Steve wrote:



Pat Kiewicz wrote:
Loki said:

My corn cobs are looking plump but I want to keep some for seeds.
Could I break a cob in half to eat it and save the seeds of the
other? It's just that I don't have too many plants and I read
somewhere that I need at least 25 to keep up the viability. But I
also want to test the product. :-)


The whole cob needs to mature on the plant until the seeds are dry.
At that point, they can be stored for planting or processed for corn meal.
And they won't be plump anymore, but dented or wrinkled.


I disagree. If Loki wants to eat part of the ear of corn, I am sure
that would work. I would open the husks, snap out maybe 2/3 of the
ear then use something like a twist tie to reclose the husks. I
wouldn't want the birds finding the rest of the cob as the remaining
seeds mature.

Steve

I have to disagree with your disagreement ;-).
Breaking a portion off a cob will leave the exposed end of the cob
portion left on the stalk open to all sorts of molds and/or bacterial
infection.
A more practical way would be to eat some whole cobs and leave some
others on the plant to dry. However, there will still be several
caveats, e.g. this will only work with a non-hybrid, open pollinated
sweet corn. Plus, since corn is wind pollinated, unless there is no
other variety of sweet corn within a minimum of 1 mile of the stuff
you want to save, it'll be a crap shoot as to what characteristics the
corn from your saved seeds will have. You could easily eat some of the
cobs of corn you have grown and find them delicious so you let some
cobs remain on the plant to dry for seed. Depending on what pollen
fertilized your original cobs, after all your work of saving and
planting, you could have altogether different tasting corn. This is
particularly true in an area like the one in which I live, where corn
is a very popular cash crop and there are thousands of acres of many
different varieties grown.
At least, if Loki attempts saving his/her own corn seed, it will be an
interesting learning experience.

Ross