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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 6, 2015 10:59:45 GMT -5
Anyone experience a lot of corn smut on this corn? Corn smut is present in my garden, but about the only thing it infects are plants that have been detasseled. It will infect the stem around the injury. One advantage I suppose of aridity. |
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Post by jondear on Mar 6, 2015 11:29:33 GMT -5
I've thought about the corn smut from that. Couldn't you just bag the tassle to keep the pollen from spreading around until the silks were no longer receptive? I realize that it would be time consuming but if smut was problematic in your area it might be a solution.
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Post by starry on Mar 6, 2015 14:36:19 GMT -5
I had a little bit of smut on it last year but maybe only 2 ears worth.
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Post by DarJones on Mar 6, 2015 23:50:30 GMT -5
Take a pair of garden scissors and cut the tassel out of the top of the stalk. The stem will continue to expand and emerge from the whorl which lets it dry out. No smut.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 27, 2015 20:22:45 GMT -5
Corn smut in my garden this year was pretty much only common in the F2 of [LISP Ashworth X Cateto]. I don't know if that's due to a genetic susceptibility, or if the stage that the corn was at when conditions were right for the spores to germinate and grow well. I just realized that I haven't flooded the forum with photos of Astronomy Domine sweet corn this summer. I took 6 crates of it to market this summer:  Here's what some of the cobs looked like that appealed to me enough to save for seeds even though they didn't meet other selection criteria...  The more general population looked like this: These are some that I froze for my own use:  I grew 2 patches of Astronomy Domine sweet corn this summer. I planted the biggest patch in a field that is known to have heavy predation problems from racoons and skunks. I'm calling it my "skunk resistant" breeding project. I didn't do anything to try to minimize the predators. They did a good job feeding on the patch. This year however, many more cobs survived than last year. I attribute the difference to replanting seeds from plants that survived the attacks last year. I also saved seed from plants that were in another patch that was not heavily eaten by predators... However, I only saved cobs from plants that bore the cobs above waist level so that I didn't have to bend over to pick them. That also seems to be a key trait in skunk resistance, along with sturdier stems so that the plant can't be knocked over. Here's what the seed crop from that patch looked like. The two crates on the right are Astronomy Domine. The crate on the left is the earliest picking of F2:[LISP Ashworth X Cateto], that's my high carotene sweet corn project.  |
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Post by reed on Sept 28, 2015 5:04:18 GMT -5
Here's what some of the cobs looked like that appealed to me enough to save for seeds even though they didn't meet other selection criteria... So, I don't have to wait for any wrinkling at all to be ready for seed, I suspected that but was afraid to risk it. That will go a long way in cutting time in the field where weather or critters can get it. If I knew that this year I could have saved some of my most favorite looking AD ears, instead I got mostly left overs. Some ears I got a few seeds that they missed at the base. My coons are determined and apparently can climb a sturdy stalk cause I lost lots of ears 3, 4, 5 feet above the ground without the stalk being knocked over. I considered it was squirrels but it happened at night so it must have been younger, lighter coons. Being seed ready at that stage will also help out with my goal of two generations in one season. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 28, 2015 10:14:28 GMT -5
Commercial growers of sugary enhanced sweet corn seed harvest about 3 weeks after silking while it's in the fresh eating stage. I tend to wait a week or two longer than that until the corn gets doughy. If the husks are starting to turn yellow, I figure that's more than enough. It takes about a month after the fresh eating stage for kernels to start wrinkling on the stalk. If I pick the corn damp, then I have to be really careful about shucking it immediately and spreading it out well to dry and turning it so that it doesn't mold.
Grasshoppers are a corn seed predator that surprised me.
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Post by flowerweaver on Sept 30, 2015 7:56:59 GMT -5
I think the deluge of spring rains brought a lot of the fire ants above ground. I am so sick of getting stung on my hands when husking corn that I have considered giving up my corn projects. Joseph Lofthouse Lofthouse be thankful grasshoppers do not impart formic acid! |
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