In article ,
PB writes:
| Mike Lyle wrote:
|
| In any case, the big objection to the plan is Nick's, reinforced by
| you: the virtual impossibility of ripening seed in the British climate.
|
| Round here in Lincolnshire there are huge stands of maize, used as a
| cover crop for game birds, I imagine at some time the corn would have
| been at an eatable state, its now mostly hard as nails. The cobs are
| full of dark yellow kernels.

Well, maybe. How easy are they to break with a hammer? Seriously.
Fully ripe, dry kernels are quite hard to break.

More seriously, I don't know how ripe they have to be to be viable,
but there is a LOT of ripening that happens after the yellow varieties
have gone dark, and hardness is more a matter of drying then ripening.

To David Rance, what I said was "In some years, maybe - in others, no
chance." The problem with seed saving of marginal crops always has
been the bad years.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.