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Post by reed on Nov 3, 2017 18:52:50 GMT -5
I had only 3 stalks I thought worth bringing inside. Last night I saw the stalks had dried so I peeled back the husks. Suprise! I have good seed. Either it was further along than I thought, or ripening inside on stalks does more good than I expected. I had only 19 seeds, due to very poor pollination. But I got 2 generations of corn in one summer! And it wasn't a particularly long summer for here. I'm convinced that digging / pulling plants and replanting crowded in a pot or even just letting them dry up helps finish up the seeds. I think the plant has finished growing once the tassels and silks are dry. It only cares about one thing after that and that is the seeds, any energy or life left goes there. I love doing more than one generation per season. Here though I find the ear worms are hard on the second crop but not a problem on the first one. Stupid things also eat the developing tassels. Good to know, that they can largely be avoided by selecting for short season and plating early.
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Post by walt on Nov 4, 2017 13:32:31 GMT -5
Like I just said on another thread, I germinate my corn inside. It speeds things up, especially in the spring when soil is too cool. But I think it was Steev that said he starts his corn in toilet paper cores. I'll be trying that next year.
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Post by reed on Nov 4, 2017 15:05:05 GMT -5
I might give that a try too, especially to get some crossing between my short season selections with some longer season ones I like. Have to think about it some as I imagine it might lead to more selection down the road to get it back to shorter season.
On two crops in one season, we are talking about the same thing? Growing to maturity and planting those seeds in time to mature again the same year?
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Post by steev on Nov 5, 2017 20:50:49 GMT -5
I think the TP-tube indoor-germination method allows for earlier starting without the later transplant-shock of tipping out of a pot or punnet; the tube is biodegradable; I think one needs to completely bury the tube to avoid wicking, but corn is a grass, so it doesn't mind a bit of sub-planting (prolly encourages prop-roots, actually); the trick is to avoid injury to that initial tap-root, which the seed wants to send to the Earth's center ASAP.
The only serious impediment to this practice is the availability of TP rolls; those of us who get a good diet prolly are "good to go", but those who are dietary-fiber-deficient may have a butt-load of problems.
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Post by walt on Nov 6, 2017 14:25:35 GMT -5
Reed. Yes, I planted the sprouted seeds of Gaspe Flint and O'odham 60 Day flour corn (sprouted seeds) starting as early as I thought it was possible for them to grow. Every day, I started sprouting 2 seeds of each until I ran out of seeds. About 60 seeds of each. Or about 30 days. This was so I'd be sure to have some overlap in bloom time. As soon as I had an ear of ripe, hand crossed, F1 seeds, I started germinating F1 seeds of that first ear to see if I could get F2 seeds. I only risked 1 ear because I thought it might not have long enough. First frost date can be about any time after mid September. I think I only risked 10 seeds actually. Again, I sprouted the seeds before planting. And only 3 ears resulted, with only 2 of them having seeds due to pollination problems. I learned that planting so soon in the spring actually delayed bloom. Those planted a week later actually bloomed first. Bloom in the cold fall weather and maybe heat stress on the tiny seedlings in August put the silks and tassels out of sync. But it worked. sort of. This population will have to adapt to both heat and cold stress at both beginning and end of its life cycle. The only question I have is how long will it take.
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Post by walt on Nov 6, 2017 14:32:34 GMT -5
Steev. Yes, corn does send down a tap root, but like almost all grasses, almost all corn doesn't keep its tap root long. It is the roots that start above the seeds that are the main roots. The exceptions are the extremely early corns like O'odham 60 Day and Gaspe Flint (also about 60 days to maturity), and a very fewe of thedesert-adapted corns that keep their tap roots their whole lives. Still, that tap root is important for suporting the plant until those side roots get established. And it is possible that your corn is one of those that keeps its tap root alive the whole season.
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Post by prairiegardens on Nov 11, 2017 0:29:57 GMT -5
If not enough tp rolls are handy, paper towel rolls are sort of a big brother which work exactly the same way, they're easy to scissor into whatever length is wanted. I have issues with both semi disintegrating before planting out time, though. Sometimes it seems as soon as they get a whiff of water they melt or come apart. Is there some technique to this I'm missing?
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