Some Extremely Odd Corn

[stella1751]

My Yukon Chief corn is a non-conformist, doing pretty much what it will when it will and darned if I like it or not. I've got anywhere from three to six side shoots on each plant. Many of the side shoots are producing. However, they are producing one ear at the very top of the shoot. If that weren't eccentric enough, several of the side shoots are producing a tassle/ear at the top.

Right in the middle of this photo is a tassle/ear. The tassle and ear are growing at the same time in the same place:

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/tassle_with_corn_2.jpg[/img]

This is a picture of a tassle ear that has opened. If you look closely, you can see the kernels of corn:

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/tassle_with_corn.jpg[/img]

None of the side shoots with a complete cob at the top were in a good position for photographing in the early morning light, but you might be able to see this one, at the lower middle right:

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/single_ear.jpg[/img]

In the lower left-hand corner, you can see a tassle/ear that has a better developed cob:

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/ear_and_tassle_1.jpg[/img]

I guess they do things a little differently in Alaska

[DoubleDogFarm]

Don't know for sure but it sounds like it maybe reverting. Time to locate a clean strain.

Eric

[stella1751]

Don't know for sure but it sounds like it maybe reverting. Time to locate a clean strain.

Eric

I don't think I understand what you mean by "clean strain," Eric. This is an heirloom, so it should be clean, right?

In a way, it's not a bad thing. Each plant but one that gave silks without the cob is producing its two ears per plant, as well as from one to three ears on side shoots, so I guess I'm pleased with the production. Additionally, the side shoots that don't produce an ear are producing a tassel or a tassel/ear, which should be helping me with pollination. (I wish it were that simple )

It's just extremely odd-looking. Took me a while to figure out what was going on, but so far it's a fun corn to grow. I thought the novelty was its short growing season (55 days) and short stature (3'); it turns out there's a lot more to this corn than I had thought.

I want to save some seeds for next year. Is there anything I should know, other than that the plant needs to mature and die before I take the ears?

[DoubleDogFarm]

I'm thinking TZ-OH6 maybe a better person on this topic. He? commenting on this topic in an earlier post.

I'm currently reading Carol Deppe latest book, The Resilient Gardener. She talks about seed varieties that have changed by being handed down so many times. Large seed companies sometimes lump them into one variety. She tries to go back to the origin and find uncontaminated stock.

Eric

[stella1751]

I got this seed from an online Mom-and-Pop website. I won't tell you their name because of what I'm going to say next I got a terrible germination rate from this corn. I couldn't figure out why until I planted the last bed and sat down to really look at the seeds before sowing them. Several of the kernels were twisted; one was even torn. It looked to me like the seed was taken moist from the cob. I'm definitely not an expert on seed saving, but that seems like something a person wouldn't want to do.

I am determined to save seed from these, but I want to do it right, even if that means leaving the stalks through winter

[TZ -OH6]

Native corns do that stuff all the time, so it might be a trait of that heirloom if it had a lot of those short season varieties in its background. The frequency could be increased by inbreeding (seed repeatedly taken from a small plot) assuming that the variety generally doesn't do it very much. It took a lot of work to breed it out of the modern hybrid sweet and dent corns. That being said I got some kernels on a tassel of Burpees Delectable hybrid a couple of years ago. I suppose odd conditions could make it show up. My Painted Mountain, which is a mixed genepool of dozens of western native corns, does all kinds of freeky things.

[DoubleDogFarm]

My Painted Mountain, which is a mixed genepool of dozens of western native corns, does all kinds of freeky things.

Don't tell me that! I plan on planting a good size patch of Painted Mountain next year. If I get the area ready by spring.

TZ, Have you tried any of Carol Deppe's corn seed.

Eric

[stella1751]

That being said I got some kernels on a tassel of Burpees Delectable hybrid a couple of years ago. I suppose odd conditions could make it show up. My Painted Mountain, which is a mixed genepool of dozens of western native corns, does all kinds of freeky things.

That's an interesting idea. Both these beds were hailed on pretty badly. I was surprised they came back so strongly. It's not been a great corn year. The poor germination rate (30%) made them all too spaced to pollinate well. Additionally, my rotation put them out in the front beds, which have no protection from the wind. I've had to brace them with rocks and a rope to keep them from blowing over. They could be considered stressed because of all of that and just growing weird in a mad attempt to perpetuate the species.

I have another bed, one I planted a few days after the hail. It's just now started to tassel. I'll be watching it to see whether it does the same thing. It hasn't been a great corn year, but it's been a fun one. I definitely want to see how these guys do under better conditions (no severe hail, better spacing, less wind) next year.

[TZ -OH6]

I signed up for Carol Deppe's newsletter in hopes of getting some Magic Manna seed (which is a selection from Painted Mountain)...time will tell. The grizzly coon herd left me one ear of P.M. (out of 50 plants) for seed...glad I didn't pay $4.50 plus $7 postage for the little seed pack. I do have a short row of plants that I crossed with mixed se sweetcorn just for the heck of it so I'll have some to fiddle with in the kitchen, but I'll be looking for some sort of parching corn for next year.

Even with some freaky plants, the P.M seemed to be relatively productive. The freeky stuff was in addition to 1-3 good ears on the same plants. My single survivor ear was drying at 70 days, seed was planted in cold soil before last frost date. My sweet corn, which was planted on schedule isn't quite ready to eat yet so it's pretty cool to have grain corn ready to pick and dry already.

[DoubleDogFarm]

TZ,

I'm think more in the line of 1 pound of Painted Mountain. I may order this winter so I have time to separate the colors. Plant the different colored seed in blocks, just for the fun of it.

$30.00 @ Johnny's Select Seeds
$28.00 @ Fedco Seeds

Do you have a favorite company that may beat these prices?

Eric

[stella1751]

Even with some freaky plants, the P.M seemed to be relatively productive. The freeky stuff was in addition to 1-3 good ears on the same plants. My single survivor ear was drying at 70 days, seed was planted in cold soil before last frost date. My sweet corn, which was planted on schedule isn't quite ready to eat yet so it's pretty cool to have grain corn ready to pick and dry already.

Another appealing aspect of the Yukon Chief was the way it was supposed to germinate in cold weather. It ain't so. I planted mine after the last frost date. It was still cold, though, and the first two beds I planted took 14 days to germinate, not the 7 to 10 that was promised. The third bed, planted at the beginning of July, took 7 to 10 days to germinate. Cold is definitely a delaying factor for this corn.

It's such a short-season corn that slow germination doesn't matter, I guess. I'm still having fun growing my first corn in, like, forever

[TZ -OH6]

All sweet corns are temperture sensitive, some more than others. My Burpee Deliciosa has a package temp lower than most but I wait anyway. There is a guy in Utah from a famous gardening family who is working on cold weather sweetcorn. I don't quite understand the silver dime request for his seeds but I'm sure its worth it.

https://garden.lofthouse.com/sweet-corn-breeding.phtml



Eric, A pound is way out of my league/space, but I did bookmark all the sites I found while deep digging in Google for PM last spring.

The best deal I could find for my little pack was here. Low price and free shipping.

https://www.stargazerperennialscatalog.com/Organic-Corn-Seeds-Painted-Mountain-Ornamental-Corn-IE0070.htm?categoryId=-1

Here is what I found for large quantities.

$23.50 (note that 5 lb and 25 lb are even cheaper!!!???)
https://www.osborneseed.com/catalog_view.cfm?submitted=yes&selectcat=13&selecttype=Ornamental%20Corn

If you buy from this place, my consulting fee will me a handful of seed

[stella1751]

The best deal I could find for my little pack was here. Low price and free shipping.

https://www.stargazerperennialscatalog.com/Organic-Corn-Seeds-Painted-Mountain-Ornamental-Corn-IE0070.htm?categoryId=-1

Ack. Remember the company I didn't want to name earlier? Excellent prices, interesting varieties, and no troubles with my sugar baby watermelons or my sugar pie pumpkins, both organic, but, well, I can't recommend them for corn seed

[TZ -OH6]

That's too funny!

I found several sites carrying the same packages of P.M. with the "Irish Eyes" label. Prices were vastly differnt so I don't think that they are Irish Eyes Co using different website namees like some places do.

AFAIK Dave Christensen grows all of the PM seed so I didn't worry about source quality.

https://www.seedweneed.com/index-1.html

I wish I would have gotten to taste it in the milk stage before the wildlife destroyed it. It would be nice to have some sort of edible sweet corn substitute 6 weeks after planting when the only thing else available are peas and lettuce.

[stella1751]

I have a quick off-topic (I.e., odd corn) question: Why do the silks on my ears always disappear? It's not just this corn; this happened when I grew corn in Cheyenne, too. I've always thought it was the wind that just tore them off, contributing to my partial pollination problem. It can blow constantly for two or three days up here (longer in Cheyenne). Is it the wind that strips my corn of silks, or is it a critter?

[TZ -OH6]

Several beetles including Japanes beetles will clip the silk off. You can put pollen on the stubs to help fill the ear up.


https://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id48/id48.htm

[stella1751]

I could be wrong, but I don't think we have those up here. I see two, maybe three, beetles, all varieties, a summer. They could be sneaky, though

[TheWaterbug]

Native corns do that stuff all the time, so it might be a trait of that heirloom if it had a lot of those short season varieties in its background. The frequency could be increased by inbreeding (seed repeatedly taken from a small plot) assuming that the variety generally doesn't do it very much. It took a lot of work to breed it out of the modern hybrid sweet and dent corns. That being said I got some kernels on a tassel of Burpees Delectable hybrid a couple of years ago. I suppose odd conditions could make it show up. My Painted Mountain, which is a mixed genepool of dozens of western native corns, does all kinds of freeky things.

Stress can make organisms do strange things. Remember the frog DNA from Jurassic Park?

I have one stalk that was originally a tiller, until the neighbor's soccer ball came over the fence and took out the main stalk. The tiller grew in its place and now has a half-sized cob growing straight out of the top. No tassels like yours, but still kinda odd looking.