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Post by Walk on Aug 3, 2010 8:15:27 GMT -5
After reading about parching corn, we went with one of Carol Deppe's suggested varieties, Supai Red which we purchased from Seeds of Change. It got off to a rough start with the largest population of slugs we've ever seen and the leaves looked like they had been put through a paper shredder. After many applications of wood ash with a Dustin' Mizer (at dawn and dusk), the plants finally began to outgrow the slugs when they got over 1' tall and were looking great until about a couple of weeks ago. When they started to tassel, rust set in and the plants look quite dismal at this stage. Photosynthesis has been severely compromised. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this disease? Can the plants still make mature ears? After the slugs this spring, the weather has continued to be hot, humid, and rainy. We've never had this disease before in over 30 years of gardening in the upper Midwest and are curious if this is just the year or if this variety is susceptible.
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Post by peppereater on Aug 3, 2010 23:53:18 GMT -5
sounds like the "perfect storm" of poor environmental factors, but I'm not familiar with very many types of corn...hope you have succes, but those are a lot of stresses for any kind of crop to cope with. You might try a little fertilizing to replinish nutrients that undoubtedly have been heavily drawn on by now, especially by corn, which is a heavy feeder under any circumstance...
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Post by peppereater on Aug 4, 2010 0:00:04 GMT -5
BTW, I don't know if it's the same as rust, but corn smut is a fungal pathogen of corn, interestingly considered a disease by many cultures, and a gift of the gods by Aztec and other New World peoples. Smut eventually forms a truffl- like fungal fruit inside the corn husk, (I've seen it once, while in Mexico) considered a delicacy fetching high prices in local markets in the years when it occurs. I forget the details, but I believe it is a relative of the dangerous rye ergot fungus...corn smut is evidently harmless while the fruiting bodies are still firm and fresh.
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Post by rockguy on Aug 4, 2010 8:02:41 GMT -5
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Post by Walk on Aug 4, 2010 8:05:47 GMT -5
Rust isn't the same as smut (huitlacoche). Wish that were the problem as we enjoy eating that corn fungus. We've only found one corn mushroom so far this year. The fertility shouldn't be a factor as our corn planting is the recipient of our humanure compost. Our corn plot also moves through a 4 year rotation that includes legumes, so I think the problem is either environmental, genetic susceptibility, or a combination of both. The quandary is whether to plant this variety again or give up on it as unadapted to the humid upper Midwest. Anyone growing this variety successfully in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc?
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Post by Hristo on Aug 4, 2010 11:16:39 GMT -5
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Post by Walk on Aug 4, 2010 12:11:34 GMT -5
Hi Hristo, Thanks for the link. It appears from the description that we have the common rust version. I think we'll burn this crop residue to minimize infecting next year's crop. It's been quite wet here this summer - at least 10" more rain that last year at this time. I hope we'll at least get some corn out of this planting. Larisa
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Post by Walk on Sept 1, 2010 15:30:21 GMT -5
We ended up getting some corn from this planting (maybe 10-15%), but the genetics are quite variable. There's some blue kernels, and some very wrinkled seeds that looks like sweet corn (no sweet corn within 2 miles of here). There's also a lot of "denting" which I noticed were in some of the seed stock that we started with as well, so not sure if the seed stock is true to type or not. Given the problems we had with this variety, I think we'll try something else next year unless the cooking qualities are out of this world. Thinking of Painted Mountain as it's earlier and hoping that it's more adapted to the humid Midwest.
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Post by DarJones on Sept 1, 2010 20:44:10 GMT -5
Your description of Supai Red is not consistent with the variety as I have grown it over the last 20 years. I think maybe it has been crossed with other varieties.
Supai Red should be a striped red on white corn with white cobs. Kernels should be large and rounded and should have a large powdery starch area and thin layer of hard starch next to the pellicle.
DarJones
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Post by Walk on Sept 3, 2010 13:22:38 GMT -5
Hi Dar, The seed was purchased from Seeds of Change. This wouldn't be the first seed I've got from them that has been messed up. Also, I had ordered a 1/2 pound packet, and it looked to be not enough seed so I weighed it. It was 1/4 pound, which they didn't even have corn packed in that size. I complained and they sent additional seed. Too bad I wasted garden space on this mess. Larisa
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