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Post by reed on Jul 26, 2015 10:26:05 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse , Well, here it is. It weighs 1.4 lbs and is almost exactly 12" in circumference. I didn't really mean to pick until tonight as it may have sweetened up a little more today but when I got down to sniff it I bumped it and it fell off the stem. It is very firm and heavy for the size I thought. It is quite a lot brighter yellow than the picture on my screen with almost lemon colored splotches. It smells GREAT!  If this thing tastes as good as it smells and has lots of good seeds my whole garden season is major success. Have to wait till the woman gets home so she can have a bite too, I don't trust myself saving any if I go ahead and cut it.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 26, 2015 10:44:27 GMT -5
reed: Mmmm! Waiting eagerly for your wife to get home... I like the 'easy-slip' trait so much that I cull any plants that I find that don't have it.
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Post by philagardener on Jul 26, 2015 19:56:46 GMT -5
The suspense . . .  |
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Post by reed on Jul 27, 2015 5:21:39 GMT -5
The suspense is over, it was delicious! the woman thought so too, and look at all the seeds. There is a more oblong one with very smooth skin starting to change color a little now.  |
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Post by reed on Jul 27, 2015 8:14:19 GMT -5
Yesterday, July 26 2015 I dug up the rest of the AD sweet corn stalks that have seed drying down and put them in a big pot on the patio to finish drying and protect them from coons. I ground up the rest of the stalks and tilled them in with a big load of composted chicken poo and planted the F1 generation of some PM x sweet se. I picked three ears and only planted seed that I am pretty sure have no color except in the pericarp. They are planted thick in 5' by 10' blocks ear to block. I'm pretty sure these were pollinated by Spring Snow. There should be plenty of time to see if the result is eatable as a sweet corn at the least. I will detassel a few plants of each to insure no selfing. If it looks like they won't have time to dry down, I'll dig them up and put them in the green house. If it goes OK , I'll see if I get any shrunken kernels to plant next year. FYI - our coons prefer su to se and are especially fond of ears marked with pink tape.  |
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Post by steev on Jul 27, 2015 10:24:50 GMT -5
Raccoons aren't stupid; they know there's something special when you trouble to mark it; try marking the corn you don't much want.
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Post by philagardener on Jul 27, 2015 11:11:23 GMT -5
It isn't really safe in the house either - I had a squirrel chew right through the screen on an open window yesterday and get in while we were out.  |
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Post by reed on Aug 4, 2015 10:57:16 GMT -5
Ate two more melons, the little round orange ones. They were good and had plenty of seeds. On their own I might have described them as excellent but with they yellow ones to compare I just give them good.
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Post by reed on Aug 8, 2015 9:42:31 GMT -5
Here is my less than impressive haul of sweet corn seed for next year. The big yellow ones are dehybredizing se although Early Sunglow which I think is su is in there too. Coons got all of my white se. The ones with pink tape are AD and the ones tied together are AD that was detasseled and pollinated with mostly other AD. The rest are various su that I didn't keep track of. I also tossed some se pollen on the breeze one day so who knows what it all really is.  I also have my PM, Oaxacan Green Dent and Hopi Pink that were crossed to sweet. I'm thinking right now that I won't go on with the Oaxcacan or Hopi as they are too slow and too large ears. I have lots more Spring Snow (early white se+) and want to get some more Aunt Mary's (we ate most of it and coons got the rest) and use them along with selected kernels from these as part of next years mix. My F1 seeds from the PM x sweet I planted 7/26 are growing nicely so may have F2 of it to go in as well. I figure it will be at least 2017 before I can stop keeping track of what is what when I plant and just save seed form my favorites. [add] O' I forgot, that AD ear with the green tape has sweetness to it even as of taking this picture, very very interesting. |
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Post by reed on Aug 12, 2015 18:30:27 GMT -5
This very meaty and tasty tomato from Joseph Lofthouse showed up in one of the weed patches, enough that the woman made a few pints of salsa out of it. I was hopping mad she only saved these two for seed. Especially since there are precious few seeds in them. (the little one is a different plant, not as tasty)  HA HA, I cleaned up the weed patch a little more and found another branch of the same plant with 5 more even bigger ones just starting to turn, she ain't getting them. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 13, 2015 13:25:44 GMT -5
O' I forgot, that AD ear with the green tape has sweetness to it even as of taking this picture, very very interesting. The original Astronomy Domine had about 30% sugary enhanced genes in it, so if that ratio hasn't changed over the years we can expect about 8% of the cobs to be sugary enhanced. When I harvest seed, I taste just about all of the cobs, and toss any that are particularly non-sweet, so that might skew the ratio in favor of sugary enhanced. However homozygous sugary enhanced kernels germinate at a lower rate, so that might skew the ratio the other way. |
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Post by reed on Aug 13, 2015 14:29:59 GMT -5
I tasted pretty much all of mine too but ran into a problem. A little worm about 1/4 long and a little oblong black beetle invaded most of the ears that I opened as well as any that poked out of the shucks. I think they might be different stages of the same critter. They didn't to significant damage but I'll have to freeze treat or something in case they are still in there.
That one ear was probably the best flavor but I HAD several other bigger more colorful ones that I wanted really bad for seed. KILL THE COONS!!!
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Post by imgrimmer on Aug 13, 2015 14:32:34 GMT -5
Raccoons aren't stupid; they know there's something special when you trouble to mark it; try marking the corn you don't much want. some chili powder mixed in oil and painted on the cobs helped in my garden.... |
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Post by jondear on Aug 13, 2015 17:34:34 GMT -5
I put ghost pepper sauce on my beet greens after some deer made a snack of my Lutz beet tops. They ate the tops off my other row of cylindrical beets despite my effort. They are regrowing, but setback some.
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Post by steev on Aug 13, 2015 19:07:11 GMT -5
Butter or lime juice and a little chili will help your cobs at table, after you catch the resident raccoons with a live trap, baited with kibble, so you can get some cobs to table.
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