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greenstormCorns are all in the ground. It's time to set the second Gaspe corn soaking. It actually took something like 8 days to get it all put in; I stepped on a rusty nail at the beginning of the day off work I'd allocated and that stretched things out considerably.
That said, I put all the flint corn and also the dent corns in to soak at the same time, then the flour corns in later. Flint corn takes longer to get through its hard endosperm than flour corn does; dent is in the middle. So in theory all the flint corn had the same amount of moisture and the same amount of heat. I didn't do a great job planting everything exactly the same depth since I was making furrows with my rake but that's a variation I can see in each type's planting and make allowances for.
Things of note:
No matter how long they were soaked for, the corn that was planted first came up first. The corn that was planted later came up later. I wasn't sure about this; it was pretty dry after I planted and I thought the corn that had absorbed most water (and was thus planted last) might come up first but that was not the case.
Heat makes a difference. We know this, but the corn that had clear plastic over it grew much faster than the corn with row cover or with nothing.
Soil makes a difference. The flint corn field was sandy; the dent corn field is richer and more silty-clay. The flint corn came up first; the dent corn was planted a touch later but it really isn't showing yet. Granted, it's also slightly south-facing and shaded for a touch of the day, which maybe cancels itself out? We will see.
Genetics makes a difference. Some corns popped a root out very quickly while soaking. Some really did not. Painted mountain, which is a very diverse set of genetics, was sourced from four different farms. I'd expect it to be different from each farm, since with so much diversity it's hard not to select and only keep a part of the gene pool. I did not expect something like 4 days' difference between the emergence in the Salt Spring seeds and the Annapolis Seeds (well, there was no root emergence when I planted it and the Salt Spring had 1-2cm roots). Granted, this can be influenced by age of seed, level of seed dryness, etc but it was very noticeable.
Young corn is beautiful. That green coming up through the soil? That's what love is for.
I got good germination. That's good.
The birds have (so far, knock on wood) left these seeds alone. Whether that's because they have access to other tastier foods now (like my ducklings, but I digress) or because it looks more like grass or what, I am unsure. I asked in the landrace gardening group about how folks' plants adapted to bird predation and it seems like planting deep, tamping the soil hard (so the birds can't pull up the corn by pulling on the seedling and are thus not rewarded with food), and then selecting for survivors that can put down roots to anchor against the birds and also regrow the tops after birds pick the tops off is about the best you can do. I need this in my favas; so far (knock on wood) my corn looks ok. Maybe that's a benefit of planting late, too?
I'm still waiting on flour corn emergence; I'm hoping the little rain today helps. I also need to dig out my stash of gaspe seed for the breeding projects.
I ran out of room faster than expected, in part because of some soil/rockiness issues and a bit more slope than I thought I had. It'll be interesting to see what gives me seed, to know how much I'm working with in that space next year.
That said, I put all the flint corn and also the dent corns in to soak at the same time, then the flour corns in later. Flint corn takes longer to get through its hard endosperm than flour corn does; dent is in the middle. So in theory all the flint corn had the same amount of moisture and the same amount of heat. I didn't do a great job planting everything exactly the same depth since I was making furrows with my rake but that's a variation I can see in each type's planting and make allowances for.
Things of note:
No matter how long they were soaked for, the corn that was planted first came up first. The corn that was planted later came up later. I wasn't sure about this; it was pretty dry after I planted and I thought the corn that had absorbed most water (and was thus planted last) might come up first but that was not the case.
Heat makes a difference. We know this, but the corn that had clear plastic over it grew much faster than the corn with row cover or with nothing.
Soil makes a difference. The flint corn field was sandy; the dent corn field is richer and more silty-clay. The flint corn came up first; the dent corn was planted a touch later but it really isn't showing yet. Granted, it's also slightly south-facing and shaded for a touch of the day, which maybe cancels itself out? We will see.
Genetics makes a difference. Some corns popped a root out very quickly while soaking. Some really did not. Painted mountain, which is a very diverse set of genetics, was sourced from four different farms. I'd expect it to be different from each farm, since with so much diversity it's hard not to select and only keep a part of the gene pool. I did not expect something like 4 days' difference between the emergence in the Salt Spring seeds and the Annapolis Seeds (well, there was no root emergence when I planted it and the Salt Spring had 1-2cm roots). Granted, this can be influenced by age of seed, level of seed dryness, etc but it was very noticeable.
Young corn is beautiful. That green coming up through the soil? That's what love is for.
I got good germination. That's good.
The birds have (so far, knock on wood) left these seeds alone. Whether that's because they have access to other tastier foods now (like my ducklings, but I digress) or because it looks more like grass or what, I am unsure. I asked in the landrace gardening group about how folks' plants adapted to bird predation and it seems like planting deep, tamping the soil hard (so the birds can't pull up the corn by pulling on the seedling and are thus not rewarded with food), and then selecting for survivors that can put down roots to anchor against the birds and also regrow the tops after birds pick the tops off is about the best you can do. I need this in my favas; so far (knock on wood) my corn looks ok. Maybe that's a benefit of planting late, too?
I'm still waiting on flour corn emergence; I'm hoping the little rain today helps. I also need to dig out my stash of gaspe seed for the breeding projects.
I ran out of room faster than expected, in part because of some soil/rockiness issues and a bit more slope than I thought I had. It'll be interesting to see what gives me seed, to know how much I'm working with in that space next year.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-18 07:09 pm (UTC)