I direct sowed my corn on April 3rd after soaking it in a jar of random local grass endophytes for 12ish hours, then taking them out and wrapping them in the muddy mixture soaked paper towel for another 12 or so hours. I made a last minute decison to separate the dent corn seeds from the rest, otherwise i didnt sort any beyond that. I also dont have a control seed section where i didnt soak to compare the results, which i guess is kinda silly
Been watching the corn slowly and sporadically emerge in my designated plot and hoping more will pop up soon. I have a hard time resisting the urge poking around with my finger to check on germination and have killed about three sprouts so far from irresponsible curiosity haha. When i finished planting in my rows I had left over seeds so with minimal effort I casually tilled up a corner in the yard to plant the extra seeds… and naturally that corner is where i see the most consistent germination so i will share pictures of that area, since the original graincorn spot is pretty spotty and anticlimactic so far.
I am VERY excited to finally attempt growing corn. I will be planting sweet corn soon in the beginning of May but will be planting dry seed, upon many other users recommendations.
Starting as well. These are seeds selected from last year’s harvest. I’m soaking them and sowing in trays. No chance to sow directly, firstly it is way too cold, secondly all the seeds are being eaten by animals (I have a garden in a forest)
Ooh kudos for having patience to transplant all of those corn seedlings.. im sure it is highly motivating to do so to avoid the seeds being dug up and chomped by various critters. A garden in the forest does sound lovely though!
Curious.. In your picture, that centre cup to the right full of multi coloured corn seeds, is that just leftover seeds that you werent sure of to put into one of the other cups? I understand when dividing all of the seeds that you separate certain shapes and i guess colour makes sense as well but i find it kinda tricky when lots of seeds are a similar shades of red or something. I was curious if that particular cup of seeds was intentionally multicoloured because you recognize a specific shape, or if they were leftover miscellaneous set aside because you couldnt tell them from some of the other easily identifiable seeds?
Each cup are the seeds from one cob. In the cup you are asking about are the seeds from one cob as well. It is probably an offspring of multicolor variety.
Planting is probably easier than planting by seeds I poke a hole in a ground with a dibber and drop a seedling from a tray there That’s it.
It is 36 hours since I have started this - first seeds are germinating, time to place them in a tray with potting mix.
Oooh that makes way more sense hahah. Silly me overthinking things. The corn seeds look so cool with their little germination tail sprouts stickin out hehe
No rules, I save the seeds from those I find worth it. And not that many - a dozen of the best ones each year on the average. In practice I couldn’t fit in my garden all plants from seeds from one cob anyway
I have a corn question! I’ve started mine in trays and I’m now wondering how far apart sweet corn vs grain and popcorn should be. I’ve found some fairly different answers when googling.
Funny you mention that as i was just reading up on it once again. Here is a Joseph Lofthouse answer on a forum that i unintentionally found the other day!
I think not only distance but any kind of obstructions in the way to divide the two crops would help. For example, Im planting my hot and sweet peppers about 150-200ft apart separated by my house between em so im pretty sure they will be safe from cross pollination. My grain corn and sweet corn are about 50ft apart in my backyard but im staggering the planting timing by a month (planted grain on April 3rd, will plant my sweet on May 1st) but i will also have a lot of tall trellising between the crops as well with my tomatoes, green beans and a young fruit tree, which im certain will help keep pollen separate.
Im not at all sharing from experience, this is my first year growing corn! I totally understand the confusion with distance, as ive been reading about it again and again as well. Saving corn seed had me so intimidated and wad a huge starting point that led me to learning about adaptive gardening! Id say use as many ways as possible to avoid crossing but i also dont think it is too much of an issue if you accidentally do. From my understanding sweet corn seeds are all shriveled up and easy to distinguish from other corn seeds (despite my challenges separating various grain corn seed​) so if there is a cross that you notice next year im sure it would be easy to identify… but that’s where my knowledge on the topic ends!
Timing, distance and obstructions, whatever ya can manage… hope my novice opinion helps a little
This is very helpful! Thank you! Corn is something I haven’t grown before, for no good reason lol. I do have my main garden fenced with a fairly tall bamboo fence and it sits between two of the spots intended for corn I started them all at once but next year I’ll definitely stagger dates, that seems a bit easier than needing to worry about distance.
Woohoo, im glad i could help!! this is the first year im growing corn as well.. hope it works out successfully for both of us!
Another thing i forgot to mention is if the maturity time between your sweet corn and popcorn is different, you could let one crop go through its pollination process then cut the tassels so that way when the next crop starts to silk there isnt a chance of the pollen intermingling. That was great advice i was told by @JesseI so i thought i should pass it along
Distance debends a lot about how much you grow them. I would say the standrd recommendations (sama as with many other species) are made from huge monoculture perspective. Logically if you have say 50 plans, the amount of pollen is smaller and so the necessary distance. From my experience I’d say there is fairly little crosspollination with 10 meters separation, although there is still likely to be some. Also debends on your luck. If you have the wind from right (or wrong) direction at the time of pollination, you might get more crosspollination. The more distance, the more accurate the direction needs to be and the more the pollen will disperse/dilute. There isn’t really any other downsize to occasional crosspollination, than that grain corn pollinating sweet corn can spoil the taste if you plan to eat them that year. Otherwise it’s possible to pick out the diffent types based on looks, in case you have some occasional “wrong” type.
Awesome, thanks! I would like to eat the sweet corn this year but I’m also okay with it being a learning experience. I tend to stick with crops I know I grow well and I’m trying to branch out!
That was three days ago, time to plant them soon. The weather is not good though, waiting for some rain. Also, there is still risk of frost. But, I will sow a next batch and take a risk with these ones…
My small patch of corn is looking great,and I’ve got cobs that are looking full. For eating, I want to harvest early, right? And for seed, I need to leave it on the plant for longer? Any advice? TIA!
Also means I should start looking for cheap sweet corn at the grocery store!
Ya know, i havent come to a conclusion what is best for sweet corn seed saving! Ive beening wondering the exact same thing as you.
First of all, your corn patch looks beautiful! Second, from my understanding sweet corn is ready to pick when you perform a milk test; push a fingernail into a kernel and if milky white corn juice comes out it is good to go. I think corn is technically mature enough for seed saving soon after that but of course it is best to leave a cob as long as possible for better development within the seed. So my question is, if every corn stalk produces 2 ears on average, do you pick one for eating and leave one to dry for seed saving? If so, how many corn cobs do you save for genetic diversity? Youd be swimming in corn seeds very quickly! Could you partially shuck a corn cob still attached to the stalk, cut some of the kernels off to eat, enjoy and taste for texture/flavour then seal it back up to dry for seed? Is seed more viable on the lower part, middle or tip of the cob near the silks? Long story short im not the person to ask, though id love to be more help. I aint no corn professional yet haha.
60cents per cob is considered a cheap sale where i live, usually $1 a cob throughout the summer. I walked by it at the grocery store and resisted the urge to buy any because i am waiting for the reward of sinking my teeth into home grown deliciousness in a few months!
so i will share pictures of that area, since the original graincorn spot is pretty spotty and anticlimactic so far.
this is the first year im growing corn as well.. hope it works out successfully for both of us!
And enough basil to make pesto. I love living in the South even if 9 months of the year are sweaty months.