Miniature Corn

SummerSky · May 6, 2015

Last fall I bought some miniature indian corn for decorations and I never tossed them out. Yesterday I was doing my spring cleaning and noticed the tiny ears of corn still sitting on the bookshelf in my bedroom, just as pretty as the day I put them there. It got me wondering if I could grow them, so I stripped their kernels and put them in my seed box.

Has anyone tried growing these things before? I'm having no luck finding anything online, but then again my google-fuu isn't the best in the world...

Darren Abbey · May 6, 2015

I've grown a larger decorative "indian" corn before. The plants were vigorous and the only real difference in taste from sweet corn was that the fresh (steamed, buttered, salted) cobs tasted a bit more floury... which makes sense as the kernels are storing staring instead of the simple sugars of sweet corn. The plants all produced different colors of seeds, which in the fresh-eating stage were all various pastels.

Worth1 · May 6, 2015

Yes they should come back the same if they aren't hybrid.
I bet they will be fine.
Worth

Tormato · May 9, 2015

My guess is that they will be dwarf plants, likely 4-5 feet tall.

SummerSky · May 10, 2015

I'll be planting a small patch in a couple weeks, so we'll see what they do!

We plant field corn and sweet corn, so I'm familiar with corn. These little mini ears are so cute! They'll be growing in the garden, far away from the others. I'm also growing full sized Indian corn, as well as Oaxacan Green and Earth Tones dent (in their own little plot by the field corn).

Iva · May 11, 2015

You can expect something similar to this:

The plants were 6 feet tall and had at least four cobs per plant. So you don't need that many plants to start with...

May 6, 2015	#1
SummerSky Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 126	Miniature Corn Last fall I bought some miniature indian corn for decorations and I never tossed them out. Yesterday I was doing my spring cleaning and noticed the tiny ears of corn still sitting on the bookshelf in my bedroom, just as pretty as the day I put them there. It got me wondering if I could grow them, so I stripped their kernels and put them in my seed box. Has anyone tried growing these things before? I'm having no luck finding anything online, but then again my google-fuu isn't the best in the world...

May 6, 2015	#2
Darren Abbey Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minnesota Posts: 586	I've grown a larger decorative "indian" corn before. The plants were vigorous and the only real difference in taste from sweet corn was that the fresh (steamed, buttered, salted) cobs tasted a bit more floury... which makes sense as the kernels are storing staring instead of the simple sugars of sweet corn. The plants all produced different colors of seeds, which in the fresh-eating stage were all various pastels. __________________ http://the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com

May 6, 2015	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Yes they should come back the same if they aren't hybrid. I bet they will be fine. Worth

May 9, 2015	#4
Tormato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MA Posts: 4,959	My guess is that they will be dwarf plants, likely 4-5 feet tall.

May 10, 2015	#5
SummerSky Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 126	I'll be planting a small patch in a couple weeks, so we'll see what they do! We plant field corn and sweet corn, so I'm familiar with corn. These little mini ears are so cute! They'll be growing in the garden, far away from the others. I'm also growing full sized Indian corn, as well as Oaxacan Green and Earth Tones dent (in their own little plot by the field corn).

May 11, 2015	#6
Iva Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Slovenia, EU Posts: 249	You can expect something similar to this: The plants were 6 feet tall and had at least four cobs per plant. So you don't need that many plants to start with...