corn varieties for grinding

[wolfcub]

I would like to try growing corn that can be ground into flour any suggestions would be appreciated thanks Marj

[nightmist]

Hickory King has been the stuff for a hundred years it seems.

However as far north as you or I the season can be a little short, and a little wet.
Locally the corn the natives grew was a black that was eaten green in a hundred ways, and then was ground when it reached maturity and dried. It might be the stuff sold as Aztec Black, or Mexican Black in the catalogs, it might not be.

[wolfcub]

Thank you nightmist will explore the ones you mentioned. Marj

[grungy]

Marj, just a little side info. Dry your corn in the oven around 150F for a couple of hours, and let cool still in the oven, before you grind. Makes a difference in grinding ability. And also when you are done grinding the corn, run a couple of handfuls of dried rice through your mill. It will remove the corn oil from your mill. Save this separately. The rice/corn flour mix makes the best, lightest cookies, bread, cakes ect.

[wolfcub]

Thanks Val you are a treasure trove of information Cheers Marj

[macmex]

Hi folks, I'm new here. A friend told me about this thread. I really like to grow corn (non-sweet) which we use for cornmeal and grits. Oklahoma is very different from anywhere in Canada : )
But I would suggest you look for a variety which is specially adapted to short season and cooler temps. If you could find what the locals have grown that would be wonderful. Otherwise you might consider looking at Sandhill Preservation Center or the Seed Savers Exchange to find something like a flint corn from a northern climate.

Here's a link to a picture of the two corns we grow. The colorful mix is called Mesquakie Indian and the blue/white corn is Cherokee Squaw.



George

[grungy]

Hi Macmex, Welcome to our not so little "family" of "gardeners and gatherers". Another knowledgeable person is always more than welcome. Pull up a chair and continue to jump right in.
Really neat looking corn that you have a picture of.
Cheers,
Grungy (Val)

[lavandulagirl]

So - how much corn would one have to grow in order to yield a useable amount of cornmeal? I was trying to find online some sort of table, telling me what, for example, an acre of corn would be expected to produce, but was unsuccessful. If I wanted, say 40 pounds of cornmeal at the end of the process, how much corn would I have to grow to get that?

[wolfcub]

Hi Macmax welcome and thanks for your information we have about 100 to 120 good growing days if the rain stays away. Lav I have no idea how much corn it takes to make that amount. This will be my first year trying it And I am just going to grow a few varieties to see what I get. .Maybe Val would know the answer to that. Cheers Marj

[Blueflint]

An acre? O.K. that would overwhelm most of you I think. Most of the open pollinated corn varieties I have grown...flints and flour...will range from 35 to 100 bu. an acre. This is not heavily fertilized (usually no fertilizer) and not heavily planted. Many of the old dent open pollinated varieties will produce 50 to 140 bu. an acre. (I have seen open pollinated dents go over 250 bu. an acre!) Now a bushel of corn will weigh on average 56 pounds. Flint corn bushels will usually weigh 60 pounds. I would think an average family would not need more than 1/8 of an acre of dried corn which still puts you in at 250# to 500# of dried shelled corn depending on variety, etc.

Flints are very hardy for the shorter northern seasons and will produce well in this environment. These are versitile for both grits and meal. Many "flints" are also slightly flour like...they have a thick outer "hard flint" but a small flour interior thus are usable for a wide variety of things. There are some really good hardy types out there. Many of the old Native American verieties are still available...look towards the Mandan varieties (both flint and flour) as these were good for short season. You might look into Painted Mountain also...a "blend" of old Oscar Will varieties. Northwestern Dent varieties were also very good, mostly a semi-dent with a lot of northern flint heritage mixed in. This is a red white capped semi dent. Fairly short season, very tough plants.

Some really good North Dakots research can be found at :
www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/dickinso/research/2006/agron06e.htm

For short wet northern areas, definitely look for anything local or something that resists various fungus.


Blue Clarage Dent Corn

Blueflint

[lavandulagirl]

Thanks for the info, Blueflint. I wasn't actually planning on growing an acre of corn, it's just an easy unit from which to then extrapolate the info I need. I doubt there are many charts that give crop yields by the 1/8 acre, know what I mean?

[macmex]

Last year we grew perhaps 260 feet of corn, in rows. This is only an estimate, as I don't garden with a measuring tape : ) This was planted in four or five row blocks at three different planting times. I put this corn in at about 1' spacing within the row and about 4' space between rows. It's surprising how much space it takes to plant the minimum 200 plants in order to properly maintain a variety of corn without getting into inbreeding depression. I had about 1/3 of this in Cherokee Squaw corn and that planting had only 229 plants! In the future I hope never to go below 300 or 400 plants. (Now remember, except for the "229" which I actually counted, everything else is an estimate.)

I haven't tallied up the weight of the harvest. But this size planting has produced enough grain for our corn bread, at least until the next harvest. We make corn bread about once a week. I have also distributed some seed.

Corn can be crowded. I'll stick in a picture of some corn I crowded in 2007. That little patch had 200 plants and produced quite well. It was a bear to weed and also I worked in quite a bit or rotted manure, in that spot, before planting. Still, I proved that it can be done.

s100.photobucket.com/albums/m21/kg8da/?action=view¤t=closePlanting_corn07small.jpg

George

[wolfcub]

Wow what a lot of info. Thanks to you all now has anyone got a few dozen seeds of these types that I can try Thanks Marj

[macmex]

Drop me a private message if you want to try Mesquakie Indian Corn. Still, I think you might prefer to check out the Sandhill Preservation Center's listing of corns. They have quite the selection. Though you have a good many days of frost free weather, I bet your frost free days are considerably cooler than mine : ) My guess is that you might prefer something which is specifically meant for a cooler climate.

www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/corn.html

Also, keep in mind, that if you want to save seed and maintain a corn, you're going to want to plant a minimum of 200 plants. For that reason most "corn people" I know send out larger samples of seed.

George

[Alan]

If one is careful to save seed from all plants in the field you can grow and maintain the genetic diversity in the first generation from no more than 30 or so plants, but this takes particular skill, any less and you will run into issues. The information that macmex gives though is a much safer bet than a small sample however. Do be sure to check out sand hill preservation as they have a wide diversity of corn types, surely one suited to your climate as well.

This year we will be growing a lot of OP sweet corns, the segregating and newly re-hybridized Astronomy Domine, and a lot of corns that Blueflint and others were kind enough to send us. I will "cowbird" some of these onto other farms for isolation purposes but we do plan to plant and harvest enough sweet corn for ourselves, market, and seed saving, preserve the dent types that Blueflint sent to us, and also grow enough extra dent corn to supplement our diet and our chicken/guineas diets.


Beautiful picture Blueflint and good info Macmex!