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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 16, 2013 20:30:23 GMT -5
The anal part of me cringes sometimes, when Joseph's shoe is measuring one end of a row, and Sarabeth's shoe is measuring the other. Sarabeth has very small feet, so the rows end up crooked. Doesn't matter much for one row, but on a whole field of tomatoes it adds up.
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Post by steev on Apr 16, 2013 20:56:52 GMT -5
Sometimes you've just gotta let it go; damned plants don't grow exactly the same, anyway. I'm sure Monsanto is working on getting them regimented and regulated.
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Post by raymondo on Apr 17, 2013 0:25:46 GMT -5
... I'm sure Monsanto is working on getting them regimented and regulated. The sooner the better. Damn plants!
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Post by templeton on Apr 17, 2013 3:39:31 GMT -5
Yep, knew I shouldn't have started those calcs on only one cup of coffee. - and i used to be a maths teacher! ...what they all say... (Lucky I don't have an important job, like designing the Hubble telescope...) T
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 17, 2013 6:54:16 GMT -5
LOLOLOL Y'all just SLAY me! I bought a bag of popcorn the other day JUST to try this calculation. Out in the "long" field, I have to stakes with a string tied to them. The idea was to mark the edge of the rows as we dig the trench and plant the seed (potatoes followed by other stuff, beets probably) so that there is a semblance of straightness. I'm not worried about how long... jest keep m lines STRAIGHT MISTER!!!!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 8, 2013 23:41:22 GMT -5
bjargakarlinn sent me some corn seed during the winter that was called "Cateto + Coastal Tropical Flint Composite" from Argentina and Caribbean. The accompanying note said "Orange kernels have 10X carotenoids of yellow corn." I was immediately intrigued, because people have been asking me for years for a colored popcorn. So I popped up a batch. It was a semi-popcorn, but enough popped that I could confirm my expectations about the corn. Woo Hoo!!! A colored popcorn!!! It is my intention to cross it with my popcorn. And while I am at it, I might as well bring that gorgeous colored and high carotenoid trait over into my sweet corns. I am so content: daydreaming about higher nutrition corn. To show it off best, I should also develop a line of popcorn that pops exceedingly white, and then combine them before popping so that the yellow vs white contrast is clearly visible in each batch.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 9, 2013 4:29:07 GMT -5
That would be awesome indeed! We shucked the popcorn seed a couple days ago. We are waiting for the piggies to finish tilling and fertilizing then popcorn goes in next while the piggies go to work on the sweet corn field.
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Post by oxbowfarm on May 9, 2013 6:14:08 GMT -5
Do you think you'll need to cross the Cateto with stuff to improve the popping quality or just select for it?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 9, 2013 9:48:15 GMT -5
I looked more closely at the Cateto/Caribbean kernels this morning.... And reviewed photos supplied by bjargakarlinn. - 70% of the kernels are too large to pop, and are almost a dent/flour corn.
- 15% are the right size for popping, but have a glaring defect in the pressure vessel such as being flat, or having a super large indented germ.
- 15% have about the right kernel characteristics for a popcorn.
In the pop test, 5% popped very well, 5% popped OK, 20% sorta popped, and 70% popped poorly or not at all. There is plenty of seed, so it would be very possible to turn this corn into a great popcorn using only selection. I'll plant a small isolated patch. Last summer I made a cross: [LISP Ashworth X popcorn]. I'm intending to use that as the pollen donor, to pollinate the Cateto/Caribbean corn, other South American corns, and other lines I have been working with. That will allow me to add this corn to both my popcorn line and to my sweet corn lines at the same time. And upon segregation it will spread the days to maturity all over, so I can select for shorter season. This will also restart my project to incorporate South American and Mexican corns into my populations. That project was abruptly ended when a kid cut the drying corn and fed it to the goats.
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Post by blueadzuki on May 9, 2013 11:23:57 GMT -5
There's a maximum size to allow corn to pop? I suppose it sort of might make sense (after all I'm growning flint and flour corns that are too small to grind) but I always assumed that, so long as the seed coat and internal starch had the right configuration, the actual size was irrelevant. I guess this explains why I have never seen anyone try and make a cross between popcorn and one of the Latin American giant kerneled corns (come to think of it, I have seen popcorn kernels that got mixed in to bags of those kind of corns, and the were the small sized ones I am used to seeing.)
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Post by davida on May 9, 2013 11:44:14 GMT -5
I suppose it sort of might make sense (after all I'm growning flint and flour corns that are too small to grind) but I always assumed that, so long as the seed coat and internal starch had the right configuration, the actual size was irrelevant. Blue, Help. Please explain how some flint and flour corns are too small to grind. Do I need to select for larger kernals to grind properly? Thanks, David
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 9, 2013 12:59:30 GMT -5
My popcorn landrace started out as a mass-cross which contained rice sized kernels, and largish flour, dent, and flint kernels. And also typical popcorn kernels. It didn't have any huge (corn nut sized) kernels.
It has converged into mid-sized kernels that weigh about 0.18 grams and are about 6 mm in diameter: Looking for all the world like the stereotypical popcorn. The Cateto/Carribean corn has a lot of kernels that weight around 0.36 grams and are up to 12 mm in diameter. The smallest kernels are ideal popping size, and not due only to coming from the tips of the cobs. Some of the cobs had nice roundish popping sized kernels.
Even with the right type of starch, large kernels tend to split open without popping. Small kernels tend to produce low volumes of popped corn, and to retain a hard unpalatable tip.
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Post by blueadzuki on May 9, 2013 18:34:16 GMT -5
I suppose it sort of might make sense (after all I'm growning flint and flour corns that are too small to grind) but I always assumed that, so long as the seed coat and internal starch had the right configuration, the actual size was irrelevant. Blue, Help. Please explain how some flint and flour corns are too small to grind. Do I need to select for larger kernals to grind properly? Thanks, David Perhaps it would be more accurate to say "Too small to grind profitably". It has to do with the mathematical formula for expansion that, for a cube whose side =x suface area is 6x squared) while volume is x cubed. so when you doube x suface area is 6(2x)squared and volume is (2x cubed). In other words volume increases faster than surface area. In the case of corn suface area is basically the amount of hull (seed coat) while volume is more or less the whole kernel. In practical terms this means that given equal amounts of corn, meal made from a smaller seeded one will have a larger amount of seed coat in it. That's good for dietary fiber, but not much else (you can't really digest corn seedcoats, they just pass through you) Even if you nixamize the corn first (which removed the seed coats amongst other things) the smaller seeded corns meal will still be rather greasy, as the amount of corn germ usually doesn't increase as fast as kernels get bigger as the amount of starch (so smaller kernels have a larger proportion of germ to starch) Add on the fact that, below a certain size, the corn becomes awkward to niximize (the kernels are too small to rub easily) and that smaller kernels do not automatically translate to more of them, and you can start to see what I am getting at. It is physically possible to grind such small corn, but it's sort of pointless.
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Post by nathanp on May 9, 2013 20:10:11 GMT -5
If you are talking about comparing popcorn colors ... this site/page actually has a pretty good color comparison. In general, dark color and white kernels pop white, while yellow kernels pop yellow. www.popcornlovers.com/information/overview/session_2843fe1c15b3/In general, the darker color kernels have stronger flavors. I have some of the High Mountain Midnight that I am tempted to plant alongside Joseph's Popcorn. It passed my germination test attempt last month. I'd never even realized you could do that... They used to carry a black popcorn that was my favorite, but I don't see it on their site anymore.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 9, 2013 21:06:33 GMT -5
I decided that I aughta test pop a batch of popcorn before taking it to our first farmer's market this weekend. So I cooked it in coconut oil using a heavy bottomed pan on a hot stove. Oh my heck, what a joyful experience. It 's how food tasted before is was commodified, and made bland and boring. I wolfed down the first batch and then immediately made another one and savored it. So here's what my popcorn looks like this year:
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