Clever tricks for dealing with low populations of corn ?

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as I mentioned earlier, I lost a variety with only 36 plants at one point.

something I always ask myself is how did past generations do all of this ?
with corn they were living on it,
if that is the case, the 200 number is a moot point,
the fields were very likely always a larger number than that.
historical accounts of lower bumbers are recorded, my guess is because it was very rare.

anyway,
it was someone in this community that told everyone how to deal with genetic diversity if an Apocalypse happens,
maintain 2 separate lines of corn that are similar, because that is all you can do in a tiny backyard plot.
every other year works.
then after the event mix the 2.
no way you will be growing less than 200 plants if you have to live on them.
was this lofthouse ? tim peaters ? I just can't remember. it was someone, I did not figure this out,
but it is a fantastic idea.

[reed]

Seems like I remember Carol Deppe saying that if heterozygosity is high enough that a single ear could be developed into a new variety. If that's the case, then crossing any two very different corns should result in a population where genetic depression is avoided, probably for a long time. Crossing many varieties and selecting for just a few important traits while purposely allowing others to remain highly variable should for all practical purposes, eliminate it entirely. 

The foundation of my corn is the Mexican landrace Zapalote Chico x a number of northeastern flints, Carol's Cascade Flints, Joseph's harmony composite, already a diverse landrace by itself and a lot more. I'll be adding in still more to try to increase the flinty aspect, but I think just the 25 ears I selected this year are probably more than enough by themselves to keep genetic depression at bay for a long, long time.