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Post by steev on Aug 25, 2015 14:35:30 GMT -5
Thanks to the drought, I hope, the last two years have been the drizzles. As for pictures, you have no idea how tech-phobic I am; I just pissed away ~2 1/2 hours loading Windows 10 and still don't know what's up.
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Post by jondear on Aug 27, 2015 15:56:13 GMT -5
Yeah; I stripped open the last of Joseph's Cherry Sweet for the same reason last week-end. You're getting rain? That's certainly good news!
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Post by steev on Aug 27, 2015 19:37:36 GMT -5
Don't I wish! No, I just meant to dry it for seed; if left wrapped, it often goes moldy with the heat. Very sugary corn sometimes smells like it ferments on the cob. Hmmm; I wonder whether there could be a market here in foodie NorCal for "Corn Likker on the Cob".
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Post by jondear on Sept 20, 2015 20:17:35 GMT -5
dry selected ears
center kernels bagged as individual ears
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Post by reed on Sept 21, 2015 5:13:52 GMT -5
Those look good, what do you mean by center kernels, that you favor kernels from around the middle? I did mine the opposite, taking the individually bagged kernels from a couple rows up and down the ear. My theory was to try to get maximum diversity by having seeds that may have been pollinated by different fathers. I don't know if that is really even how it works but thought bottom kernels may have coincided with a different plant tassel than top kernels did. *Most of my seed ears were from detasseled plants.
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Post by jondear on Sept 21, 2015 9:50:30 GMT -5
I just didn't bag up the last inch or so of tip and butt kernels. I did end up saving them separate, but my mother thought her parrot might like them.
I labeled the packets like they are in the rows. I may favor the larger ears when I plant them next year, but I plan on planting some from all the cobs. The plants that made a second or third cob will be better represented that way. I haven't decided whether or not to plant cob to a row or just mix the selected seed and plant them randomly. I'm leaning toward random, to get them mixed up more. I read a good way to get them mixed up good is to plant a row from packet 1 then the next row, 1 seed from each packet. Row three would all be from packet 2 then from all the rest again and so on. I don't have room for 80 rows 40 feet long. Lol
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Post by jondear on Jun 1, 2016 20:34:20 GMT -5
My saved seed has germinated at about 99%. I'm pretty tickled with that. I had a great plan to grow some "Who Gets Kissed" every so many rows for more diversity, but so far, I've have had dismal germ rates. Maybe 15 live plants out of an ounce of seed... Bummer... I'll likely just replant the gaps with my own seed. Maybe that should have been the plan all along to get some early pollen on some late silks.
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Post by jondear on Jul 3, 2016 13:42:45 GMT -5
Most of the corn is waist high, and if you look at it critically, there are subtle differences. Most have pretty wide leaves, but a few have pretty narrow ones. Some stalks have red on them, while others are completely green. 99% have tillers, but 1% do not any or have very small ones. I'm also seeing just a few tassels starting as of today. About the same time as last year, even though they were planted about two weeks later than last year.
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Post by yardngardn on Jul 7, 2016 23:28:58 GMT -5
Congratulations on the tassels! I've been working on growing some popcorn this year. I always feel like I'm behind with the fertilizer. What are you doing to keep the best growth?
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Post by jondear on Jul 9, 2016 13:48:01 GMT -5
I didn't really do anything special. I banded a little fertilizer, but I'm hoping the organic matter, and a little fish emulsion will keep them chugging along.
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Post by yardngardn on Jul 10, 2016 23:04:09 GMT -5
I'm growing popcorn this year. When banding its fertilizer I thought I was being careful, but I accidentally got some of the ammonium sulfate on the leaves of many of the stalks and it really burnt where it touched. I knew better, but I'll know even better next time. Learning the hard way always hurts!
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Post by jondear on Jul 31, 2016 16:40:20 GMT -5
^oh yeah, that can be hard on foliage.
I think the corn is doing reasonably well. A lot of it is approaching 9 feet tall. The remainder is about 6 feet tall. Cob height is all over the place. The range is 12" off the ground to well over 36". I'm guessing I'll be selecting for higher cobs providing other traits are in line. The lower cobs appear to be earlier, as expected, but the higher ones aren't that much later, so it seems a no brainer.
I'll eat a few cobs tomorrow even if they are "a little young" just so I can say first corn on August 1st again this year.
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Post by jondear on Aug 3, 2016 20:40:27 GMT -5
I'll be damned, crossing corn with corn makes corn. A few ears we ate tonight. I have a few weird ones like this long shank.
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Post by steev on Aug 3, 2016 21:08:31 GMT -5
That's some fine-looking corn; I assume that first photo is pre-eating?
I'll not post photos of my drought-raddled corn (snivel, whine!).
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Post by RpR on Aug 10, 2016 12:59:45 GMT -5
Reading this impresses me and makes me wish I had a lot more land and time.
This year because I had it, I had saved one cob of hybrid Country Gentlemen, actually just found it rather than saved it, and a packet of op CG mixed them in one block. Having read this I wish I had planted each to it own row rather than just mixed them. It is doing well after taking a long time to come up. Now I assume all ears will be shoepeg but what is the difference between a hybrid CG and the op CG.
What are the parents of the hybrid.
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