UK Maize

[Tim DH]

My direct sown maize is looking good.

There is a fair amount of variation in stem colour and silk colour, but the tassels are the most diverse. I particularly like this red and lemon one.

Tim DH

[Tim DH]

The direct sown maize is in. Attached photo of the twelve selected cobs for seed and also a photo of most of the other cobs.

Once I've got it stripped and sorted it'll be interesting to see how the grams/metre rate compares with my 'traditional' grain (wheat & oats) and the pot started maize (Yorkshire Grit)

[Tim DH]

So I've got the direct sown maize sorted and dried. Not counting the fraction of thin grains which got fed to the chickens and not counting the grains which got nicked by a rodent during the drying process (Grrr) It cropped 513g/m. This is comparable to a good Wheat or Rye yield. Its my first year growing this maize in a standard bed. I don't think I've got the spacing quite right yet, so I may manage to push up the yield next year.

The 100 seed weight is about 39g, which is significantly better than last years little trial (35g)

Following discussions with the wife, next year I'll start selecting against Blue grains. Its a shame because Blue grains look so nice on the cobs, but they aren't welcome in the kitchen.

[Tim DH]

I've made the selection for next years 'Yorkshire Grit' seed. Here are the twelve mother cobs.
This maize had a good year, cropping at 740g/m.

I offered seed on Ebay last year. I wasn't sure how it would do because growing flour maize for kitchen use is not a thing in the UK. It shifted twelve units, so that achieved something in terms of propagating the idea. ... Ideas are a bit like seeds! I wonder how many of those twelve ideas will get past germination and actually establish.

[Michele]

I thought there are potential nutritional advantages in blue, black, purple corn types?

[Tim DH]

Hi Michele,
   I think you are right. If you google Morado Maize or Purple Maize you'll find lots of references. However, having tried to get people to eat/accept Blue Maize, I think that is a step too far here! Just getting folk to eat/accept white/yellow maize (which isn't Sweetcorn) is hard enough.

   My interest in promoting Maize is to provide a bit of variety in the starch component of a meal. My wife objects to potatoes on more than three consecutive nights! (Also there is often a 'Potato Gap' in late spring to be filled.) After a bit of experimentation, Nixtamalised Yellow Maize is acceptable. Actually better than that, it is requested! (Another acceptable alternative is Rye served like Brown Rice.)

   As you'll see from further back in this thread, I am starting to experiment with red/brown maize, but getting that into our diet is I think dependant on the prior acceptance of yellow/white maize.

Tim DH

[Jeremy Weiss]

Hi Michele,
   I think you are right. If you google Morado Maize or Purple Maize you'll find lots of references. However, having tried to get people to eat/accept Blue Maize, I think that is a step too far here! Just getting folk to eat/accept white/yellow maize (which isn't Sweetcorn) is hard enough.

   My interest in promoting Maize is to provide a bit of variety in the starch component of a meal. My wife objects to potatoes on more than three consecutive nights! (Also there is often a 'Potato Gap' in late spring to be filled.) After a bit of experimentation, Nixtamalised Yellow Maize is acceptable. Actually better than that, it is requested! (Another acceptable alternative is Rye served like Brown Rice.)

   As you'll see from further back in this thread, I am starting to experiment with red/brown maize, but getting that into our diet is I think dependant on the prior acceptance of yellow/white maize.

Tim DH

Reminds me of what happened in some parts of Ireland during the early days of the Potato Famine. Some people did try and send supplies, but they sent yellow cornmeal instead of flour or potatoes (since that it what they had at the time,) and many Irish rejected it saying they would "rather starve than eat brimstone colored cornbread".

I have also heard tell that one of the reasons Gaspe bay flint became so popular in Canada was that its color was the closest to wheat of the corns around, which made settlers more conformable. 

[Tim DH]

   Just got the direct sown maize in. 20 seeds/m, through groundcover, at a depth of 4 ½". A bit later than I'd like but not disastrous.

   I've given some thought to last year's poor emergence. I think planting the seed with long nosed pliers can result in a depression, or even tube, in the soil. A great place for molluscs to shelter, and then the new shoot has to get up past them! So this year I sieved some super fine, super dry soil. I drizzled this into each planting place after the seed had gone in.

   This year I've planted seed from the last three harvests AND the last of the original seed. I'm thinking that maybe I'll save seed from the best 15 cobs in future and plant from the previous four years every time. That would give a notional 'mother' pool of 60 plants.
Tim DH

[Steve1]

Interesting project. If you are looking to deep plant the Hopi Blue is the one to include -  even if you backcross and select against blue at a later point. It has the long coleoptile trait and was traditionally sown at up to 12 inches of so deep.Though you would want to test what ever you seed you could obtain as it is probably no longer selected by its growers for that trait. I planted 4 varieties and they mostly 90% ish at 4-6 inches. But the seed was fresh and I think that also makes a difference. That was Glass Gem, Painted Mountain, Hopi blue flour and a Shane's Parrot Proof another flour. I'm working on a low input rain only flour and flint lines. If you are looking to separate out flint genetics you can add sugar to a water and mix until you get enough separation (heavier flint types will sink/lighter flour will float) - and you can use that over successive generations to push your lines in the direction you want. Hope that helps. 

[Tim DH]

Hi Steve,
     Thanks for the info. I have tried Hopi Blue, but I could only get it to maturity in a greenhouse. (Under those conditions the pollen goes mouldy on the leaves!) I did cross it with a Northern adapted sweetcorn, but even then I don't think it would have survived direct sowing.
     The floating technique for selecting against flint is something I hadn't thought of. Nice idea.

     Shane's Parrot Proof is new to me. I'm curious, what feature makes it parrot proof? Not that its much of a problem for us in Yorkshire!

Tim DH

[Steve1]

Shane is a plant breeder up north of Australia. His line is a dent with very tight husks that make it hard but not impossible for the parrots to get at it. Much better than Hopi Blue in that regard. Working that trait into all my lines as we have more parrots than you can poke a stick at.

[A. Pel]

Very cool project!

Shane's Parrot Proof is new to me. I'm curious, what feature makes it parrot proof? Not that its much of a problem for us in Yorkshire!

Parrot proofing might be a useful characteristic to have sooner or later. Budgies (Budgerigar) are a type of parrot and are notorious for eating seeds. There are reputedly 10's of thousands wild in London and they are moving further north every year

[Tim DH]

The Direct Sown maize did well this year. Plenty of cobs to choose from.

I'm continuing to select FOR

Tolerance to deep sowing.
Early maturity

and AGAINST

Tall plants
Blue seeds

I'll take enough "not blue" seeds off these cobs to provide a quarter of my requirements for each of the next four years.

Tim DH

[Tim DH]

Yorkshire Grit
   Has done well this year. Negligible aphid activity in the ears, a little (presumed) rat damage to cob tips. The middle of the bed got HIT by a punch of wind mid season, sending plants sprawling in all directions, but none of the stems were snapped.
   I'm going to start selecting against mega cobs like this one. They can be beautiful, but they are a nuisance to dry down, I think because of the big core. This one is eighteen rows.

[grano]

Amazing maize for Yorkshire, especially if it's floury.  I lost track of its convoluted origin.