Corn "Popping" On the Stalk? Not Exactly A Redenbacher Fantasy

When the AP today moved a story about the oppressive heat causing corn to “pop” on the stalk at one Kentucky farm, readers might have imagined that the fields had received a magical Redenbacherian dusting.

Sadly, as seen in this photo snapped by farmer Patrick Preston, the hot and dry conditions have actually triggered what agriculture experts call “popped kernel.” As described in a recent issue of Kentucky Pest News, the term refers to when “the seedcoat on the crown of the kernel breaks open, giving it the appearance of a partially popped popcorn kernel.”

A PDF copy of the pest newsletter, which is published by the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, can be downloaded here. The report on “unusual kernel injuries” does not address the possibility that proximity to a cell phone caused the premature popping.