesn't interfere with popping ability by making the tip weaker.)
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Post by DarJones on Jan 16, 2012 18:15:47 GMT -5
Pennsylvania Butter Flavored popcorn is excellent for shelling traits.
DarJones
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Post by gakaren on Feb 26, 2012 17:04:54 GMT -5
I just wanted you to know that without knowing it you helped me out! It has been a LONG time since I grew popcorn & ya know how us old folks get...forgetful. I was reading this thread when you started talking about moisture in the popcorn & it hit me....THAT'S WHAT HAS BEEN WRONG WITH THIS POPCORN I BOUGHT....NOT ENOUGH MOISTURE. So I took my plastic container that I store the corn & dumped out the corn, washed it out, drip dried it but left some moisture drops in there...then refilled it with popcorn. And guess what! Nearly every kernel pops now! That is exactly what had been wrong, to dry! This is a long, round about way to say THANK YOU for your discussion!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 18, 2012 23:52:59 GMT -5
Today when I was walking past the popcorn patch, I noticed that some of the cobs were mostly dried down, so I picked them. I harvested perhaps 5% of the corn in the patch. It'd be nice to nudge my popcorn in the direction of quicker maturity. I also made a cross this summer between [60 day Ashworth sweet corn pollinated by popcorn], but it would be nice if I don't have to use it because selection from an existing population is easier than growing a cross out for two generations before starting selection. Some of the popcorn in the patch was just finishing silking, so it's a good month behind what I picked today. [Or a bad month, guess it depends on the month.] These cobs are from a variety which came to me as "Cherokee Popcorn". It grew in the next row over from my popcorn landrace, and I am expecting to incorporate both mothers as well as pollen into my popcorn landrace. Last winter when I was popping corn, I noticed one cob that didn't pop very well, but it shelled extremely easily. I planted it ear-to-row in the popcorn patch. Just about every cob from that mother was dried down today. I had meant to detassel it, but that didn't happen. It was a small part of the patch, so it shouldn't have too much of a detrimental effect on overall popping ability.
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Post by flowerpower on Sept 19, 2012 6:22:40 GMT -5
"Cherokee'' must be what I grew also. It looks identical. Glad to see it is OP, as I like the size of the ears.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Sept 19, 2012 6:34:35 GMT -5
I've always noticed that commercially popped corn is always very uniformly mushroom shaped. Home popped corn, at least by us, is almost never mushroom shaped. Is this a varietal difference or do they pop the corn in some kind of special pressure vessel or something?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 19, 2012 9:28:39 GMT -5
"Cherokee'' must be what I grew also. It looks identical. Glad to see it is OP, as I like the size of the ears. People made sure to give me an education this summer... It appears that the term "Open Pollinated" is one of those lies that our society tells itself. Turns out that the way it is used in the seed industry has nothing to do with being promiscuously pollinated as the name implies. The term open pollinated as used by the seed industry means a highly inbred (stable) variety regardless of how it was pollinated. So it can be hand pollinated, or caged, or any other controlled pollination method can be used to cross it with itself and it is still called open pollinated, but if it was pollinated by bees or wind it can only be called open pollinated if there was no other variety of that species growing within miles. To me the term OP implies that we don't really know who the pollen donor was. People sure told me off for thinking that. Based on the large phenotype differences between plants, I'd say that the Cherokee Popcorn that I grew is a landrace. I don't think it would meet the "stable" prong of the definition for OP.
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Post by mayz on Sept 19, 2012 10:21:23 GMT -5
The term open pollinated as used by the seed industry means a highly inbred (stable) variety regardless of how it was pollinated. Certainly really for an inbreeder like pea, bean, tomato for which selfing is the main rule Certainly not really for an outbreeder like corn
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 19, 2012 14:56:12 GMT -5
Certainly not really for an outbreeder like corn Yes really! Seems wrong to me also. But I have no power or desire to change the seed industry, or it's definitions. I'll just use different vocabulary to describe my seeds. I like the term landrace. It is more true to what people think they are getting when they hear the term "Open Pollinated"
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Post by flowerpower on Sept 20, 2012 6:44:00 GMT -5
Feel free to use whatever terms you want to describe the corn. I'll just call it mini popcorn and leave it at that.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 12, 2012 18:57:04 GMT -5
The last couple of days I have been testing my popcorn landrace for popping ability: One cob at a time. I am popping one tablespoon of kernels in a paper bag in the microwave, and then recording the volume and the number of grannies produced, and sometimes a desirable trait like "easy shelling". I am very pleased with the popcorn this year. It is popping much better than last year. These cobs are the F3 generation of a cross between decorative Indian corn (flint and flour) and popcorn. Last year (F2) was the first year I selected based on popping ability. Then this spring I planted ear to row. Doing so allowed me to dramatically shift the population towards earlier maturity because some family groups matured early and some didn't even get harvested because they were so late. I harvested several times during the growing season and saved the seed based on maturity dates. If I get enough great popping early cobs then I won't worry about testing the later maturing plants, I'll just eat them. I used my popcorn landrace to pollinate [LISP Ashworth su, su/se, se+ sweet corn] this summer. My intention is to grow out the seed, and use it to create an early maturing popcorn. I'm also intending to segregate the population into a sweet corn because there are a a lot of unique alleles in popcorn that would be nice to bring over into my sweet corn landrace.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 6, 2012 0:30:32 GMT -5
I spent the afternoon and evening testing the "Cherokee Popcorn" for popping ability. Every cob had at least some kernels that popped, but the expansion ratio was around 7 times or less: Sometimes much less. I found about a dozen cobs with expansion ratios between 10X and 17X. My best popcorn this year is expanding about 24X (off the shelf without adjusting moisture to optimum).
The cobs are much smaller than my popcorn landrace. The two patches grew about 6 feet apart this summer, and were planted on the same day, so there is likely some crossing. The Cherokee was a bit longer season on average than my popcorn. My intention for next year is to plant the Cherokee popcorn inside the main popcorn patch, and detassel it so that I can combine the additional color pallet of the Cherokee popcorn with the great popping ability of my landrace popcorn. I also identified one cob that expanded only 7X, but the flavor was marvelous. It'll have a special place in the popcorn patch next summer. Even if I miss detasseling, the patch would be fine.
Still lots of corn to pop. I'll likely stop testing when I have identified around a hundred cobs, from any patch, that pop acceptably. I'm kinda wishing that I had tested the popping ability of each cob of glass gem. Oh well. I figure I'll plant it within the popcorn patch next year and detassel it.
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Post by richardw on Dec 6, 2012 2:55:44 GMT -5
wow i'm most impressed with the length of those cobs Joseph
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Post by Drahkk on Dec 7, 2012 12:18:09 GMT -5
I've always noticed that commercially popped corn is always very uniformly mushroom shaped. Home popped corn, at least by us, is almost never mushroom shaped. Is this a varietal difference or do they pop the corn in some kind of special pressure vessel or something? It is a varietal difference, Ox. Popcorn kernels pop in two main shapes, which the industry refers to as mushroom and butterfly kernels. The prepopped, flavored stuff is usually all mushrooms, because they are tougher and break less in transit. The stuff sold to movie theaters and for home popping is usually mostly butterfly kernels, because they are more tender. Mushroom types also do better when air popped, while butterflys oil pop better. It is possible for both types of kernels to grow on the same cob, but the industry uses hybrids selected to produce 100% of one type or the other so they can control the mix in the final product. It sounds like what you've been growing is producing mostly butterfly kernels. I've never grown popcorn; I know what I do from the food processing end of things, so I'm not sure of the specific varieties that are grown for mushroom kernels. But I'll bet Google can enlighten us. MB
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