Lavender Astronomy Domine

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I received a packet of Astronomy Domine sweet corn (Ozark Strain) this afternoon from a generous member of this forum. Thank you. I am filled with awe that the seed was made in the first place, and grown out, and that it ended up in my hands.

I looked at every seed with a very bright light and a high powered magnifying glass. I sorted them into piles based on kernel shape, and color, and size, and type. (In case you can't tell, I like sorting...)

I found a few kernels that I speculate might be sugary enhanced, and I found a few kernels that look like dent corn. The orange kernels are very pleasant, and the scarlet colored kernels are so easy on the eyes, but my favorite kernels were pale lavender.

Oh my gosh, a lavender colored corn!!! I was only going to use this corn as part of a sugary enhanced breeding project, but seeing how pretty the lavender kernels are, I rented another small garden plot so I can grow a patch of Lavender Astronomy Domine sweet corn.

Regards,
Joseph

[raymondo]

Sounds like a beauty. Looking forward to pics of your lavender cobs later in the season.

[johno]

Interesting. There is a lot of diversity (and beauty) still in the mix even after a few years of selection. The genes came from about 20 parent varieties, one or two of which may have been SE. I don't think I ever got the full list. Good luck with your endeavors! Let me know if you need more to get a large enough breeding population of lavender.

[bunkie]

joseph, i want to definitely see some pics this summer! sounds intriguing!

were the laveder kernals of a dent or sweet nature?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

May 8, 2010 9:46:32 GMT -5 bunkie said:

joseph, i want to definitely see some pics this summer! sounds intriguing!

were the lavender kernels of a dent or sweet nature?

The lavender kernels are sweet. The seed coat is clear (not opaque), and the endosperm is likewise clear. (One seed has the transposon blots of color thing.)

I look forward to uploading photos.... (Unless it turns out to be a flop, then I will still upload them, just without being excited about it.)

Regards,
Joseph

[flowerpower]

I'll see if I can't hunt down the original list for AD. Alan has added new varieties each yr to the mix, so each yr it's different. Personally, I love the green kernels.

[flowerpower]

I couldn't find it. But I found one post where Alan mentioned he got alot of the original seed from nativeseeds.org . Maybe Alan remembers if he bought one that was purple or if that was a result of the mass cross.

[stratcat]

Here's an article with the background of Astonomy Domine-

alanbishop.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=articles&action=print&thread=3348

[flowerpower]

Thanks. I was looking in the wrong section.

[Alan]

Glad to see some folks getting excited about Astronomy Domine. Indeed in that first/second generation there were a couple SE hybrids.

The purple (pure purple) came from genetics via Alan Kapuler and his several purple lines. If you save seed only from the dark purple kernels the color will breed true.

In the first generation there were roughly 20 corn varieties in the mass cross. In the newer releases there are 150 or so. That which is in the ground now maintains genetics from about 170 lines.

I'm still fishing out the green color. It's a pain, I'm not sure I'll ever really get it anywhere. Those green ones (probably not any in the mix you guys have right now, but possibly) were from various projects. Oaxacana Green X Silver King, and recombinations of genetics between Kapulers purple genetics as well as likely Rainbow Inca and some yellow lines.

The lavender traits come mostly from Native Seeds SEARCH materials, but also some from USDA lines, and in the first generation some of those appeared without any influence from previous lavender lines. Speckles and stripes are from various Native Seeds Lines as well as USDA accessions.

Lots can be done with this corn, lots is being done with it, I'm sending some to Tom Wagner and Atash for a large growout as we speak.

-Alan

[darwinslair]

I had heard of Tom Wagner's sudden interest in growing/breeding corn. Will be fun to see what he comes up with.

Tom

[atash]

Knowing him, he'll do something unexpected with it.

(for those who don't know him, he's sort of a modern day "Luther Burbank" but without the controversial self-promotion. In fact, he even told me once about when he was a teenager and dreamed about being another Luther Burbank...).

I'm pushing for a general-purpose corn good for fresh eating or drying, "creamier", and mildly sweet but starchier than at least the corns we're getting here, that is reasonably early, dependable, and tolerant of marginal conditions. I don't know anything about crop genetics so no idea where anything is coming from...that's Tom's job.

Obviously between the two of us, it will have to be pretty.

Thank you for supplying the genes, Alan.