Every month in our Free Day Popcorn calendar, we highlight a different “Farm Foe” that challenges us during the growing season. June’s foe? Weeds.
By this point in the summer, the popcorn is growing fast… but unfortunately, so is everything else 🌱😅
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June on the farm means one thing: the popcorn is growing… and so are the weeds 🌱🌽
This time of year, the fields finally start looking lush and green. The rows fill in fast, the popcorn plants stretch taller every day, and it feels like the crop is really underway. But while the popcorn is growing, the weeds are trying to grow too.
One of the biggest troublemakers around here is Palmer amaranth. It’s an aggressive weed that can grow incredibly fast and compete with crops for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Left alone, it can quickly overtake a field.
A question we hear fairly often is:
“If weeds are such a challenge, why don’t you just spray glyphosate?”
The answer is actually pretty simple. Our popcorn is non-GMO. It is not genetically modified to resist glyphosate. If we sprayed glyphosate over the top of the popcorn, it wouldn’t just kill the weeds… it would kill the popcorn too.
That means weed control takes a lot more planning, care, and effort.
We work hard to use resources wisely and take a layered approach to weed management. Sometimes that means cultivating, which is when we run equipment between the rows to remove weeds mechanically. Cultivation works well, but timing matters. Too early or too late can damage the crop or miss the weeds altogether.
And sometimes? It means walking fields by hand.
There are still weeds that pop up right in the row where equipment can’t reach without hurting the popcorn. So Nate, his dad, and occasionally the girls head out into the fields to pull weeds the old-fashioned way. It’s not glamorous work, especially on a hot June afternoon, but it’s part of growing quality popcorn.
Every weed removed means more access to sunlight, moisture, and nutrients for the popcorn plants we actually want growing there.
This stage of the season is also a reminder that farming is rarely as simple as “just spray it” or “just plant it.” Every decision has tradeoffs. We want to grow popcorn responsibly, take care of the land, and produce a crop we’re proud to feed our family and yours. Sometimes that means more labor and more management, but we believe it’s worth it.
And honestly, there’s something pretty satisfying about seeing clean rows after a long day of field work.
The popcorn still has a long way to go before harvest, but right now the fields are green, growing, and keeping us busy. That’s June on the farm 🌽
👉 Have questions about growing popcorn or farming? Leave a comment or send us a message. We love sharing more about what happens between planting and movie night 🍿
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