Strawberry popcorn kernels are red but turn white when popped.
You can find many uses for strawberry popcorn, which gets its name not only for its strawberry shape, but also from its red kernels. Add color and texture to the rear of your flower garden with strawberry popcorn plants. The plants last a little over three months and the ears are easy to harvest. Use the ears in a fall cornucopia or dried flower arrangement, or pop the kernels and watch them magically turn white. Does this Spark an idea?
Germination
Seeds planted in spring in full sun, when the soil is 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, germinate within two to three days, and seedlings emerge from the soil within a week of planting.
Seedling Stage
Seedlings develop leaves within the first week and constantly add leaves for about three weeks. Nodal roots strengthen in the root system underground, and leaf and ear buds begin to form within three weeks of the plant's emergence. The plant is still spindly and fragile looking at this time, with long, slender leaves and a skinny stalk.
Early Growth
Four to five weeks after planting, the shoots which will develop ears emerge from the ear buds. Shoots continue to form for the next week, developing at every node of the plant except for the top ones. Not all will form ears.
Tasseling
Only the upper one or two ear shoots form harvestable ears, but silk forms long before the ears are ready. At around eight weeks the corn plant begins to produce tassels. About 63 days after planting, the silk begins to form. Strawberry popcorn kernels grow in red and remain red until the kernels are popped.
Corn Ears
The strawberry corn plant's ears mature in mid to late summer. The process takes about three months from seed to harvest. The plant is at harvest stage when the stalk and leaves turn brown and dry, the silk dries up and the ears twist off the plant easily.
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