I have a friend who wants to grow a couple ac of corn on my land where do i get some non hybred non treated seed??8)
finding heirloom's could be very tricky as all grains are hybridised to the enth degree, try local online seed supplier's/savers ie.,. eden seed; green harvest etc.,. no guarantees as like lots of other stuff they can't guarantee against cross pollination, corn of course is wind born. others o/seas lemming/leaming yellow corn and eight row corn. i have some red corn from last year maybe i could send you some may not be enough to grow an acre, but grow now and don't eat build seed stock up. i got no way of knowing if their could be X-pollination? len
I have some saved bali sweet corn ,but my mate Zimbarbway Tim understands food security more closley than I and wishes to grow more starchy corn (he has a grinder and wants to make polenta etc
Andrew, https://www.edenseeds.com.au/content/default.asp looks like a reasonable option for flint corn. From what I understand, importing corn from the US isn't easy and there's even restrictions on moving corn between Australian states. https://milkwood.net/2012/05/12/glass-gem-corn-and-other-heirloom-jewels-of-the-corn-cabinet/ has some good seed-saver network info and corn porn! I think you need to start from a very wide genetic base for successful long-term corn seed saving. I'd go with commercial or seed from a knowledgeable seed-saver to start. Apparently you need seed from at least 200 separate plants to prevent inbreeding depression, so we're talking a pretty large scale!
Eden has Red Aztec which is a flour corn. But this did not ripen for me it needs a long growing season. There is an awesome but expensive Tasmanian seed company https://www.vegetableseeds.net.au/ they have two kinds of flour corn painted mountain and seneca. Unfortunately their packets are ridiculously small, I think you would need at least 200 plants for saving seeds, but you get started. Maybe you plant some teosinthe with it and you get less inbreeding depression??? As far as I know you are allowed to import that.
Hi Andrew I purchased some organic corn cobs and dried the seed from these. I planted about 20 and they all grew and gave me corn. They were so good. I have a few hundred seeds left. Happy to send them down as I have been meaning to send you an envelope to send me some goodies. Let me know if you want them and I can put them in the mail this week. Rose
Well, I don't know your circumstances andrew, but this report would be interesting to anyone living in a dry hot climate: https://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/Flour-Corn-2011.pdf
Zimbarbway Tim has had experience of food scarcity and thus wishes to grow corn for flour! Nice article Rick!
