corn for dry land

[cortona]

as i've tel in another treadh my goal for breeding everithing is almost drought resistence and flavor
i've lost my little crop af an italian blue pop corn heirloom the past year for this reason and i'm so that i think to try to breed something for this!
my know of corn variety is still very limited so i ask to you all an help to find some name at least or some seed stock to start breeding for this purpose
no problem i think for the growing season that is april to october of usualy nice temps(wel in august we are most of the time over the 100's )
We have water for the first monts because presence of winter/spring rayn but wen God close the water...nothing before the end of august alf settember
my soil is light coloured clay
thanks for your patience attention and time!
Emanuele

[canadamike]

Emanuele, what kind of corn are you looking for? What do you want to do with it.?

[seedywen]

Emaneulle,

Am replying here on the corn thread, not because I can't help you with any of your corn-related questions, but mainly to welcome you to this forum.

(there is another forum on this site, where people introduce themselves that you might wish to use)

Personally, my gardening experience over the past forty years, tributes my neigbours, Italian, Russian and Mexican for significant input into my knowledge and practices.

Although information via books and the internet is helpful, I've learned a ton more about gardeners and animal husbandry from people who have the information operational in 2010 from the past.

Grazie mille! (internet translation as I know no Italian!)

[grunt]

Emanuele: I have some Autumn Delight Dark popping corn (from Long Island Seeds) that might do well for you. I also have the Bear Island that Michel mentions, that might be usable as a popping corn, although that's not it's primary use. Check out the photos at picasaweb.google.com/danvaltrial/CORNMAIZE If there's anything there that you can use, let me know.

[cortona]

thanks all! i'm tryng to have a flour corn that can produce in my dry climate. in italy the istorical variety also are not bred for this trait!
so i want to find something that work!
sedywen...thanks for your welcome! i have write in the part of the forum reserved for presentation but a welcome is ever a welcome! and very appreciate!
about the use of maize i think that the major use is flour...fine for tryng some bread and a bit rough to make polenta!
pop corn is interessant toobecause i have kids around... ;ç)

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

You could look into growing hopi blue corn. From what i've heard they grow it in the arizona desert, and they only get water when it rains.

www.nativeseeds.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_18_44&products_id=20

here is a cool video about the hopi corn. insected.arizona.edu/Hopicorn.html

[raymondo]

I'd like to have a go at developing a flour corn that will do well in my shortish season with mostly cool nights, well, not hot at least. I'm not at all sure how many plants I should be growing. I know that 100 is a reasonable minimum to maintain a variety. I'm guessing though that I'd need closer to 1000 plants in the early selection process. Is that overkill do you think?

[atash]

Interesting about the Hopi Blue Corn. Thank you for posting the links. My step-grand-dad mentioned growing corn (maize) without irrigation in Colorado, which struck me as amazing in itself, but it probably has to do with growing methods, and timing it around when precipitation is available.

[DarJones]

Traditional growing methods for dry farming corn all involve using a dust mulch to hold moisture in the soil. Learn how to make a good dust mulch and use it with a corn variety selected for an extensive root system.

DarJones