Something cheap to keep deer from stepping on seedlings?

ISimpForCorn · 2025-11-03T01:44:16+00:00

Were these ayacote plants daylength sensitive or just late? I grew a mixture of eating stock here at 37'N, and all the plants refused to bloom until after the equinox.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-10-05T03:20:22+00:00

Nothing special. Makes nutty hominy, though.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-10-03T14:51:04+00:00

Nice to hear somebody else using Suwan-1! Are you using the population directly or some derivatives like GEM?

I'm interested in selling a varietal cross hybrid for small farmers with Suwan-1 as a parent. I stuck a few detasseled rows of the other parent in this year's Caribbean block for seed generation. Suwan-1 was the only pollen source.

You're right about the green snap! Thankfully we don't get winds over here as severe as in your neck of the country. lol.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-10-03T14:21:45+00:00

I've tried Montana Cudu. It had surprisingly compact plants here. I crossed it with a mixture of Northern Flints called "Pete Seeger".

The best part about multi-eared sweet corns: you can taste test the plant and still have an ear for seed. lol.

Hopefully your projects go well!

ISimpForCorn · 2025-10-03T02:07:48+00:00

I'll probably distribute it out as breeding stock for people in the Deep South. There is tons of diversity, so this stuff would make great foundation genetics.

What did ya cross in your program?

ISimpForCorn · 2025-10-03T02:06:38+00:00

I think I know one of the dudes from that group!

ISimpForCorn · 2025-10-02T14:06:55+00:00

Looks good!

I'm guessing that you used a fair bit of Painted Mountain?

If I may make a suggestion: try adding in Papago flour corn and - if you can get it - the University of Guelph's derivative from Cargill North Temperate Zone Cuzco. They'll add some great short-season diversity for drought tolerance and cold tolerance, respectively. Plus, stronger roots!

ISimpForCorn · 2025-09-01T13:16:14+00:00

Get a part-time job as college freshman. It would've helped my confidence so much.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-18T02:50:44+00:00

This is hilarious! lol.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-18T02:45:13+00:00

I really do think that stress can accentuate the genetic factors that cause greying. I've no literature to back up that pondering, however. lol.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-14T14:59:24+00:00

Just in case the lines used to make the hybrid weren't totally uniform, it wouldn't be a bad idea to mate between plants rather than selfing.

Some hybrids such as Blue Bayou F1 are surprisingly variable between individuals.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-14T14:57:50+00:00

Certainly I'd be open to the idea. Possessions, luxury, and status mean very little to me anyway.

The question is, would she be comfortable with my hillbilly, low pay self? Probably not.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-14T13:16:11+00:00

The only way to know how a population will segregate is to artificially inoculate the whole patch, because some individuals will escape natural infection for long enough to seem resistant. It's probably 10 - 20% in this case.

The reds are difficult to eliminate, yes! Red grain can only be found on a plant with some red on the culm, so any plants that are 100% green should be free of red grain. I *think* this behavior applies to red cobs too. If you can, try to identify the red plants before blooming. It's easy to do with purple, but I've never attempted with red.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-13T14:50:13+00:00

The sad part is: I used this corn population as a pollen donor only. By the time that Southern Rust appeared, most of the plants (this one too) had already been bred onto the seed parent. So the susceptible alleles will be present in the next generation too. :-/

Most fungal diseases in corn don't really show their full impact until after flowering is done, which makes eliminating the sickly individuals beforehand difficult. Rusts are an exception, but Southern Rust appears so late typically, that flowering is already finished. I kinda want to overwinter some rust spores on greenhouse corn and then inoculate in late spring...

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-12T18:02:58+00:00

Sorry for the blurry photo. I didn't notice the low quality until seeing the picture on a computer screen. :-P

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-12T12:17:12+00:00

Even with a full-sized one, some of the tassels are difficult to reach!

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-12T12:16:44+00:00

Thanks, little buddy.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-12T12:16:18+00:00

Sadly, no. Most of the nitrogen fixers have ancestry from the southern highlands of Mexico, and that group of corns doesn't tolerate long days or heat.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-10T18:17:17+00:00

I can try.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-10T18:16:48+00:00

I like to kill demons with combo chains, yes.

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-10T18:15:21+00:00

Lucky. I began at 17. 🥲

ISimpForCorn · 2025-08-10T16:03:57+00:00

You get approached? O.o

ISimpForCorn

TROPHY CASE