In the United States, Peru, Mexico and China, red corn is not surprising for locals: the culture grows along with other, less exotic varieties. In Russia, not every gardener knows about the existence of this plant of the cereal family, an unusual color.
Red corn
Red corn has a sweet, nutty flavor
Red corn retains color when cooked
Description of the culture, advantages and disadvantages
Corn in a range of shades of red: from creamy pink to dark burgundy, is found among airy, dentate, and siliceous varieties. The stem height of this annual plant depends on the variety and varies in the range of 1.8-2.6 m.
The length of the ears is 10-30 cm, small ones form up to 10 pieces on one plant, large ones - 2-4. Red from yellow varieties of corn are distinguished by a smaller ear diameter. The fibrous root of the culture can withstand the weight of the plant in calm weather. With a strong wind, the stems fall over.
Red sweet corn is boiled and canned. Popcorn is made from bursting varieties with pointed grains. The kernels of starchy varieties are ground into cornmeal, and garden plots are decorated with decorative varieties.
The advantages of red corn include:
- sweet taste with nutty or fruity notes;
- nutritional value is 20% higher than that of yellow varieties;
- color preservation during cooking;
- variety of varieties, allowing you to get the product at different times;
- universality of use;
- healing properties.
The peculiarity of red corn is the presence of anthocyanins, which determine the color and useful properties of the plant. Studies in Japan and the USA have shown that antioxidants in the culture effectively prevent the onset and inhibit the development of malignant neoplasms, normalize blood pressure.
Grains of red varieties of corn due to the ability to accelerate metabolism are used in dietetics. In folk medicine, they are used to lower blood sugar and cholesterol.
Among the shortcomings of the culture, a short shelf life is distinguished during harvesting at the stage of milk ripeness and intolerance to the shade of planting.
Popular varieties of red corn
The most popular varieties of red corn are American and Chinese breeding. But other countries (Italy, Russia, India, Mexico, El Salvador) are involved in the development of new hybrids of unusual bright colors.
The best varieties of red corn, popular with farmers and consumers:
- Oaxacan red - An American variety that ripens in 3 months. On a two-meter stalk large cobs in the shape of a cylinder grow up to 25 cm long. Sweet ruby-colored kernels are used for the production of flour and corn grits. A large number of anthocyanins in the composition of Oahakan red makes the culture healing.
- Floriani Red Flint - a highly productive variety of Italian origin, recommended for planting in household plots. It has an unusual pronounced sweet taste with hints of banana and a spongy kernel texture. The early ripe Floriani Red Flint has large cobs 20–22 cm long with pointed red grains.
- Red Arrow and Miracle bump red - Chinese varieties characterized by early ripeness (80 days from the appearance of seedlings to ripeness). Used for making air flakes. The stem height is 1-1.5 m, the length of the cob is 13 cm. The elongated rounded nuclei of the Red Arrow are painted in maroon with a black tint, Miracle cones are in dark red color.
- Peruvian Blood Butcher It is distinguished by the fact that with an average plant height of 1.6 m, up to 4 ears of 30-centimeter length are formed on it. Bloody butcher - super early, matures in 70 days from the appearance of seedlings.
- Striped sweetie - A rare hybrid bred by Japanese nerds. The culture attracts the eye with unusual leaves with stripes of red, yellow, orange. Dark ruby kernels are suitable for making popcorn, but more often the plants are used to decorate the site.
- Ruby garnet, bred by Russian breeders, refers to medium-late varieties of red corn. On a plant up to 2.5 m high, cobs 30 cm long grow. The kernels are flat toothed, dark red in color.
In addition to the listed domestic varieties, Russian gardeners grow red beaded, strawberry, cherry red corn.
Landing
Planted seeds of red corn when the soil warms up to 13 degrees or at least 2 weeks have passed from the last frost. If the seeds are sown later than the first decade of May, before the onset of high summer temperatures, the plant does not have time to form the stem and leaves, which threatens to inhibit further growth, yellowing of the leaf plates, reducing the volume of the crop.
Preplant seed preparation consists of calibration, disinfection, soaking:
- First, the material is sorted out, rejecting the embryos with mechanical damage, spots and discolored.
- Next, the seeds are etched with a solution of manganese, boric acid or copper sulfate, preventing diseases characteristic of the culture.
- To speed up germination, the seeds are soaked, placing them in one layer between two wet cotton napkins, twisted and laid in a plastic bag.
- Before swelling and the appearance of roots, planting material is kept in a room with a temperature of 20 degrees, making sure that the fabric remains moist.
Red corn is soaked for no longer than 4 days, since every day the risk of breaking off the roots increases due to their rapid growth.
Red corn prefers sunny areas with fertile loose soils, whose acidity is not less than 5.5. Due to roots growing close to the surface, plantings protect against wind.
To increase yield by a quarter or more before planting in the soil to a depth of not more than 30 cm, rotted manure or compost is closed up at the rate of 1 bucket per 2 sq. M. m
In order to protect red corn from lodging, increase the likelihood of pollination and increase productivity, it is recommended to plant seeds in rows even in a small house adjoining area, as in farms.
When planting between rows, they maintain a distance of 60 cm. The furrow depth is 5 cm. When the seeds take root and shoots grow to 20 cm, the culture is thinned out, leaving 25-30 cm between the plants.
Crop care during cultivation
Measures to care for the plant in the open ground include watering, fertilizing, weeding and loosening, mulching, combating diseases and pests.
Watering
Despite the fact that sweet red corn can tolerate short-term drought, the culture requires moderate watering.
With abundant irrigation, plants are at risk of infection with fungal diseases. Insufficient soil moisture leads to a rapid transition from milk ripeness to technical.
Water the crop under the root as the soil dries.
Top dressing
If the soil is fertilized during planting, the crop is fed twice a season to obtain an abundant crop:
- The first time phosphorus is added to strengthen the root system, when a plant has 5 leaves.
- The second time for the formation of green mass and ears of corn is fertilized at the stage of 8-9 leaves. Using the method of spraying the leaves with a urea solution at the rate of 400 g per bucket of water or during the period of growth of the peduncles, plants irrigate with ammonium nitrate (500 g per 10 l of water).
Weed control
Soil care includes regular weeding of weeds competing with corn for nutrients, and loosening the soil to increase soil aeration.
Mulching
Mulch made from mowed grass or compost, laid around plants and in row-spacings, reduces labor costs associated with irrigation and weeding.
Disease control
If white nodule growths appeared on different parts of the plant, it means that planting was struck by the most common corn disease - bladder smut.
Methods of struggle:
- spraying with Bayleton, Privent according to the instructions;
- seed treatment before planting;
- extermination of insects, carrying fungal spores.
The affected parts of the plants are torn off, burned or buried to a depth of not less than 0.5 m.
Harvesting and storage
For boiling and canning in the phase of milk ripeness, it is recommended that the ears of red corn be picked early in the morning immediately before use, twisting at the base. If cooking is delayed, the uncleaned ears are stored in the refrigerator for no longer than 5 days, after which the taste of the grains changes for the worse.
For the preparation of popcorn, flour, starch, corn is harvested after full maturity, but usually these varieties are not grown in dachas and household plots.
The readiness of the ears for harvesting is determined by brown tassels and a rounded tip. The grain pierced by the nail should give off a milky liquid.
Freezing in the freezer of the cores preserves the sweetness and juiciness of the grains up to 1.5 years.
Red corn stands out among other varieties with a sweet bright taste and unpretentiousness in care. The increased content of antioxidants in the use of ruby grains of this plant has a therapeutic effect and slows down the aging of the body.