Can i plant pop corn near eating corn?

[greengenes]

I know one should not mix sweet melons with gourds and squash, and that yellow corn pollen with make your white corn kernels yellow... but will my tough kernel pop corn make my soft bantam corn tough, or my pop corn integument soft?

thanks in advance.
I am so far behind I think I am getting dingy.

 

[digitS']

It will probably do all of that, GreenGenes. You should have a long enough season to keep their pollination times separate but, I'm only guessing. Could you grow one in the spring and one in the fall?

Melons should not cross with squash - they are different species. Some gourds are the same species as some squash but it is the seeds that would be the out-crossed offspring.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it's the seed of sweet corn that we are interested in eating. That offspring might be a lot different with popcorn jumping the fence.

Steve

 

[greengenes]

I think the cucumber watermelon cross is a legitimate thing, and I have had luffa and watermelon give me tough watermelon.
I have never understood how the pollen can affect the ovary, but it does.
I think I will do bantam in the spring, and pop corn in the fall. My problem is I do not get two long seasons to grow, but two short ones interrupted with heat and insects.
maybe it will be a cool summer, we had a warm winter... but

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I recently learned that some varieties of popcorn planted next to sweetcorn will give you the same variety if you save from the popcorn (the sweetcorn seed will be crossed). What's happening is that the popcorn can only be pollinated by that popcorn's pollen, the sweetcorn can be pollinated by the popcorn. It's called the "gametophytic incompatibility gene" or Ga1, some varieties of popcorn have it some don't. If you have a popcorn variety that has the gene, you can save your popcorn seed for replanting, but not your sweetcorn. What variety of popcorn do you have?

If your popcorn and sweetcorn do cross, the resulting corn plants will produce corn suitable for neither popcorn or sweetcorn. The two types of corn have different kinds of starches in different parts in the kernel, along with different levels of sugars - this gives them the ability to popcorn/have texture and flavor of sweetcorn. Crossing between the two will mess up the type and arrangement of the starches and change their ability to pop/have taste and texture of sweet corn.

 

[seedcorn]

Key is pollination timing. Otherwise they could be interplanted and it wouldn't matter. I have no Ida as to pollination timing but hopefully you can do research and see how many heat units it takes to start pollination.

Unfortunately days to pollination will vary between companies. A 76 day and a 100 day could be the same if rated by one common company.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Key is pollination timing. Otherwise they could be interplanted and it wouldn't matter. I have no Ida as to pollination timing but hopefully you can do research and see how many heat units it takes to start pollination.

Unfortunately days to pollination will vary between companies. A 76 day and a 100 day could be the same if rated by one common company.

I'm going to say look at the days to maturity for each of your corn varieties and space planting times a few weeks apart if possible.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I think the cucumber watermelon cross is a legitimate thing, and I have had luffa and watermelon give me tough watermelon.

Are you sure?? Crosses like that rarely happen but it's always possible, I guess. Got any pictures of the fruit?

 

[seedcorn]

I'm going to say look at the days to maturity for each of your corn varieties and space planting times a few weeks apart if possible.

Plant the earliest first if cross pollination is your largest worry.

You could also pull the tassels off of the first plantings once pollination occurs stopping any stray pollen.

 

[buckabucka]

DH says if you cross sweet corn and popcorn, you get caramel corn.

 

[hoodat]

Corn is very unusual in that a cross effects a change in quality the same season. Most other crosses only affect the seed when it is planted the following year.