You could always stake each plant. Kind of a pain, but then you know you won't have wind problems.

Did you hill your corn last year? By "hill" I mean to pull soil up around the base of the stalks, forming a mound. This encourages development of more roots.

Also, most popcorn grows on short stalks. I would think this would help prevent lodging.

Finally there may be some varieties known for sturdier stalks & roots. It would be worth checking in to.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Ok and how do u harvest popcorn this will be my first time growing it

One more thing I did not put in the first one the wind just bent my corn the roots were fine

To harvest popcorn: Let the shucks get totally brown and the stalks near totally dead. Field dry the corn as much as possible. It is best to store the ears for a while in a dry location for a while longer before shelling. Once dry enough [about 12% moisture I believe] Seal the grains in air tight containers.

After mine blew over twice last year I saw my neighbor had a tall pipe in the ground at each corner, and twine tied from post to post around the whole section of corn. Twine at about 1ft and every foot up to 6 feet. His stayed up. Also he planted more of a square than long thin row. A cheap ball of twine (prob $0.99) should do it.

Sometimes they blow down straight down the row...depends on which direction the winds were blowing from that particular hour in the storm.

One easy way to stake corn is to place stakes on the perimeters and then connect them with twine at about 36": height. To explain, I grow my corn in 5 foot wide x 12 foot long raised beds. I plant my corn in rows 18" apart allowing a total of eight rows. I space my plants 8" to 12" apart depending on the variety and the earliness of the planting. I plant in strict rows across the bed and try to keep equally strict rows horizontally as I thin the seedlings.

I place 4 foot stakes on all four sides of the bed with one stake between each vertical and horizontal row. I then simply connect the stakes with twine to create a simple crosshatch of support. I run twine between each set of horizontal stakes and one string between each corresponding set of vertical stakes. I keep the twine at about a 3 foot height.

When the wind comes as it always does at some point, it used to knock down my corn which is not real well supported by my very soft loam soil. With the gentle support of the strings the stalks will lean a bit but correct themselves within days. The installation process takes less than 5 minutes per bed.

As far as the wind knocking your plants over, I suffer just about every year from this. Last year, I dug a shallow trench for each row that was about 8 inches deep. I didn`t fill the trench in all the way after putting the seed in the ground. I buried the seed in the trench with about 2 inches or so of dirt on top of them. I let the seedling pop out of the ground and grow for a few weeks. When the seedlings were about a foot high, I filled the trench in the rest of the way. Worked good. You should try it and see what happens. I hate having to stand my blown over corn back up after a heavy rain. Really urks me.