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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 4, 2017 21:25:36 GMT -5
Oh, I wish I had seen this thread this morning! I saw an ear of white and yellow corn in a bunch of strawberry this afternoon. But I couldn't think of a reason I would need it so I didn't buy it. Now I feel guilty. And I wasn't planning on going back there next week (there is somewhere else I'd rather use the time for). But if the ear (or a comparable one) shows up the next time I happen to be there, I'll try and remember to pick it up for you.
I'll also check the box where I keep my ears of MGG (miniature Glass Gem). I THINK there was a rice ear, and that I saved some seeds from it, which if I did, you are welcome to (who knows, they could turn into a technicolor rice popcorn.)
Oh and just so I know as I hunt, I assume that small trumps rice, so if I see an ear of FULL SIZED rice kernel corn (I do, from time to time) that's no good.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 5, 2017 9:33:46 GMT -5
Got it
Oh I understand about the red. I tend to keep red/tan/pink/purple/chinmark/any other pericarp colors out of my mix, because I and breeding for color and pattern and really can't accurately SEE though those.
Orange you may have a problem with (since orange is often light red pericarp over yellow base) but the rest should work. In fact if I am right about the rice type stuff I might have that would have all of those, plus blue and green.
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Post by philagardener on Oct 5, 2017 18:41:06 GMT -5
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 5, 2017 21:15:49 GMT -5
The stand I normally rely on has a corn similar to Indian Berries (unfortunately, they are growing a more standard popcorn this year). There is a certain amount of variability in kernel shape.
I also seem to recall a type called Harlequin that has that shape.
If you are planning to grow Indian berries I'd recommend running the kernels through a light test first (just hold each kernel over a flashlight beam, and discard any you can't see through all over). Some of the ones in the picture appear to have really big opaque tips, and big opaque tips = big soft starch patches = lousy popping.
I did some corn hunting today, but so far, no luck (stand #1 wasn't there anymore, #2 didn't have anything of use (for either of us) and #3 doesn't have its corn in yet.)
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Post by steev on Oct 6, 2017 0:23:52 GMT -5
I posted a comment meant for here on "My popcorn"; oops; I don't think I'll catch up to this "tech stuff", being 'way older than twelve. I miss my damned dial phone; such a comforting "takka-takka-takka".
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Post by philagardener on Oct 6, 2017 5:28:13 GMT -5
I also came across Baker Creek's Indian Berries: www.rareseeds.com/indian-berries-popcorn/Interesting variety. Some photos the corn does not look at all like what I would want, but I came across a photo of a customer who grew it out and he/she got beautiful rice kernel ears. I am going to order it if they offer for 2018 but I may grow it out isolated from my corn to play it safe. Um, many BC offerings have more genetic diversity than advertised and often will vary greatly even within a lot.
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Post by philagardener on Oct 6, 2017 5:42:48 GMT -5
I posted a comment meant for here on "My popcorn"; oops; I don't think I'll catch up to this "tech stuff", being 'way older than twelve. I miss my damned dial phone; such a comforting "takka-takka-takka". Like all great ideas, someone has already thought about it! www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a17002/cell-phone-into-rotary-phone/"This one simple life hack will make using your phone much, much harder!"
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Post by reed on Oct 6, 2017 12:28:10 GMT -5
Well now ya'all gone and done it, made me want to grow popcorn again. Did ya see this one, also at BC? www.rareseeds.com/burro-mountain-popcorn/. The description sounds like a load of crap but the pretty little ears look like what you described.
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Post by steev on Oct 6, 2017 23:31:00 GMT -5
Well, if we aren't the ones to muck about with them, who is?
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Post by reed on Oct 7, 2017 10:49:12 GMT -5
Heirlooms are great cause they are a source of genetics but the notion of keeping them pure for the nostalgia or historical heritage is pretty worthless as far as I'm concerned. Not to disparage folks that like to do that but when I tried it just didn't put food on the table. I said before when I first started really getting interested in saving all my own seed I read Susanne Ashworth's book "Seed to Seed". Very discouraging, I almost gave up till it occurred to me why the heck should I care if two kinds of radishes cross with each other.
Back to popcorn, it's been a long time since I'v grown it. In recent years I grew what I think was Dakota Black and the little red strawberry, they grew OK but I did it mostly just for fun and decorations.
As a kid popcorn was one of the first things I was ever allowed to have my own little garden spot for and I grew it for years but not always just my seed. Lots of people around here always had it back then and I got seeds from relatives and the like. Plants, if I remember right were tall and skinny with lots of little ears and most were just one color, black ones, red ones, orange ones, blue and brown and rarely white. There were sometimes mixed ones too. It wasn't rice type, in fact don't think I'v ever seen that except for that strawberry.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 7, 2017 16:42:56 GMT -5
I kind of have the reverse problem. I'm so terrified of wasting diversity I end up saving EVERY seed, no matter how many, lest one of them have an interesting or important trait. That means I never get the chance to actually TASTE any of my provender (then again, the massive amounts of pest destruction I endure each year result in a diminution of seed so tremendous I HAVE to save every seed to have any chance of getting anything the following year) Apart from things like "terminal pods" (pods that form too late in the season to have a chance of ripening before the frosts come) I never get to eat ANYTHING.
Most of my stuff in the smaller corns is from one stand which often has some truly wild mixes in it. While not of much use eating wise (a lot of it has had so much flint, dent and flour DNA mixed into it it can't pop anymore) some of it is intriguing (there is something very amusing about dent corn ears the same dimensions as a carrot, or rainbow corn on the cob the size of my finger) And every now and then I find a tiny ear that shares the stippling pattern I look for in the big corn.
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Post by reed on Oct 8, 2017 6:26:23 GMT -5
When the woman left for her yard sale adventure yesterday I asked her to be on the lookout for popcorn. (Actually I'v noticed a huge decline in the amount of local Indian corn this year. Ones I always visit either don't have it or aren't open at all) Any way this is what she brought back. The three on left came form Amish store and are about the size of what I used to grow. The solid yellow one looks a lot like it. One of them has sharp points on the kernels, rice type? The little odd colored one really reminds me a lot of of what I used to have except mine wasn't that tiny and the far right isn't familiar to me. The ones on right she said came form a junk store where someone had tied them onto a wreath, I think they are old, didn't pop well. I'm running a germ test on them just out of curiosity. It rained yesterday and last night ad still sprinkling this morning and most of my fall clean up and planting is done so I may go on my own adventure. I'm not sure the woman has proper priorities when visiting junk stores and the like or know what exactly to look for. I bet if I took a drive down to the hills in eastern KY I'd find all kinds of good stuff. I found this little ear down there a couple years ago and it really reminded me of the old days. I had decided not to grow popcorn and sent it to someone here on the forum, don't remember who.
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Post by jondear on Oct 8, 2017 19:55:13 GMT -5
Some of those kernels look very orange. :-)
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Post by steev on Oct 9, 2017 16:51:00 GMT -5
The far-left green and the blue/white are particularly striking.
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Post by reed on Oct 10, 2017 3:27:57 GMT -5
I love the ones with the very dark husks, its fun to see colorful stalks when it's growing.
Unfortunately I think the kernels on the small ears the woman found are dead, they aren't even swelling up in the germ test and are developing a bit of an odor. There maybe a little hope on the very rice type red one, I'll leave them another couple days.
I went on a little road trip yesterday and found very little. A few more pearl type popcorn is all. There is almost zero large sized Indian corn this year and what is in the grocery stores was packaged in Illinois. The little bit of local all has the tips cut off where they removed the worm damaged part. That's what they get for growing that giant, fat cob, long season stuff. My decorative / flour / flint corn dried down in late August, too bad I don't have a truckload of it, I'd easily get $1 an ear, maybe more.
I'm pretty sure the yellow ear with the sharp kernels is fine. Also got an ear yesterday with the chinmark pattern. Let me know if you want some it.
It looks to me based on very little experience that the rice type can be variable in degree from ear to ear but is it consistent on a single ear indicating it is maternal like pericarp color?
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