Growing Corn in the Desert Without Supplemental Water or Compost

Imagine planting corn in the desert (less than 11 inches rainfall) by digging down ~10 inches or more to moist earth, dropping a cluster of ~15 seeds, then covering with original soil in the order the soil was removed.
Now imagine sustaining a thriving culture for many hundreds of years with this corn as the primary food source. Sounds impossible?
I plan to try the Hopi method this season using the research provided by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in, The Pueblo Farming Project. The research site is in Colorado and the researchers include Hopi farmers. Now that it is winter here in New Mexico, I am mapping out nearby locations (both on my own and other unmaintained properties) where I can follow the planting method and observe what happens here.
Please take a look at the amazing site and its research. If you have tried these methods, please share your experiences and/or guidance to help fellow desert growers achieve optimal results.

We have had some success with blue corn on the highest, driest, most exposed part of our property - but it was not by digging down. The caliche here (south of Santa Fe in the rain shadow between the Sandia and the Sangres) is formidable. That said, a pretty neglected mound of aged manure and a little but of drip irrigation during the longest spells of drought went a long way. Most of our attempts at outdoor gardening are thwarted by giant grasshoppers and desiccating winds. The corn thrived and produced - planted in early July right as the monsoons started.

Thank you for sharing your experience Leslie:

We have had some success with blue corn on the highest, driest, most exposed part of our property ... planted in early July right as the monsoons started.

Like you Leslie, last year I had a successful crop of Hopi blue corn using irrigation and rotted horse manure. But after reading about the Hopi way of reading the land and planting without additional water or manure, I felt like I was missing a unique opportunity to develop my skills. I want to experience the challenge of learning how to work with Nature's constraints and improve my skills at reading the land.
As I read this study, I begin to see that there are complex reasons behind the many subtle decisions about where and how to plant corn the Hopi way. I can begin to recognize two purposes of planting deep. One is to give the seedlings enough moisture to germinate and the other is to establish a strong root system during the pre-monsoon period. By the time the monsoons arrive in July, the corn plants probably have the strength they need to withstand the torrential surface flooding, at least that is what I'd like to observe to see if that's true.
At this time, reading the land involves recognizing the locations where corn may thrive in existing conditions. For example the Pueblo Farming Project (PFP) notes:

Rabbitbrush and snakeweed are two plants they see as indicating prime areas

Healthy sagebrush and four-wing salt bush were also identified as potentially promising locations. Washes and places with signs of run-off collecting from nearby slopes indicate greater moisture under the soil surface. Looking for signs of water awakens my senses and cultivates my own roots in this desert.

I grow corn descended from Hopi. Without irrigation. I can plant them at least 8" deep and get good germination. The Hopi corn has a special hypocotyl that stretches more than other types of corn.

There are several good films on youtube about growing growing Hopi corn. "Michael Kotutwa Johnson" is a good place to look.

https://permies.com/t/116092/Xenia-Effect-corn

Fantastically helpful thread that you put together Fish! Your intuition based on experience is very helpful, for example:

I also did a test this time and these seeds amazingly germinated at a depth of 8”. I’m going to plant up to 10-12” next time and see if that helps with better rooting and plant stability. I had a lot fall over from the heavy rains and winds.

As Leslie also noted above, the winds can be fierce out here in the Southwest. Dedication in the face of winds, drought conditions, followed by monsoons have led to many creative planting strategies. Please keep sharing your results.
I'm looking forward to watching all the "Michael Kotutwa Johnson" videos. Thank you for documenting your years of experience.

interesting thread. i was aware of the deep planting but this thread has brought up a couple of things i either missed or forgot last time i looked at this method...

1) putting the soil back in the order it was dug up
2) using the right type of hopi corn that has been selected for pushing thru nearly a foot of soil.

1) is easy, I'll try that... but how important is 2)?
With bog standard corn, do i just plant more in the hole to get more chance of success, or can i go halves on the method going maybe 4 or 6 inches deep rather than 8 or 12?

Steven writes:

1) is easy, I'll try that... but how important is 2)? With bog standard corn, do i just plant more in the hole to get more chance of success, or can i go halves on the method going maybe 4 or 6 inches deep rather than 8 or 12?

My understanding is that the Hopi people do not sell their corn seed. The corn seed has been selected by the Hopi and for the Hopi from time immemorial and is perfectly adapted to their unique ecogeographical area. Some companies use the word “Hopi” in the seed names but the genetic authenticity is questionable.
What I have gleaned from reading the tremendous work on “landrace” here on permies and in Toward an Evolved Concept of Landrace is that each of us must locate non-GMO seed that grows in our area.
The teachings of the Hopi are vast. The insights involve careful observation of the contours of the surrounding land and how seasonal rains plus organic debris move and collect on that land. Choosing how deep to plant is based on observation of soil moisture and much more. The situation for each planting location will be unique and require much trial and error learning. Instead of a simple recipe for success, we have clues given by the Hopi. Beyond that, each of us must each go on a distinctive adventure in partnership with the land entrusted to our keeping.

I tried this at my old property in Socorro County, and it worked really well.. until the neighboring ranches cattle barged in and ate it all! Fence out..

Amy Gardener wrote:
Healthy sagebrush and four-wing salt bush were also identified as potentially promising locations. Washes and places with signs of run-off collecting from nearby slopes indicate greater moisture under the soil surface. Looking for signs of water awakens my senses and cultivates my own roots in this desert.

thank you for sharing this - really interesting!

I really love the reminder of how much it matters to take a look at what is around us in the area we hope to grow food in, what it's telling us about the conditions there.

Although so interesting about the saltbush. I'm in southern AZ, and in my area, one reason saltbush is a sign of a good site to grow other plants is because it absorbs a lot of salt and calcium (and puts them into the leaves, which can be burned and make a culinary ash that can be eaten ^_^), and that's a good thing for my particular soil type.

I am not sure if it would be possible to grow corn here without irrigation. The heat here is quite a bit higher than up north in the project area, and we get 1-2 inches less rain annually, so it may just be too hot with too little rainfall to manage. But it would be worth exploring how little water could be used, I think.

I am going to try this in spring. I will be planting in a pinyon-juniper area, in a basin surrounded by hills. The area should recieve 20+ acres of run off. Rabbitbrush, cholla, and prickly pear dominant the area.

I am not ready to give up because the idea of water-free corn is too awesome to let go.  But, I want to try different seed. Has anyone had good (or mediocre) results and can you post the links of where you go the seed?

Skyler Weber wrote:I am not ready to give up because the idea of water-free corn is too awesome to let go.  But, I want to try different seed. Has anyone had good (or mediocre) results and can you post the links of where you go the seed?

I guess that means not good results? This year was unusually hot and dry. Next year is predicted, due to El Nino, to be wetter. Might help.

Best suggestion I can make is to try to find locally grown seeds.

Also, I am skeptical that the natives of that region NEVER watered their corn. I bet they carried water by hand to get the seeds started.  

This thread seems a little old but I have been trying to grow Hopi corn without irrigation for several years and success has been fair to poor. We are in northern Washington State in the rain shadow of the Cascades and get less than 10 inches of annual precipitation and almost none in the hot months of summer. I think people who live where there is a summer monsoon would fair much better.

I think something to consider is what we call success. Sixty miles south of our property are 1000's of acres of dryland winter wheat which typically yields 42-50 bushes per acre while irrigated corn can yield 150 bushels per acre or more. I don't expect unirrigated corn grown during summer to produce more than wheat which is planted in the fall and can make use of snow melt and fall and spring precipitation. I would expect better results in southern Colorado and northern Arizona or any place that does get a summer monsoon. If someone has more than 10 inches of rainfall that is even better. We had almost no snow accumulation this last winter so even our proven areas are not as good this year.

I have tried Hopi Blue, Hopi White, Hopi Pink, Wikti, Smoik Hu:n, Kikam Hu:n, Concha White, and a few other types and gradually I am getting better results. I believe there is some selection process going on probably selecting for improvements in root structure. Hopi White is said to be one of the best for deep planting. I would not plant more than 8 inches deep as I had poor emergence when I tried planting 12 inches deep but I am not planting multiple seeds per hole. The right location is a key to success. For some reason on my property planting at the bottom of low areas (accumulated silt) yields poor results while slopes near the bottoms are good. I have not been able to correlate the presence of sagebrush and rabbit brush with success. I soak my seeds before planting and planting deeper seems to help. Hopi White and Hopi Pink would be my favorites for this year though I've seen some blue streaks in my cobs this year so despite being well separated the high winds must be distributing pollen all across my property. I have successfully planted 2 ways, one using a middle buster, dropping the seed in the furrow, and covering with a rebar harrow, and the second by drilling with a garden augur.

If you want more information on my efforts see https://coragarden.com

Did anyone else plant Hopi Corn in 2023 or 2024 and do you have any results to share?

In 2023 I only applied a little top dress fertilizer after emergence and I had varied results. I read that closer planting would result in faster canopy closure, better shading, and reduced evaporation so tried that this year. Top dressing after emergence didn't seem to work so this year I fertilized to the recommended levels and tilled it in prior to planting. As usual I experimented with various planting methods.

In response to a previous post I don't believe the Hopi water their corn. My first year I planted then decided to use drip irrigation, so tilled the first batch, installed drip in part of the area, then planted again. Some in the un-irrigated area sprouted and grew as well as the irrigated corn and yielded a few ears partly filled with mature kernels. Notably these were few and separated about 6 feet from other plants.

I had previously noticed that once in awhile plants at the ends of rows seemed to do better but now with additional observations from this year it is figuratively screaming at me "you have been planting too close together." This wasn't so noticeable when I didn't fertilize properly. In one patch I literally have a green square with a few ears forming with all short brown half dead plants in the middle. Hopi normally plant corn in groups 3 paces apart, several seeds per hole (probably to ensure emergence from depth) and this must be why. Spacing plants to have access to surrounding moisture without competition is more important than reducing evaporation by early canopy closure. See this picture of green corn around the outside and dry in the middle...



I did water this patch once at planting time...

Every year I learn something new.

It looks as if you're in a challenging area there, ok. Getting any yield is a result! If you can replant any mature seeds from this crop next year, hopefully you'll be growing plants better adapted to your soil, climate, and growing methods, and yields should improve. The Hopi corn breeds are adapted to the circumstances they were grown in, not yours, so you're creating your own breed there!

Thom Bri wrote:

Skyler Weber wrote:I am not ready to give up because the idea of water-free corn is too awesome to let go.  But, I want to try different seed. Has anyone had good (or mediocre) results and can you post the links of where you go the seed?

I guess that means not good results? This year was unusually hot and dry. Next year is predicted, due to El Nino, to be wetter. Might help.

Best suggestion I can make is to try to find locally grown seeds.

Also, I am skeptical that the natives of that region NEVER watered their corn. I bet they carried water by hand to get the seeds started.  

Location, Location, Location

" The favored planting location is an “ak-chin” field, an area on the alluvial fan where the water spreads out at the mouth of the wash. Hopi can identify the soil’s capacity for moisture below by the kind and quantity of natural vegetation growing on the surface.

“The weeds will tell,” says Michael Kotutwa Johnson (Hopi). For instance, land adjacent to fields dominated by rabbitbrush indicates abundant soil moisture. Johnson and University of Arizona educator Lisa Falk co-curated an exhibition about “The Resiliency of Hopi Agriculture” that is on display at the Arizona State Museum—a Smithsonian Affiliate— through January 2020.

The Hopi farmers also grow beans, squash, melons and some fruit trees. Some of those fields may be irrigated, but the Hopi never irrigate their corn. That crop depends solely on two sources of water: winter snowfall and summer rain. Only the moisture stored in the soil is available from planting time until midsummer, when rains usually fall. The Hopi hedge their bets by planting corn in multiple fields in dissimilar locations up and down the wash or in side canyons. Planting at separate sites increases the chances that at least one will produce a good crop.

Once they decide where to plant, the Hopi men clear off any weeds and scrape away a small patch of the sandy surface layer of the soil. The sand serves as kind of mulch, preventing moisture in the loam below from evaporating too rapidly. The planters plunge the flat-tipped digging stick into the ground, creating a hole a foot deep, then plant eight to 12 kernels in each hole so the corn grows in clumps. Each clump is five to seven paces away from its neighbor to ensure that enough water is available for optimum growth. Depth and spacing can depend on soil moisture at planting time, the field’s location relative to rainwater runoff and whether it is composed of clay or loam, among other factors.

“Enormous amounts of traditional ecological knowledge are associated with dry farming,” says Susan Sekaquaptewa, a Hopi tribal member who works for the University of Arizona’s Cooperative Extension Program. “The environment dictates the technique, and you only learn that from experience.”

Conventional corn is planted only 2 inches deep and 6 to 8 inches apart. The Hopi plant their corn deeper to catch the moisture from the winter’s melted snow, which lies farther below the surface. That required careful selection of plants, preserving changes that became encoded in their genes. When Hopi corn germinates, the seed sends out a single strong root downward, searching for the water that lies even deeper in the ground. It also sends a shoot upward to the surface. These adaptations, which are lacking in conventional varieties, helped Hopi corn thrive in a hot, dry environment for 2,000 years.

“Hopi agriculture is the end result of a complicated process of culture, biology and environment,” says Kelly Swarts, a geneticist and archaeologist at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology at the University of Vienna. “The corn used by the Hopi today was mostly developed by the Hopi on the Hopi mesa in response to novel genetic variations. People took advantage of this variation in ways that made sense to them culturally and which were better adapted to the landscape they lived on.”

Once the new corn pokes up above the surface of the ground, Hopi farmers thin the stalks out, leaving only the tallest five to eight plants in each clump. That favors the genes that get plants established and growing quickly. The extra stalks are placed around the remaining plants to shield them from the wind and preserve soil moisture. The farmers do not use fertilizer or insecticides but rather patrol the fields during the summer to pick off cutworms that can damage the plants.

“Hopi is the only place I know where corn is planted to fit the environment,” says Johnson. “The environment is not manipulated to fit the corn.”"

"As in ancient times, most fields are located in valleys below the mesas on which the people live, usually a goodly walk from the farmer’s home,” Jerry Jacka wrote in 1978."

Fish Farley wrote:

" The favored planting location is an “ak-chin” field, an area on the alluvial fan where the water spreads out at the mouth of the wash. Hopi can identify the soil’s capacity for moisture below by the kind and quantity of natural vegetation growing on the surface.

“The weeds will tell,” says Michael Kotutwa Johnson (Hopi). For instance, land adjacent to fields dominated by rabbitbrush indicates abundant soil moisture. Johnson and University of Arizona educator Lisa Falk co-curated an exhibition about “The Resiliency of Hopi Agriculture” that is on display at the Arizona State Museum—a Smithsonian Affiliate— through January 2020.

...

Where is this text from? Would be interested in reading more.

Edit: nevermind, found it with a google search.

Here's the link for anyone else interested:

https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/heart-hopi

I have been working/landracing with tepary beans.    https://www.nativeseeds.org/   Has a variety of native corn seeds that might be worth looking at

Okay, Amy How did this turn out in 2022?

The key thing with the Hopi growing methods, as Fish stated, seems to be location -- where the snow melt will have left water deep in the subsoil even if the upper layers appear dry, and a region that gets summer monsoon rains.

Exciting though the possibility sounds, I think those of us growing in a different type of desert climate with minimal or no summer rain would most likely find this way of growing unsuccessful without supplemental watering.

Anne asks,

Okay, Amy How did this turn out in 2022?

In my experience, every failure leads to new learnings. The 2022 experiment was a spectacular bust and very educational.
The area where I planted without supplemental water was a natural depression about 18 inches lower than the rest of the property. I planted about 12 flour-corn seed (local 'Concho' flint) in 12" deep by 18" holes. The silt-sand was not exactly moist but the texture was not powdery dry either.  I did return the soil to the hole to match its original location. The rainfall here in 2022 was 8" and no run-off from other parts of the land or hardscape reached the depression. Out of 20 holes, only 3 seeds sprouted. None tasseled.
After the season ended, I dug down to find moist ground. After 10 feet (using a shovel then a shop-vacuum with a make-shift PVC pipe extension), I stopped looking. There simply was no moisture in the ground that the corn could access. I believe that the 3 plants that sprouted received water from a nearby pond leak.
On the learning side, I gained tremendous respect for the Hopi ability to "observe and interact," (the permaculture principle I learned from David Holmgren). I became better at reading the surface and the subterranean aspects of this landscape. Prior to dam construction along the Rio Grande, this area used to be saturated by winter snow melt from the Rocky Mountains. As long as the dams and reservoirs stay, this moisture is gone.
I also learned so much about corn varieties that I started planting blue corn in 2023 with supplemental water. The heirloom variety I planted this year (2025) is an 8-row red flint. I have to say, the Hopi experiment made me fall in love with the natural history of - and human ingenuity behind - corn. So the 2022 experiment did turn out, but in a completely unexpected way.

Two cents from someone who's new to this, but has done a lot of reading.

I live near the Hopi's ancestral lands, but a bit north and higher elevation. The summer monsoon rains seem to be less reliable here (or perhaps it's just climate change and things are generally drier in the summer than they used to be). I bought seed from a local producer that has developed their own landrace over the last decade, and the seed packets say to plant deep and in bunches, so I take it they've selected for genetics that work well with Hopi-inspired methods.

In the first year, I planted in a bad location, where I now know there's no deep moisture to be found. Even with a significant amount of watering, only a few plants produced a few ears, with really bad pollination rates (like a dozen kernels per ear at best). In the second year, I had an entirely different issue. I planted in an area where I know for sure there's deep moisture. After I'd decided that this was a failed experiment, I dug up a few of the mounds to see what happened. I saw a lot of sprouts that grew up to an inch or two below the surface, then went sideways in a random direction, and apparently ran out of energy before they could find light. It seems like with the high clay content of the soil, when the surface dried out in mid-spring, it created a hard layer which the germinating sprouts had a tough time breaking through.

Next year, I'm going to try building mounds with a hole in the middle, putting seeds in the bottom of the hole, and then covering them with pure sand so there won't be an adobe brick between the seeds and the surface.

Josh Warfield wrote:
Next year, I'm going to try building mounds with a hole in the middle, putting seeds in the bottom of the hole, and then covering them with pure sand so there won't be an adobe brick between the seeds and the surface.

If I may make a suggestion, only put the sand and inch or two deep on the top layer. Sand at the seed layer will prevent soil moisture from touching the seeds. An inch at the top should prevent the clay pan from forming.

How deep do you intend to plant? My understanding is the traditional dryland method was was 8 or more inches deep. One study I read had good results at 8 inches but much deeper than that and the sprouts couldn't reach the surface.

Clicking on your link only gave me "Hello world" then a blank page.

Welcome to the forum.. There are a lot of links in this thread.  Which one?