Loki wrote:


So it's about keeping the cob on the plant untill dry then? I've
often wondered how long seeds need to actually grow before they can
be saved and be viable. I mean as soon as a fruit is edible, maybe
the seeds are viable, and the same for corn but needing drying as
well.?

Yeah, you'll have to keep the corn on the cob until the seeds
mature. Mature corn seeds are hard and nearly dry. We eat fresh corn
at a much earlier stage, when it is still young and tender.
Many fruits have mature seeds when the fruit is ripe. Tree fruits
and melons come to mind. On the other hand, cucumbers are a fruit
that we eat when still green and the seeds are still soft. A fully
ripe cucumber isn't something most people would want to eat.

Steve

Ross Reid wrote:

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...........
...............At least, if Loki attempts saving his/her own corn seed,
it will be an interesting learning experience.

Ross

I have to disagree with your disagreeing with my disagreement...

Just kidding. ;-)

Let me just tell my experiences on this subject.

1. Some years, including last year, I had some birds get into my
corn. Some of the ears were stripped open and 90% of the corn was
eaten. Last year it was some Indian ornamental corn that peeked into
early. I got the birds going and they learned to open the other
ears on their own. I've had them get into sweet corn in other years.
I don't pick the ears that are mostly eaten. At the end of the
season, even though the cobs are destroyed and do have some mold on
them, the seeds at the stem end that the birds didn't reach, matured
just fine. I still think if Loki were to do as I suggested, taking
care to close the husks back up, there would be plenty of good seed.

2. Four years ago, I left a few ears of Seneca Horizon corn (yes,
it's a hybrid) unpicked. It is my early variety of corn and we moved
on to the better, later varieties.
Purely for the fun of it, I saved the seeds. I planted it to see
what I would get. To my surprise, it was fine. Little if any
difference from the original seed. I planted the same batch of seed
the next two years as well. Last year was the 3rd year, the seed was
getting old and produced too many runts. Time to buy some new seed,
since I didn't bother to save more seed (partly because I started
growing that Indian corn next to it).

3. I fully agree with your last part, above.

Steve

Ross Reid wrote:

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...........
...............At least, if Loki attempts saving his/her own corn seed,
it will be an interesting learning experience.

Ross

I have to disagree with your disagreeing with my disagreement...

Just kidding. ;-)

Let me just tell my experiences on this subject.

1. Some years, including last year, I had some birds get into my
corn. Some of the ears were stripped open and 90% of the corn was
eaten. Last year it was some Indian ornamental corn that peeked into
early. I got the birds going and they learned to open the other
ears on their own. I've had them get into sweet corn in other years.
I don't pick the ears that are mostly eaten. At the end of the
season, even though the cobs are destroyed and do have some mold on
them, the seeds at the stem end that the birds didn't reach, matured
just fine. I still think if Loki were to do as I suggested, taking
care to close the husks back up, there would be plenty of good seed.

2. Four years ago, I left a few ears of Seneca Horizon corn (yes,
it's a hybrid) unpicked. It is my early variety of corn and we moved
on to the better, later varieties.
Purely for the fun of it, I saved the seeds. I planted it to see
what I would get. To my surprise, it was fine. Little if any
difference from the original seed. I planted the same batch of seed
the next two years as well. Last year was the 3rd year, the seed was
getting old and produced too many runts. Time to buy some new seed,
since I didn't bother to save more seed (partly because I started
growing that Indian corn next to it).

3. I fully agree with your last part, above.

Steve

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 07:46:09 -0500, Steve ha scritto:


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

Neither would I :-)

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 20:24:31 GMT, Ross Reid ha scritto:

[snip other posters]
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

Which is why I have a nice tall row of jerusalem artichokes as a wind
barrier. ( I hope.) However the several gales we have had may've
brought more pollen through. I have plain yellow corn that I'm trying
to maintain, as I don't want that sweet yellow and white one. My
neighbour's corn is all dead and brown while mine are still growing,
so hopefully the pollen times didn't match. It's now autumn so I'm
hoping they can keep growing long enough to mature before it gets too
cold. I've still got seeds from last year anyway. Next time I may
even get to plant them earlier. hah!

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 20:41:19 -0500, Steve ha scritto:

Yeah, you'll have to keep the corn on the cob until the seeds
mature. Mature corn seeds are hard and nearly dry. We eat fresh corn
at a much earlier stage, when it is still young and tender.
Many fruits have mature seeds when the fruit is ripe. Tree fruits
and melons come to mind. On the other hand, cucumbers are a fruit
that we eat when still green and the seeds are still soft. A fully
ripe cucumber isn't something most people would want to eat.

Steve

Makes sense.

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:12:17 -0500, Steve ha scritto:

I have to disagree with your disagreeing with my disagreement...

Just kidding. ;-)

Let me just tell my experiences on this subject.

1. Some years, including last year, I had some birds get into my
corn. Some of the ears were stripped open and 90% of the corn was
eaten. Last year it was some Indian ornamental corn that peeked into
early. I got the birds going and they learned to open the other
ears on their own. I've had them get into sweet corn in other years.
I don't pick the ears that are mostly eaten. At the end of the
season, even though the cobs are destroyed and do have some mold on
them, the seeds at the stem end that the birds didn't reach, matured
just fine. I still think if Loki were to do as I suggested, taking
care to close the husks back up, there would be plenty of good seed.

2. Four years ago, I left a few ears of Seneca Horizon corn (yes,
it's a hybrid) unpicked. It is my early variety of corn and we moved
on to the better, later varieties.
Purely for the fun of it, I saved the seeds. I planted it to see
what I would get. To my surprise, it was fine. Little if any
difference from the original seed. I planted the same batch of seed
the next two years as well. Last year was the 3rd year, the seed was
getting old and produced too many runts. Time to buy some new seed,
since I didn't bother to save more seed (partly because I started
growing that Indian corn next to it).

3. I fully agree with your last part, above.

Steve

It's all very useful information either way. :-) I learn and enjoy.
I am just glad our birds are numbskulls and so far only decimate my
tomatoes at ground level and haven't discovered corn stripping. Maybe
my neighbour's thrown out bread is spoiling them.

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 20:41:19 -0500, Steve ha scritto:

Yeah, you'll have to keep the corn on the cob until the seeds
mature. Mature corn seeds are hard and nearly dry. We eat fresh corn
at a much earlier stage, when it is still young and tender.
Many fruits have mature seeds when the fruit is ripe. Tree fruits
and melons come to mind. On the other hand, cucumbers are a fruit
that we eat when still green and the seeds are still soft. A fully
ripe cucumber isn't something most people would want to eat.

Steve

Makes sense.

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:12:17 -0500, Steve ha scritto:

I have to disagree with your disagreeing with my disagreement...

Just kidding. ;-)

Let me just tell my experiences on this subject.

1. Some years, including last year, I had some birds get into my
corn. Some of the ears were stripped open and 90% of the corn was
eaten. Last year it was some Indian ornamental corn that peeked into
early. I got the birds going and they learned to open the other
ears on their own. I've had them get into sweet corn in other years.
I don't pick the ears that are mostly eaten. At the end of the
season, even though the cobs are destroyed and do have some mold on
them, the seeds at the stem end that the birds didn't reach, matured
just fine. I still think if Loki were to do as I suggested, taking
care to close the husks back up, there would be plenty of good seed.

2. Four years ago, I left a few ears of Seneca Horizon corn (yes,
it's a hybrid) unpicked. It is my early variety of corn and we moved
on to the better, later varieties.
Purely for the fun of it, I saved the seeds. I planted it to see
what I would get. To my surprise, it was fine. Little if any
difference from the original seed. I planted the same batch of seed
the next two years as well. Last year was the 3rd year, the seed was
getting old and produced too many runts. Time to buy some new seed,
since I didn't bother to save more seed (partly because I started
growing that Indian corn next to it).

3. I fully agree with your last part, above.

Steve

It's all very useful information either way. :-) I learn and enjoy.
I am just glad our birds are numbskulls and so far only decimate my
tomatoes at ground level and haven't discovered corn stripping. Maybe
my neighbour's thrown out bread is spoiling them.

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

Loki wrote:
...................I have plain yellow corn that I'm trying
to maintain, as I don't want that sweet yellow and white one. My
neighbour's corn is all dead and brown while mine are still growing,
so hopefully the pollen times didn't match...........

One thing you can do, if you suspect cross pollination may have
occurred, is look closely at the seed before you shell it off the
cob. If you see any that are a different color, kick them out. Even
pollination by another yellow corn might be visible as slightly
darker or lighter seeds.
By the way, do you live in Tasmania or something? Just trying to
figure out where the season is that short in the southern
hemisphere. ;-)

Steve

Loki wrote:
...................I have plain yellow corn that I'm trying
to maintain, as I don't want that sweet yellow and white one. My
neighbour's corn is all dead and brown while mine are still growing,
so hopefully the pollen times didn't match...........

One thing you can do, if you suspect cross pollination may have
occurred, is look closely at the seed before you shell it off the
cob. If you see any that are a different color, kick them out. Even
pollination by another yellow corn might be visible as slightly
darker or lighter seeds.
By the way, do you live in Tasmania or something? Just trying to
figure out where the season is that short in the southern
hemisphere. ;-)

Steve

Loki wrote:
...................I have plain yellow corn that I'm trying
to maintain, as I don't want that sweet yellow and white one. My
neighbour's corn is all dead and brown while mine are still growing,
so hopefully the pollen times didn't match...........

One thing you can do, if you suspect cross pollination may have
occurred, is look closely at the seed before you shell it off the
cob. If you see any that are a different color, kick them out. Even
pollination by another yellow corn might be visible as slightly
darker or lighter seeds.
By the way, do you live in Tasmania or something? Just trying to
figure out where the season is that short in the southern
hemisphere. ;-)

Steve

il Sat, 06 Mar 2004 12:21:06 -0500, Steve ha scritto:



Loki wrote:
...................I have plain yellow corn that I'm trying
to maintain, as I don't want that sweet yellow and white one. My
neighbour's corn is all dead and brown while mine are still growing,
so hopefully the pollen times didn't match...........

One thing you can do, if you suspect cross pollination may have
occurred, is look closely at the seed before you shell it off the
cob. If you see any that are a different color, kick them out. Even
pollination by another yellow corn might be visible as slightly
darker or lighter seeds.
By the way, do you live in Tasmania or something? Just trying to
figure out where the season is that short in the southern
hemisphere. ;-)

Steve

Thanks for the tips.

I'm not sure why our NZ season is so bad. Most days we have had heavy
cloud cover, like today :-(. The grass should be brown, the air hot
and dry. But no. Rain, more rain and clouds and wind is what we got
this summer. Why my neighbours corn is brown and mine still growing
I don't know, unless she killed them, or the wind did. (mine are more
protected and huddled). I also planted late since I had to do it
again once the first strike was so feeble. Our autumn has officially
started too. (1 march)

It's a wonder anything is still growing, including my jalapenos.
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 11:10:08 GMT, Frogleg ha scritto:

Indeed. Here is a nifty site for seed-saving:

http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

Hey thanks, my book really only deals with ornamental, not
vegetables, so this site is great. Sorry I took so long to check it
out. I couldn't find it through the home page.
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

On 10 Mar 2004 08:54:12 +1300, "Loki" wrote:

il Fri, 05 Mar 2004 11:10:08 GMT, Frogleg ha scritto:

Indeed. Here is a nifty site for seed-saving:

http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

Hey thanks, my book really only deals with ornamental, not
vegetables, so this site is great. Sorry I took so long to check it
out. I couldn't find it through the home page.

Wel, as long as you found it. :-)