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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 17, 2010 18:19:36 GMT -5
Oh my gosh!!! What was I thinking....
This spring I have been working on a sugary enhanced sweet corn breeding project... So I planted Indian corns, and sweet corns like Astronomy Domini and Spero's Sparkler, and I am planning on pollinating them with commercial sugary enhanced sweet corn.
What a huge Disappointment!!!!
The germination rate on the standard sweet corns, and the Indian corns was near 100%. The germination rate on the sugary enhanced corn has been around 10%... Enough to provide some pollen, but, Oh-My-Gosh, I sure am disappointed with the sugary enhanced corn. I'm intending to dig up the few plants that germinated and move then all into the row closest to where the pollen is needed.
And I'm adding a new selection criteria. Whatever sugary enhanced corn I end up with, MUST GERMINATE AND THRIVE IN COLD EARLY SPRING SOIL.
(Perhaps I'll plant 10,000 seeds in the fall, or in the spring as soon as the snow melts, and then move the earliest sprouting most frost hardy into their own breeding plot.) It's sad to admit, but reliability might be more important to me than sugary enhanced...
I planted Long Island Seed Projects "Ashworth" X "sugary enhanced". it germinated well, so perhaps there is hope that "sugary enhanced" does not have to mean poor germination in early spring.
Regards, Joseph
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Post by grunt on Jun 17, 2010 18:54:39 GMT -5
Maybe add something like Painted Mountain to the mix for cold hardiness. I direct sowed about 50 seeds on April 23rd, and got 35 plants out of it. They were just poking out of the ground on May 14th, when I transplanted the ones I had started in trays on April 21st = There is not much difference in the plant height already (transplants are a bit taller). We had our last frost on May 22nd.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 17, 2010 19:44:13 GMT -5
Maybe add something like Painted Mountain to the mix for cold hardiness. Painted mountain is included... And a sweet corn derived from it: Painted Hills. I had sorted the Painted Mountain seeds by color before planting on May 10th... Two colors didn't come up. I don't have a clue which ones because I didn't keep records, but the rest are sure growing vigorously. The complete list is: Long Island Seed Project Ashworth (su/se) Painted Mountain (Flour) Joseph's Indian Corn (red dent, white dent, mixed flour/flint) Earthtones dent Joseph's Purple Peruvian Purple Astronomy Domini via Johno, su Rainbow Inca, su Missouri Sweet kernels from Indian corn, su Missouri Indian Corn Farmstand Sweet Red Spero, Red AND Gold, su/se LISP, Festival su/se Joseph's se+ Sweet Corn 2009 Spero, Sparkler, su/se Spero, 51-A, su/se Painted Hills, su Black Aztec: Commercial Black Aztec: Dayton NV Triple Play Sweet (Hookers) Hopi Blue Taos Blue Hopi, Pink Anasazi Flour Oaxacan Black Mexican (Very Soft Flour) Oaxacan Green Waxy, Mixed/Black I've got some Bear Island flint and Anasazi sweet that still need to go in. Regards, Joseph
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