Any body else breeding corn?

[cortona]

wel ..sory to know it, tomatoes are a funny stuf for me to work but....thanks for your patience and for your time!

[grunt]

Raymondo: what are the rules about importing popcorn (as a food, not a seed)?

[raymondo]

Dan, unprocessed, untreated corn seed, of whatever type and for whatever purpose, is prohibited. Seed may be imported for sowing but there are severe restrictions (must have been grown in certified fields in Idaho for example), onerous constraints (lodgement of import permits, pre-export treatment with approved chemicals and phytosanitary certificates) and finally expensive inspections on arrival ($80 for the first hour then $40 per quarter hour thereafter).

[nuts]

Mar 12, 2010 16:53:43 GMT -5 canadamike said:

From my experience ( I mean what I witnessed in October)in the Alps north of Forcalquier, much higner than 500 meters, it will not be a problem at all. You know, corn can take light frosts without any problems. It is harvested long after many frosts here. They are not long or cold enough to go through the husks. But sweet corn is a bugger when it comes to drying. Should it be very very cold for long, wich I think it is impossible in your area in October ( I saw a lot of people in shorts and tee shirts up to October 10).

If I may, your definition of ''cold'' is quite un-canadian ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

And by october 10, AD is dry enough to be picked and brought inside here. Especially since you can sow Astronomy Domine a whole full 2 months before me, do not worry at all. Really really not worry. You could almost have 2 full crops of it, or at least the earliest of the bunch.

If you really wantto do a lot of work on your small space, start them indoors 3 weeks before planting date in March, then do it again later to coordinate it with creamy stage or a little later. When you see the corn is getting creamy, you could start transplants inside and set them out outside 3 weeks later or 4, the corn will be ok to bring inside and finish off. If it stays a little too long in its containers or pots, it will simply dwarf the plants a bit but you will get very good ears of corn. I have done it a number of times and intent to test itmore seriously next year. I have done it twice with success, but it would be good to really test it with different lenghts of time in pots to see where it can go, what is a tolerable maximum time etc....

I just did the math and according to my experience I feel SURE you could do it. I talked with Alan carter, who grows 350 different kinds of seed for Kokopelli, the day he got his sweet corn in to finish it off. And it was about one month after my return on October 11.
When I was there, the corn, Art Verrel, was almost at the edible stage, just past it.

Given it is an early corn and I know Alan has a 12 months growing cycle and needs all his space, rest assured this corn was not put in the ground in March...he was finishing off his winter ( if you can call it like that close to Nice , sorry, I could not restrain myself ;D) season crops by then...

Where do you live in France?

I live near Albi,25 km from Albi direction Millau.
In Albi,a climate like Toulouse there are some Palmtrees, olivetrees and evergreen oaks (quercus ilex) doing well.I even saw cacti in some gardens.
Where I live is the upper limit for wineyards.That's what the old ones said,but there is no wineyard anymore over here these days.The vineyards over here were mainly for autoconsommation.The old ones counted average more then 1l/person/day,women included,now you loose your driver linence if you had more then 2glasses at midi.Those good old days(20years ago),when I came at 8 a clock in the morning at the neighbours,there was a meal witheverything you need(wine included)Those times are gone.

forcalqiuer is in a very privilaged corner of france.The Alps protect from northern influance.
So, the climate over here is maybe less 'rose' then you think.
By the way,last winter was the worse I have experienced since I live in this place(that's for 25 years),probably that has something to do with 'global warming' ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Sorry for being so ignorant,but what do you mean by 'creamy stage'.You're talking about young plants,but I thought creamy stage was about the stage of materity of the grains.I surely don't have the space and labour available to bring plants to maturity inside.Well,let's say I didn't get grasp that alinea completely(if at all).

Normally,I would plan to start second half of april for planting out till half may,but maybe I could try first half of april.Maybe even I could try end march in very small amounts, and then doing a bit every week(for experimental purposes,to say multiplying clones and get them to maturity.),and doing the bulk second half of april.I've counted the seeds(by weighing),there are about 580,and I want to keep losses to minimum,so I prefere to be carefull,to be sure to have a few hundreds plants.

Yesterday was a dissapointing day.My father,a friend and me went to get back my fathers car.I drove 855 km to come back without my fathers car.We couldn't get it start and had to leave it at a garagist.So,I'll have to do the trip again one of these days.So,I'm getting more experienced for long distances,good in case you pass again over here .

[canadamike]

Yes, I meant when it has made its starch and begins to mature. start with one season anyway, and get the feel of it....but do not worry, you have a season long enough....

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Im currently working on creating an inbred line of ornamental indian corn being bred for Purple Leaves, Purple Stalks, Purple cob, and purple pollen. From what i've read each part is controlled by a different gene, so getting 4 homozygous alleles is going ti be harder than just breeding for the purple stalk. Seed color is not a high priority, but generally im selecting seeds with pink/stripes, so who knows what i'll end up with in the end. I've also ordered two varieties of teosinte (one annual and one perennial) and some gamagrass. I'm still debating whether i should plant some with my corn for cross pollination. I probably will, just to see what happens. I hope to plant some teosinte and do a cross with some pod corn, but i dont know when i will try that.

I have some double-red sweet corn seeds, but i dont think i will plant them, because im not sure i want to "mix in" the sweet corn genes. While my corn is not being bred to be edible, it was good freshly picked last year, and was a sweet as sweet corn as far as i could tell. The trick is to pick it when the colors are barely coming in, because it's all starch by the time the colors set in.

[canadamike]

Welcome in the bunch or crazy folks keen101.

Quite an introduction for a first post, the kind I like to see. One thing is sure (I JUST HAD A FEW BEERS, SORRY ;D) if you want purple leaves and it is your goal, go for it....corn, like anything else, can be eiter homozygous or heterozygous for tons of different genes...it is simply a plant where we can visually differentiate it much.

I feel pretty sure that even a ''lame'' plant like spinach ( from a customer standpoint) can offer a lot of breeding chalenges too, just that nobody will ''SEE'' the difference.

Corn is such a ''visual'' creature.

Go for the leaves, then once you got them look for something else if you want..but my question is: why the purple leaves? I have to admit there are many purplishish ones in Painted Mountains and I love to look at them...

Again, welcome, and congratulations, you get the 2010 April award for the best breeding question from a new member...super duper welcome....again ;D

Michel

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Well, mostly just because i like things that are different. Yeah, are are cool to look at too. In the future when i get a stable variety, i'd like to test and see whether the purple coloring is a natural pest deterrent. I don't know if it is, but there's a possibility.

Mostly im just tired of seeing all green/yellow corn everywhere.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Well, mostly just because i like things that are different. Yeah, they are are cool to look at too. In the future when i get a stable variety, I'd like to test and see whether the purple coloring is a natural pest deterrent. I don't know if it is, but there's a possibility.

Mostly im just tired of seeing all green/yellow corn everywhere. The first year i planted my old indian corn thankgiving decoration, i wasnt expecting anything really cool, but it was exciting when one out of the 20 or so i planted was a completely violet one. The rest were pretty much green, with maybe a few subtle stripes. Needless to say... it made quite an impression.

Someday i want to try breeding prickly pear cactus with spineless christmas cactus. I dont know if they are compatible, but a prickly pear cactus without the prickles would be awesome. I love cactus fruit, but it almost seems too much work to harvest and make sure all the microscopic spines are gone. mmmm... i dream of the day i can make cactus fruit jam....

[cortona]

hi Keen mr Luter Burbank Had bred a spineless prikly pear and if you looking around on the net i know exist not just one clone but more tan one!
have you never tryed ylocereus undunatus ibrid?(aka dragon fruit) nice color, and tasty as other cactus fruit but no spine at all!

[canadamike]

I would love to see the result of crosses between japonic striped maize and purples....might be one of the was to go....but you'll have to do it...no time, sorry. Grin also has other lines of variegated corns, usually with white stripes....

[zgb32]

Hi Canadamike, I saw one of your old posts where you mentioned that you grew Merlin sweet corn. I have been trying to find some seeds to plant, but have not had any luck. Do you mind telling me where you buy those seeds?

Thanks
Zoltan