Glass Gem Flint Corn is a stunning open-pollinated variety that transforms the traditional corn patch into a gallery of jewel tones. Each kernel catches the light with shades of deep purple, ruby red, amber, and sapphire blue, making this a crop that's as beautiful as it is functional. Reaching 6 to 10 feet tall, it produces ears ready to harvest in 100 to 110 days, thriving in full sun with straightforward spacing of 24 inches between plants. Whether you're growing it for ornamental dried ears or traditional cornmeal grinding, Glass Gem delivers both visual drama and practical harvests.
Full Sun
Moderate
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120in H x ?in W
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High
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The kernels shimmer with a gemstone quality that makes each ear look like a handcrafted art piece, with colors ranging from deep jewel tones to translucent amber. This is genuine flint corn, the same type indigenous peoples and settlers ground into cornmeal for centuries, but with a modern palette that turns heads at the farmer's market or dried in a fall arrangement. Growing to full size in about 110 days, it's a reliable producer that respects traditional corn-growing rhythms while offering something you won't find in ordinary seed catalogs.
Glass Gem Corn is primarily grown for dried corn and grinding into cornmeal, honoring its heritage as a flint corn variety suited to traditional milling and cooking. The ornamental quality of the multicolored kernels also makes it prized by gardeners who dry the ears for fall decoration, wreaths, and interior displays. Some growers save seed year after year, maintaining this open-pollinated variety as part of seed-saving traditions.
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Sow Glass Gem Corn directly outdoors 1 to 2 weeks after your average last frost date, when soil temperature is at least 60°F. Plant seeds 1 to 1.5 inches deep and space them generously, as corn grows tall and needs room for strong root development.
Let Glass Gem Corn mature fully on the stalk for 100 to 110 days from sowing before harvesting. For dried corn and cornmeal, harvest ears once the kernels have hardened and turned from milky to their full jewel-tone colors, and the husks have dried and turned papery. Peel back the husk to check kernel maturity; they should be hard and glossy with little give when pressed. Cut or snap ears from the stalk and leave them in their husks to cure further in a warm, dry location for several weeks before shelling the kernels for storage or grinding.
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