Cy Cobb

Thanks Thom. I run the rabbits out of the garden daily, but they don't stay gone long. I guess I need to break down & buy some chicken wire to keep them out. My neighbor used the 2' tall kind around his bush beans. It worked for awhile, but they eventually jumped it & wiped him out. By then though, the corn will be tall enough. I've learned that anywhere there's overhead cover from vines, be it cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkins, or sweet potatoes, they just set up shop under the canopy. They sure have me feeling like Mr. McGregor the last few years.

A final update on this topic... the second planting went well at first, but by the time the painted mountain corn was 12-18" tall, the rabbits decided to take a break from my sweet potato vines to eat nearly all the corn plants down to the ground. I had 4 plants survive to silk stage, & only 2 gave any seed...and by seed, I mean 3 kernels from 2 plants. So, I'll add those to my mixed Painted Mountain seed for another try.

Almond Thompson wrote:Cy: how did your Rouge Vif D' Etampes cook up? I tried one and was not partial to it at all

Apologies for missing this post, but after trying them four different times, I've come to the conclusion that while edible and popular as stacking pumpkins, they are consistently too watery to cook via my preferred method of roasting at 400 degrees for an hour. I have sampled so many maximas over the years, and have gravitated to prefer the driest orange flesh without the "green strings" near the rind. If I ever get another Rouge Vif D' Etampes, perhaps instead of fighting against it to make it something it's not, I could work with it to make a whole roasted pumpkin soup? That way, the watery nature wouldn't be a detriment.

Thom Bri wrote:
When everything was against it, it still gave back a little. This was a hard year. Those are probably the toughest, most resilient ones. Give them a little TLC next year! I'll send you some more seeds after this harvest.

Thanks! Your seed selection ears are looking great! Some of mine still had moisture in the cobs which is why they dried a bit crooked. I made the decision to harvest the last of them now because I noticed some bird damage & a bit of white mold. I had no ear worm damage at all though, which is a first for me! In most years, I'd lose the tip of almost every cob to them.

Well, you might think this corn isn't much to look at, but for all it endured to produce a harvest, I'm pretty happy. The plants were healthy & had clear variability in color, aerial roots, cob type, row count, pollination time, & kernal color. The poor pollination was mainly due to sparse planting distances. I could definitely see the glass gem influence in some kernels, & while there are some sweet corn kernels mixed in, the rest are a nice smooth flinty type. The long skinny yellow cob I really like for some reason. It's only 8 row, but seems to have met its potential. I will save the best flinty seeds.

Stephen,

At the moment, I don't have a single sprout that hasn't been defoliated by rabbits, & honestly, I'm more interested in expanding my limited seed stock if any survive.  

I did have a first for me, an all white seedling with zero chlorophyll from one of my PM corn. There's a name for that, but as you can imagine, it only lasted until the seed energy ran out.

I think if someone were to want to try eating corn sprouts cheaply, I'd start with a simple DIY indoor sprout/microgreen set up to cleanly sprout hundreds at a time. I'd test it on a bag of popcorn from the grocery store. Give it a try, let us know.

2nd planting update on the Painted Mountain corn:  Between the rabbits nibbling every leaf to the stem & the sweet potato vines really hitting their stride (crowding out the seedlings), it seems to be a long shot to see a harvest from this batch.  Of course, time will tell...

Thom: For your comparison, I have zero tillering from your seed, & some are even showing 3 ears per plant. We've had some wicked storms & they are holding fast. A few lodged a little, but I blame myself for heavily watering before a storm. After 3 failed rain forecasts prior, I stopped believing the weather forecast during the drought.

A little update here: I think I'm seeing what Mark Reed was talking about with the PM flour corn.  Low germination due to too much rain rotting the seed I think. I replanted again with some special ordered PM select seed (Lavendar Clay & Montana Cudu), both from Painted Mountain origins. Better germination this time, & enough to make a go of it.

On another note: Take a look at this plant with both tassles & silks emerging from the cob. Time to cull this one I think.

Absolutely!  We'll see how things look at the end of the season, but I'd happily send some your way.