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Post by blueadzuki on May 14, 2012 6:51:10 GMT -5
As I said, this stuff is quite common in the farmers markets around me come autumn, and if people will remind me then, I will be happy to pass along my extras
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Post by flowerpower on May 14, 2012 7:02:12 GMT -5
That is a nice little corn. I think I have seeds for Mini Rainbow corn. I did send some to Joseph. I should have extra seed in the fall. I'll grow some extras.
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Post by Darth Slater on May 14, 2012 7:33:02 GMT -5
Can you folks please keep me in mind for some Glass Gem?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 17, 2012 2:24:20 GMT -5
I planted a patch of Glass Gem corn today. Ask this fall if you'd like seed. I put in more than 200 feet of row, and even though I put it in the worst place in the garden (next to the box elder tree), there should be plenty of seed.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 18, 2012 2:51:37 GMT -5
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Post by gray on May 20, 2012 15:31:56 GMT -5
I too have about 500 foot of row. The plants are spaced at 6inches on center, and are on drip irrigation in a field that had clover for the previous fall and winter. Then a generous dressing of poultry manure. The plants are about a foot tall and healthy looking. I will try to get out as much this fall as possible. Old homegrown goodness people first and then as many afterwards as we can.
My wife finally got me to give her about a quarter cup of the corn to try popping the other day. We have one of these hand crank poppers you use on the stove top. About half the kernels popped and the other half were parched. Very crunchy and tasty, but not hard on the teeth. We used some like croutons on salad. Wow! They taste awesome. Gray
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Post by mamakinnon on May 22, 2012 16:34:56 GMT -5
I just got a package of Glass Gem corn and can't find the days-to-maturity anywhere. I want to make sure it won't cross-pollinate with our other corn. Does anyone have this info?
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Post by gray on May 24, 2012 11:22:26 GMT -5
I believe it is 85 days.
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Post by gray on Jul 10, 2012 9:07:38 GMT -5
As of today my glass gem looks really awesome. I have about 560 feet of row. Average height is 8-9 foot with many plants going 11-12. I have grown this patch in ideal conditions. It is irrigated, which with the heat and lack of rain is really good. Many plants have 4 good size ears. many have 3 and a lot have 2 ears. Most of the silts are browning now. Some of the later smaller ears are just developing and have fresh silts. I started this patch well after most commercial corn crops around here, to avoid cross pollination. There is no commercial corn field within half a mile and it really isnt commercial just so guys large personal field. It is drying down now.
I have a decision to make in the next few days. I planted a supersweet corn at what I thought was plenty of time difference. It is about a 70 day corn. It is now about 3 feet tall and I can see the tassels coming down inside. It is probably about a week from releasing pollen. Am I far enough along with the glass gem to avoid any cross pollination? Many times glass gem has tillers that rival the main stalk under good conditions and produce small ears later. Which would make it difficult for me to insure that these few ears were pure. What to do?
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jul 10, 2012 9:49:14 GMT -5
Maybe just flag the ears with fresh silk on the sweet corn side? Then you could pick them separate as possibly crossed? Or just pick all the tiller ears after the main harvest and use them for food or offer them as possibly crossed.
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Post by gray on Jul 10, 2012 17:47:07 GMT -5
Thats a great idea Tim! I really thought I had enough offset in the planting times to miss this. Would you agree the ears that have silts already turning brown are fully formed? This would be my assumption. I guess when the ears dry down I could tell if any sweet corn crossed by the shrivelled kernels.
I would love input from anyone on this issue. Darrel and Joesph especially.
I am prepared to kill the sweet corn if necessary. I am guessing this is well over a couple hundred pounds of seed that I will harvest. I am really not sure. I know I harvested close to 4 pounds on a small patch last year. And this year the crop looks substantially bigger and more stalks have many more multiple ears.
Anyway I have at least a week to make the decision. It isnt that big of a deal, as I already have a piece of ground ready to go and grow more than double the sweet corn I already have. I would just have to wait to sept. for sweet corn. And I had planned on planting another crop of glass gem instead. But I will do whats necessary. Thanks Tim and anyone who chimes in on this for me. Gray PS I will post pictures of the corn soon.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 10, 2012 19:30:16 GMT -5
In my garden.... Corn with brown silks was pollinated more than 3 weeks ago. They are definitely safe from sweet corn pollen next week. Any silks that are brown by the time the sweet corn starts shedding pollen would also be safe.
My general sense is that silks are pollinated as soon as they emerge, but as long as they are moist, there is still the possibility for pollination, especially with the tip kernels.
How close geographically is the sweet corn? What are the prevailing winds doing? In my garden in July the average wind speed is around 10 mph, so the average corn pollen grain could be expected to travel about 45 feet before hitting the ground, and after about 25 feet it would fall below the level where it could interact with silks. I generally consider 100 feet to be adequate isolation distance for my purposes. If the sweet corn is the next row over from the glass gem, then I might worry about cross pollination.
Most populations of Indian corn that I see at local farm stands contain some small percentage (1% to 3%) of sweet corn kernels. Are you happy with the industry averages? You won't know until 2 generations from now if there was any crossing.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jul 10, 2012 20:20:45 GMT -5
I think genetically most sweet corn is already flint. Flinty endosperm is dominant to sweet. The sweet corn genetics would be masked on this years ears.
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Post by DarJones on Jul 10, 2012 22:46:57 GMT -5
"My general sense is that silks are pollinated as soon as they emerge, but as long as they are moist, there is still the possibility for pollination, especially with the tip kernels."
Silks can be pollinated for about 7 days on a single ear of corn. But once an individual silk has a pollen tube growing inside, it is no longer accessible to more pollen. In other words, if a silk has not received a viable grain of pollen, you could still get crossing even if it is only a small amount.
For your purposes, this would not make much difference, but if you are going to sell seed, then purity becomes a significant concern.
I got Whipple White corn from Sandhill about 6 years ago that was obviously a mixed up mess. It took 3 years to select out the original genetics and stabilize it again into a high quality sweet corn.
DarJones
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Post by gray on Jul 11, 2012 8:55:46 GMT -5
Thanks for the input from everyone. I think I am out of the woods on this, but I believe because of the close proximity I will go ahead and kill the sweet corn to be sure. It is a small patch and I do have time to put in another. The smaller later emerging ears are what worry me. I would rather be 100% sure. Thanks again Gray
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