One of the best flavors of the summer has to be sweet corn right from the stalk. If it’s picked at the right time and eaten right away, you really don’t need anything on it. It’s just that good. If you’re lucky to find some at the farmers market and can get it home and eat it right away, it’s almost as good.

But we can absolutely grow our own even in smallish spaces. And what about growing our own dried corn varieties? There are so many choices when it comes to dent corn, popcorn, and other dried corn types that we can use for corn meal and even just for decoration. You’ve probably seen beautiful glass-colored heirloom varieties in catalogs that are almost too pretty to be believed.

But what you also may have seen in the seed catalogs next to the sweet corn are little letters like su and sh2 or terms like synergistic or sugar-enhanced. What does all that mean and is it genetically modified? Today we’re going to figure out exactly what it takes to grow both sweet corn and dried corn, all the differences between the two categories and the corn varieties within them, what can plague corn plants and how to harvest and store it. Let’s dig in!

Resources:

How to tell the difference between types of corn - Farm and Dairy

American Indian Health - Health (ku.edu)

Native American Indians and their use of Corn

Growing Heirloom Corn Varieties - Little House on the Prairie

Corn 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits (healthline.com)

What are the differences between the various types of sweet corn? | Horticulture and Home Pest News (iastate.edu)

How To Avoid Corn Cross Pollination - Our Stoney Acres

How to Grow Sweet Corn - Farmers' Almanac - Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. (farmersalmanac.com)

Organic Insect Management in Sweet Corn - SARE

Dent, Flint & Flour Corn (southernexposure.com)

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