|
|
FAMILY - GRAMMINEAE or POACEAE
SUB FAMILY - Panicoideae
GENUS - Zea
SPECIES - mays
SUB FAMILY - Panicoideae
GENUS - Zea
SPECIES - mays
Jasmin Hill
There are lots of things to consider when growing Corn for Seed Saving purposes, one being Genetic Diversity. When we started our Corn Grow down, we were following the Seed Savers Exchange's recommendations for GD..
10 plants for viable seeds
50 - 120 plants for variety maintenance
200+ plants for genetic diversity
We had the idea that if a few of us grew a stand of plants for 'variety maintenance' so 50-120 plants and then we all sent them in to the Seed Library and mixed our seeds together then we could technically be mixing the seeds from 200+ plants that would equal or above 200+ plants and therefore create GD...
BUT.. after more information and discussions with Setha Davenport who is a very experienced corn Seed Saver, we have found out that it doesn't quite work out like this and 200+ plants really isn't enough either! So it turns out you need 500+ plants for true GD and they really need to be planted in 1 large patch all together so that when the wind blows the pollen around there is a large dispersion of pollen across All of the cobs in your stand!
So... All of our wonderful Corn Seeds from this grow down that are listed in the Library, have been saved for variety maintenance and are therefore great for growing to eat.. but are not recommended for long term Seed Saving purposes.
There are lots of things to consider when growing Corn for Seed Saving purposes, one being Genetic Diversity. When we started our Corn Grow down, we were following the Seed Savers Exchange's recommendations for GD..
10 plants for viable seeds
50 - 120 plants for variety maintenance
200+ plants for genetic diversity
We had the idea that if a few of us grew a stand of plants for 'variety maintenance' so 50-120 plants and then we all sent them in to the Seed Library and mixed our seeds together then we could technically be mixing the seeds from 200+ plants that would equal or above 200+ plants and therefore create GD...
BUT.. after more information and discussions with Setha Davenport who is a very experienced corn Seed Saver, we have found out that it doesn't quite work out like this and 200+ plants really isn't enough either! So it turns out you need 500+ plants for true GD and they really need to be planted in 1 large patch all together so that when the wind blows the pollen around there is a large dispersion of pollen across All of the cobs in your stand!
So... All of our wonderful Corn Seeds from this grow down that are listed in the Library, have been saved for variety maintenance and are therefore great for growing to eat.. but are not recommended for long term Seed Saving purposes.
What is the recommended distancing between corn stands to avoid cross pollination?
Minette Tonoli
Seed Savers exchange recommends 244m - 805m
Minette Tonoli
Seed Savers exchange recommends 244m - 805m
A discussion on corn cross pollination -
Alice Le Brun
I think when considering this question you must take into account how much corn is in your stand. 6 corn plants on each side of your house and I think you won't have much issue however if your next door neighbor is a commercial corn grower and has 5km² of corn I'd say you are going to have issues for about 3km in all directions. Of course you must also consider your winds in your area, if you have strong winds that always blow south you might plant corn east and west of each other so the prevailing wind shouldn't blow the pollon into the second stand.
Do be careful of solid fences as they can cause vortex in the wind picking up pollon and throwing it over the fence.
Richard Watson
Zea mays (Corn) pollen is quite large in comparison to most other plant pollen, it drops out within a short distance, the link I posted below talk of being very rare to experience any cross pollination over 300m.
https://alanbishop.proboards.com/.../problem-landrace...
Alice Le Brun
I do understand what you are saying and my 3km in all directions is a bit of an exaggeration but I do think if you have a paddock of corn and a strong wind coming your way you are going to have a higher risk than if it's only 6 plants. This article is quiet good and supports your side of this decision.
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/agf-153...
Richard Watson
So that article is saying 200m. With strong winds its not likely that pollen is going to be able to settle on the female silks anyway.
Alice Le Brun
sounds like I get to relax a little.
I think when considering this question you must take into account how much corn is in your stand. 6 corn plants on each side of your house and I think you won't have much issue however if your next door neighbor is a commercial corn grower and has 5km² of corn I'd say you are going to have issues for about 3km in all directions. Of course you must also consider your winds in your area, if you have strong winds that always blow south you might plant corn east and west of each other so the prevailing wind shouldn't blow the pollon into the second stand.
Do be careful of solid fences as they can cause vortex in the wind picking up pollon and throwing it over the fence.
Richard Watson
Zea mays (Corn) pollen is quite large in comparison to most other plant pollen, it drops out within a short distance, the link I posted below talk of being very rare to experience any cross pollination over 300m.
https://alanbishop.proboards.com/.../problem-landrace...
Alice Le Brun
I do understand what you are saying and my 3km in all directions is a bit of an exaggeration but I do think if you have a paddock of corn and a strong wind coming your way you are going to have a higher risk than if it's only 6 plants. This article is quiet good and supports your side of this decision.
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/agf-153...
Richard Watson
So that article is saying 200m. With strong winds its not likely that pollen is going to be able to settle on the female silks anyway.
Alice Le Brun
sounds like I get to relax a little.
Jasmin Hill
25 September 2020
I Finally finished digging up all of the couch grass that covered this corner of my orchard.. Soon to be our Corn Patch I dug in some fresh bull kelp and topped with some fresh soil, a sprinkling of dried chicken poop and I'll leave it for a while to settle and break down.
I have decided to go with Blue Hopi corn from Koanga so the genetics should be great!
I have planted 65 seeds, the whole packet.. hopefully I will have a stand of over 50 corn plants, which should make for reasonably good genetic diversity, at lease in the range of variety maintenance.
Leila Macbeth, Troy Boyer and I are trialing out these Root Trainers for our corn crops this year.. I know corn plants suffer from transplant shock so they don't like their roots being messed with during transplanting.. these containers are great because they train the roots and they also pop open so there is less disturbance while transplanting. They look like they will work really well! The only down side is they are quite delicate and a little fiddly. I had to tie mine together in bunches of 3 to keep them from popping open.
25 September 2020
I Finally finished digging up all of the couch grass that covered this corner of my orchard.. Soon to be our Corn Patch I dug in some fresh bull kelp and topped with some fresh soil, a sprinkling of dried chicken poop and I'll leave it for a while to settle and break down.
I have decided to go with Blue Hopi corn from Koanga so the genetics should be great!
I have planted 65 seeds, the whole packet.. hopefully I will have a stand of over 50 corn plants, which should make for reasonably good genetic diversity, at lease in the range of variety maintenance.
Leila Macbeth, Troy Boyer and I are trialing out these Root Trainers for our corn crops this year.. I know corn plants suffer from transplant shock so they don't like their roots being messed with during transplanting.. these containers are great because they train the roots and they also pop open so there is less disturbance while transplanting. They look like they will work really well! The only down side is they are quite delicate and a little fiddly. I had to tie mine together in bunches of 3 to keep them from popping open.
|
|
|
|
6 October 2020
Jasmin Hill Blue Hopi Corn seedlings are up! Now it's time to pray for a good summer season here in Southland because it gets really insanely windy here and corn is not usually something I can grow. I have chosen the most sheltered spot on our section, down in the corner of the orchard behind big windbreaks.. |
|
|
|
Melissa Bradford
I had albino ones with this variety, if they are completely white they will most likely die when they run out of energy from the seed as they can't photosynthesize. |
|
|
Minette Tonoli
My Glass Gem is doing great and in the other side of the acre, with house and fence, is where these Silver Platinum will be going. |
|
Silver Platinum
|
Jasmin Hill
1 December 2020
Woohoo! I have finally planted my stand of 60 Blue Hopi corn plants for Seed Saving.
would love to make corn flower for home mate tortilla's.
1 December 2020
Woohoo! I have finally planted my stand of 60 Blue Hopi corn plants for Seed Saving.
would love to make corn flower for home mate tortilla's.
|
|
Melissa Bradford
1 February 2021
My corn went in at least 6 weeks before the maize on farm. I've noticed that maize is starting to get tassels.
Should I chop off the silks on my corn to prevent it from being pollinated by the maize?
Or should mine be far enough along it's already pollinated and it doesn't matter?
Alice Le Brun replied -
How long ago did your corn open up its tassels? Pollination should be completed about 10 days after the tassels and pollen are about.
Melissa Bradford
I first noticed the tassels on the 18 Jan so I should be sweet.
1 February 2021
My corn went in at least 6 weeks before the maize on farm. I've noticed that maize is starting to get tassels.
Should I chop off the silks on my corn to prevent it from being pollinated by the maize?
Or should mine be far enough along it's already pollinated and it doesn't matter?
Alice Le Brun replied -
How long ago did your corn open up its tassels? Pollination should be completed about 10 days after the tassels and pollen are about.
Melissa Bradford
I first noticed the tassels on the 18 Jan so I should be sweet.
|
|
5 February 2021
Jasmin Hill
Last season I had NO IDEA what I was doing when it came to growing corn, I got excited whilst ordering seeds and I must have bought 6 or 8 varieties of corn! I then proceeded to plant about 4 of each variety next to each other in a row If you know anything about growing corn then as you can imagine that was a complete fail!
Now look at my corn!! I have gone against the elements in our crazy Southland weather and planted them in the most sheltered part of the property, one corner of my stand has been whipped by the wind from under the fence.. I need to sort out! But I'm pretty excited to see my first tassels It will take a miracle of weather, to pull off a good crop of corn here in Orepuki, but hey why not give it a go!
Jasmin Hill
Last season I had NO IDEA what I was doing when it came to growing corn, I got excited whilst ordering seeds and I must have bought 6 or 8 varieties of corn! I then proceeded to plant about 4 of each variety next to each other in a row If you know anything about growing corn then as you can imagine that was a complete fail!
Now look at my corn!! I have gone against the elements in our crazy Southland weather and planted them in the most sheltered part of the property, one corner of my stand has been whipped by the wind from under the fence.. I need to sort out! But I'm pretty excited to see my first tassels It will take a miracle of weather, to pull off a good crop of corn here in Orepuki, but hey why not give it a go!
|
|
|
Alice Le Brun
3 March 2021
I have grown a crop of strawberry popcorn for the library this season, a stand of 120 odd plants. I have seen a variety of photos of what the corn can look like but I can't find particularly good information on what they should look like.
I have already split it into plants that made 3+ good cobs and those that didn't.
3 March 2021
I have grown a crop of strawberry popcorn for the library this season, a stand of 120 odd plants. I have seen a variety of photos of what the corn can look like but I can't find particularly good information on what they should look like.
I have already split it into plants that made 3+ good cobs and those that didn't.
|
|
|
Leila Macbeth
13 March 2021
My Zimbabwean neighbour has been advising me about when to harvest the maize for fresh eating, and I picked the small/poorly pollinated cobs for eating a week or so ago
Some was perfect, some a bit over-mature.
It may well not show in the pic, but the cob on the left is a bit too dry for *fresh eating*-it's quite hard, yellower and slightly translucent when cooked-great cut off the cob and cooked slowly as 'corn risotto'
The cooked cob on the right is less mature, cream-coloured and opaque. It's still tender, great for eating on the cob like sweetcorn. I just boiled the cobs for 40-60 minutes (it needs a good long cook unlike sweetcorn) and I froze them whole.
Nice cobs for seed will stay on as long as possible-ideally until fully brown and dry, but I'll take them in if the autumn rains start.
13 March 2021
My Zimbabwean neighbour has been advising me about when to harvest the maize for fresh eating, and I picked the small/poorly pollinated cobs for eating a week or so ago
Some was perfect, some a bit over-mature.
It may well not show in the pic, but the cob on the left is a bit too dry for *fresh eating*-it's quite hard, yellower and slightly translucent when cooked-great cut off the cob and cooked slowly as 'corn risotto'
The cooked cob on the right is less mature, cream-coloured and opaque. It's still tender, great for eating on the cob like sweetcorn. I just boiled the cobs for 40-60 minutes (it needs a good long cook unlike sweetcorn) and I froze them whole.
Nice cobs for seed will stay on as long as possible-ideally until fully brown and dry, but I'll take them in if the autumn rains start.
|
|
|
|
|
Donna Fowles
20 March 2021
Gotta love the runt of the litter. Kaanga Ma. Colours ran through tassels and cob covers.
What are key ways to seed keep until next spring?
Alice Le Brun replied -
You want to go through them and pick the best for saving seed off. Look for things like straight rows of seed on the cob, fully pollinated cobs, kernels that are well formed and cobs that conform with what is expected of the variety..
20 March 2021
Gotta love the runt of the litter. Kaanga Ma. Colours ran through tassels and cob covers.
What are key ways to seed keep until next spring?
Alice Le Brun replied -
You want to go through them and pick the best for saving seed off. Look for things like straight rows of seed on the cob, fully pollinated cobs, kernels that are well formed and cobs that conform with what is expected of the variety..
|
|
Alice Le Brun
17 April 2021
I grew bloody Butcher corn for the first time this season (at my friends house on my behalf) and well, I was expecting 2-3 cobs per plant. The plants grew well over 3 meters tall (actually over 3m with a tape measure, I didn't believe him till I saw it) but most plants only had one cob per plant?
I don't know if the seed from this corn should be kept if it is not as productive as it should be, needless to say I had expected much more corn than I got.
I believe that due to chickens free roaming around the plants there was high Nitrogen (or good nitrogen as these are expected to be tall) but not enough phosphorus (being a friend's garden I don't know planting history or feeding/fertilizer history and completely overlooked this aspect) I believe that with the correct feed ballance (bone meal or similar) we should be able to get the expected three cobs of corn per plant for this variety. I will also push the spacing out a little as these grew over three meters tall.
17 April 2021
I grew bloody Butcher corn for the first time this season (at my friends house on my behalf) and well, I was expecting 2-3 cobs per plant. The plants grew well over 3 meters tall (actually over 3m with a tape measure, I didn't believe him till I saw it) but most plants only had one cob per plant?
I don't know if the seed from this corn should be kept if it is not as productive as it should be, needless to say I had expected much more corn than I got.
I believe that due to chickens free roaming around the plants there was high Nitrogen (or good nitrogen as these are expected to be tall) but not enough phosphorus (being a friend's garden I don't know planting history or feeding/fertilizer history and completely overlooked this aspect) I believe that with the correct feed ballance (bone meal or similar) we should be able to get the expected three cobs of corn per plant for this variety. I will also push the spacing out a little as these grew over three meters tall.
|
|
Jasmin Hill
15 May 2021
What a great experience learning about growing corn for seed saving! Wow there is so much to learn I feel like I've only touched the sides! This year I decided to try to grow Blue Hopi corn in an attempt at saving seeds. My stand of 50 plants grew beautifully and looked great but the weather conditions here in coastal Western Southland are not favourable for growing corn.
I wanted to make maize flour but there isn't enough ripe kernels to bother so I decided to make corn relish.
I also now have a beautiful big pile of green material to start this years compost pile with and a nice big patch of garden area where I think I will plant all of my potatoes next season.
Now I have a reasonable understanding of how to grow corn so one day when I live in a warmer climate I will definitely be growing it again! Or I may consider growing it again for a green crop, it has made a beautiful pile of compost and corn does wonders for the soil whilst growing.
15 May 2021
What a great experience learning about growing corn for seed saving! Wow there is so much to learn I feel like I've only touched the sides! This year I decided to try to grow Blue Hopi corn in an attempt at saving seeds. My stand of 50 plants grew beautifully and looked great but the weather conditions here in coastal Western Southland are not favourable for growing corn.
I wanted to make maize flour but there isn't enough ripe kernels to bother so I decided to make corn relish.
I also now have a beautiful big pile of green material to start this years compost pile with and a nice big patch of garden area where I think I will plant all of my potatoes next season.
Now I have a reasonable understanding of how to grow corn so one day when I live in a warmer climate I will definitely be growing it again! Or I may consider growing it again for a green crop, it has made a beautiful pile of compost and corn does wonders for the soil whilst growing.
|
|
Participants
Jasmin Hill
Alice Le Brun
Minette Tonoli
Leila Macbeth
Melissa Bradford
Donna Fowles
Troy Boyer
Fiona Hoskins
Fiona Moorhouse
Kris Tyna
Aimee Martin
Benjamin Marshall
Chrissy Small
Denise Twentyman
Eleanor Machiela
Johnelle Tarawhiti
Linda Lambeth
Maedb Haraki
Maleta Knight
Matt Veevers
Jasmin Hill
Alice Le Brun
Minette Tonoli
Leila Macbeth
Melissa Bradford
Donna Fowles
Troy Boyer
Fiona Hoskins
Fiona Moorhouse
Kris Tyna
Aimee Martin
Benjamin Marshall
Chrissy Small
Denise Twentyman
Eleanor Machiela
Johnelle Tarawhiti
Linda Lambeth
Maedb Haraki
Maleta Knight
Matt Veevers