Hey all,
Just sharing a video tour of corn and squash patch and some food forest footage. Off the top of my head i planted kentucky rainbow dent, hopi blue, hopi turqoise, magic manna, maize morado, hickory king, xocoyul rosado naxcala(corn from mexico), olotillo blanco oaxaca, and another hopi color corn.
https://rumble.com/v2prrce-permaculture-corn-patch-chestnut-flowering-wheat-blight-cats.html
Beautiful video! I love the diversity. You gave me some ideas.
What was your process for getting this area planted?
I tilled the area where the corn patch is with a rototiller. I made rows with a how and then came in and planted corn. After covering the corn i used a hand spreader and scattered red and white clover seed. The next day it rained. Everything got pretty well established fron the initials few days of rain. 2 or so weeks later i planted squash and melons in some of the gaps. I havent watered it once but fortunately it just rained past two days. So that one spot with cracked clay should mend and hopefully be covered by clover and weeds and grass and eventually winter squash
Love the corn. Are you considering two land races or corn. One for flour corn varieties and the other for the dent, flint? Or just one landrace mix?
I think the two corns of value for food would be the hominy producers like hickory king side of the maize family and then the flour corn side of the maize family. I have not started any corn projects due to time other than a single test grow of hickory king to see if my newly established covered ground was ready to use or needed another year or so maturation.
Im just doing a single landrace and letting everything combine for now. This is my first year growing hickory king. Kentucky rainbow dent has been my only corn ive grown before learning about landracing.
Here is a video tour. The landrace corn patch is after footage of the spelt patch.
This is wonderful and inspiring. Watch out for those black locust trees, they can take over everything.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Yes i got my eye on those black locust 
Cool video! Mindblowing how much difference between there and east central PA!
Question: What was wrong with the corn you pulled out at 2:35? Some of mine look crinkly like that amd I was wondering if they are suffering in oir drought (even though I watered them some) or got fertilizer burn. But your reaction makes me think it is something else?
I thought that corn looked diseased compared to the rest so i pulled it up. East central Pa i would estimate is 2 or 3 weeks behind southern NC. Is the corn ankle high out that way?
Oh gotcha, i thought you had some insider knowledge of what might have casued that funny curly look!
The corn on the commercial field is about ankle high, yes. My little patch is ranging from calft to knee high, but i took my chnaces planting early and have been watering. We have had no measurable rain in 7 or 8 weeks, and its been windy and warm, and unusually dry air…
Here’s my little corn patch, just outside of Spartanburg, South Carolina. This is the GTS sweet corn mix. I’d definitely like to add your variety into the mix at some point.
Your sweet corn looks good! Are you sure you would want to mix grain corn genetics into your sweet corn ? I have astrodominy and high beta carotine sweet corn seed i just have not planted it yet. Once i have seed from those sweet corn provided they survive raccoons then i could send you some.
That looks awesome! Are those multiple plants or tillers with tassles and silks?? This year I am just growing some flint corns and no sweet corn, (and a few flour corn varieties on the other side of the trees, in a vacant lot that has part sun, we’ll see how that does)
Ah, I wasn’t aware he had included grain into the mix. I definitely don’t want grain corns on the mix. And yes I would love some of yours to add in.
That is one single corn stalk with multiple tillers. It’s pretty nuts. Will likely select for that in the future.
That’s wild! You’re gonna get like 9 ears of sweet corn from one plant!! And that would be perfect for sweet corn, as you will need less seed, and therefore can eat more ears without having to let them get ‘seed-ripe’, am I thinking this through right? Looks awesome!
I’m really not sure, this is all pretty new to me as well. I know tillers can produce cobbs, but for it to be forming cobbs and sending out so many silks so early is not something I’m familiar with. I’m trying to hand pollinate every one so hopefully they do set. This GTS corn just does its own thing and is unlike any corn I’ve seen or grown.
I’m far from a corn expert, but I can report that some of the older and dwarfier varieties are/were known for throwing out lots of tillers. If you wanted to add a variety to the mix, Blue Jade would be a good option.
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I don’t have the space for landracing corn, nor is it my first priority. But I am attempting to grow two varieties side by side in the block and leaving a few cobs from the middle to mature assuming that the tassels and silks overlap just to see what happens. I have Blue Jade and Golden Bantam out now for my earliest planting (the latter twice as tall and a week later). Should get 3 if not 4 plantings in my climate. And I will be adding compost with every planting because I am being so aggressive with the space.
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Also, I promised someone I would observe for air roots and report back. Both Blue Jade and Golden Bantam have them.
Well the GTS is a mix, and I’m not sure which varieties were included (hopefully someone knows.) They are mostly 6-7 feet now, but a few are noticably shorter. Some of it could also be from nutrient deficiency, since I haven’t fertilized any.
