Popcorn, Lofthouse Landrace

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Regular price $4.50

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Quick facts

Our favorite popcorn
Late season corn
Tall 10-12' stalks

Zea mays

110 days. Diverse population bred to perform well in hot, dry conditions. Bred by Joseph Lofthouse of Adaptive Agriculture in Paradise Valley, Utah. Diversity in kernel color and ear size- these stalks grow huge! Check out how they dwarf our little guy :) This is such a diverse population, you can easily become a plant breeder when you grow these, simply select those which perform well in your garden.

To learn more about landraces, read our blog post "What is a landrace???"

Seed Specs: 100 seeds minimum/packet

How to grow it:

Germ Temp	Indoor Start	Germ Days	Frost Tolerant	Sun	Seed Depth	Plant/Row Spacing
65-95	Not rec.	4-21 d.	No	Full	1”	12”/18”

After all danger of frost has passed, plant 2 seeds 12" apart in rows 18" apart. Thin to one strong plant per row foot. Corn is wind pollinated, so plant in blocks at least 5' x 5' to ensure adequate pollination. Allow cobs to dry on the plant as long as weather remains dry, or harvest and hang to dry in a dark, covered location.

Seed specs: Packet size- 200 min.

Intermountain-west pest concerns: Earwigs can be a problem in irrigated gardens based in desert climates. They are naturally aquatic, and attracted to irrigated landscapes, which most of our gardens are. In corn, earwigs feed heavily on corn silks during the silking stage. This can reduce successful pollination, and lead to ears with missing corn kernels where pollination failed. Earwig damage to silks is easy to overlook, as the silks continue to elongate. Silks that have been damaged by earwigs have browning on the ends of them. Alternatively, since earwigs are nocturnal feeders you can go out with a headlamp at night to see if they are feeding. Get ready for a creepy crawly horror show though, you might see more freaky earwigs in one spot than you ever thought possible!

Option one: In varieties where the husk wraps tightly around the growing silks of a corn ear, earwigs have a hard time damaging much of the silk, so these varieties might be best for organic production in areas where earwigs are a problem. Giving Ground Seeds is currently working on assembling a list of varieties which exhibit this trait.

Option two: Alternatively, you can spray the corn silks at dusk with Spinosad, an OMRI approved pesticide which is easy to find at any nursery or garden center. The earwigs will feed on the silks and die. Pollinators can die from eating spinosad too though, so it's imperative spray take place at dusk and be concentrated on the silks.

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