Poppin' Corn

     More corn today. But this time it's popcorn! This corn is a hybrid, which means that it will have two different varieties mixing to make one type of hybrid seed.

     Each parent is a different kind of popcorn, one is coated in green...

     And the other is coated in pink. This is so you can tell them apart. For those of you who know how two parents come together to make one offspring, hybrid is a pretty self explanatory term. For those of you who don't, I'll explain a bit of it. For the rest you'll have to ask your mother.

     This is the same planter that I described before. You may remember that it has six planting units. Four of these units (which are in the middle) plant a single row of one variety of popcorn per bed the other two units  (which are on the sides) plant a single row of the other variety per bed. While this farmer plants, each pass he takes will overlap by one bed on each side, making the two units on the outside plant a second row on the beds.

     To clarify, each of the high parts of the ground is a "bed," and the low parts in the middle are corrugates. Beds, as you can see, are where planting happens. Note how the four units in the middle plant down the middle of the bed and the outside row is offset to the side. When the farmer plants the second row he'll be planting on the other side of the bed. I'm sure I've thoroughly confused you at this point.

     Just know this: Every fifth bed will have two rows of corn on it. Also, you need to know, that corn is neither male nor female, but instead acts as both. They can in fact fertilize themselves. The two outside rows will be the only rows that are allowed to produce pollen. The other four rows catch the pollen and genetic material therein. Think of the single rows as the mothers and the double rows as the fathers. The resulting offspring are therefor a mix of both varieties.

     I'll be able to show you this better at a later date when it's actually happening. Until then, hopefully it doesn't get too hot and all the seeds pop! (For all you gullible people out there, that last sentence was a joke...)