Rainbow Corn: Know how to plant this rare type of plant in your garden

While many expect to see a yellow or white coloured kernel, there are a few varieties of corn that not many know about. There’s a rare kind of corn commonly known as rainbow corn, which not many farmers grow. Rainbow corn, also known as Glass Gem corn. Much like its name, the rainbow corn is multi-coloured polished beads which come in different shades of shiny purple, red, blue, pink and even yellow kernels.

It has been reported that the rainbow corn was first produced by mixing different varieties of corn in the mid- the 1990s. However, they only rose to fame in 2012 when a video of the corn species went viral. It has been reported that very few farmers initially had access to the plant seeds that grew the rainbow corn. But now, the seeds of the corns are easily available and hence can be planted in your own garden as well.

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How to plant rainbow corn in your garden

According to reports, the plant may grow up to nine feet, however, it usually grows up to six feet. There are around three corn kernels which are eight inches long. It has been reported that the rainbow corn plant blossoms in late spring, once the soil has had a chance to heat up. All that the plan requires is at least an inch of water every week and a sunny place to grow. The plant is ready to harvest in about 110 to 120 days after it has been planted.

Each corn kernel is a surprise as it is not possible to predict what colour corn might grow inside the husk. There are different combinations of colours when it comes to rainbow corn. One could end up with corn that has different hues of blue or pink or red or even a combination of blue and purple.

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There are many pros of growing rainbow corn in your veggie garden. However, there are a few cons as well. The biggest minus side of growing rainbow corn is that unlike regular corn, one cannot cook and eat rainbow corn. It has been reported that rainbow con is a type of flint corn, which has a thick and hard external layer. This hard layer makes it impossible to eat the corn without grinding it into cornmeal or by popping it into a pop-corn, which sadly aren’t multi-coloured. An ear of rainbow corn is, however, a great addition to a veggie garden because it is extremely gorgeous as well as rare to find.

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