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'Smoke Signals' Corn
 
Sub-Category: Other
Late Season
  Specialty Corn
Sub-Category 2:
Description: Late-season popcorn and ornamental corn with a broad color range on 4- to 7-inch ears. 8-foot plants.
Days To Maturity: 115
Seed Sources: Seed Savers Exchange - updated in 2014

 
Rating Summary
 
Overall: (4.0 Stars)Overall
Taste: (2.5 Stars)Taste
Yield: (3.0 Stars)Yield
Ease/Reliability: (4.0 Stars)Ease/Reliability
 
Reviews
 
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Number of Reviews: 2

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KEY: O=Overall Rating, T=Taste, Y=Yield, E=Ease

Reviewed on 09/11/2012 by Barcen - An intermediate gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Los Angeles, California, United States
Frost Free Season: More than 203 days
Soil Texture: Clay
Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20')
Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day

OK, I tried the corn popped. I hydrated it in the refrigerator in a closed jar first. The popped corn is white, and tastes similar, though perhaps slightly less buttery, than the commercial yellow popcorn I compared it to. The big difference is in the volume. The Smoke Signals corn pops to less than half the volume of the commercial corn. That is partly because the Smoke Signals kernels are smaller and some didn\'t pop, but I think that the commercial corn is optimally stored and hydrated for maximum popping. I think that Smoke Signals is worth growing for the novelty, especially if you have kids, but it\'s more worthwhile for decorating than for eating.
 

Reviewed on 08/28/2012 by Barcen - An intermediate gardener

Overall Overall
Taste Taste
Yield Yield
Ease/Reliability Ease

Los Angeles, California, United States
Frost Free Season: More than 203 days
Soil Texture: Clay
Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20')
Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day

This is a very pretty corn. The rating is based on decorative use only. Don\'t grow it when you have sweet corn in the vicinity, as if they cross-pollinate the popcorn pollen will make hard, starchy (often colored) kernels on the sweet corn, and the sweet corn pollen will make large kernels on the popcorn (you can see I learned the hard way). It does pop, but the kernels are smaller than commercial popcorn, and the popped corn looks the same (the kernel color is not evident). Each stalk yields about 2 good ears of corn, each giving about 1/3 cup of kernels. My ears had corn borers in the ends of the cobs, but no other problems.
 




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