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@malte My shorter plants have already shown to be more resistant to lodging than taller types.
I don't know that they'd overcome weed pressure in an open field, but they work well for smaller plots.
What I'm entirely unsure about is how the total yield across the season will compare with typical corn types. I'll have to do some experiments on this later.
I kinda wish I had red seeds in the mix, but I'll probably wait until I can find/make lines that have pretty short life cycles already.
Crossing in a full-season red corn feels like it would be too much of a setback.
Gaspe Flint (and the lab strain I got its genetics theough) tend to place their cobs very low to the ground.
This trait has been naturally selected against in my population, since those cobs tend to get eaten by mice.
I've also been selecting for larger cobs, with more rows of seeds than Gaspe Flint has, though they remain small compared to conventional corns.
@malte I will not be surprised if most plants don't make it through the stringent selection criteria of the early generations for this project, but I'm certain that enough will!
@malte That's the idea.
Though, the first harvest will be allowed to dry down for planting next year. The second crop will be from a different selection of last year's seed.
It might be pushing it to try and plant the just harvested seeds.
I just realized that site is sold out for Gaspe Flint, so here's another. https://www.seedways.org/product-page/gasp%C3%A9-flint-corn
I have no particular reference to either of these vendors. They were early links that came up when I searched, and they had good images/information.
Some genetics in my population originally came from Gaspe Flint, which is available from many sources if you're also interested in short-season corns.
@clew One of the varieties I got genetics from was Gaspe Flint. That one is commonly available and also has a very short life cycle. https://greatlakesstapleseeds.com/products/gaspe-flint-corn
I'm aiming for larger cobs than that with flour and sweet kernel types.
@clew I expect these lines would be able to mature even up in central Alaska. I have family up there that I might try to convince to grow some next year.
This is what the last generation looked like. (There were many more tiny cobs, but I culled those early.)
You can't really see the difference between dent and flour kernels in this view, but if you look closely, you can see the wrinkled sweet kernels that I'll plant in summer.
Because their life cycle is so short, I can grow them next to conventional corns without any risk of them hybridizing. The time of flowering is too divergent.
Well, I'm certain this is true for the spring crop. I'm only pretty sure this is true for the summer crop.
@malte I grew the F2s for two years. The days from planting to harvest told me that I should be able to pull off two generations, one after the other, in my short season area.
@malte Well... it wasn't my initial goal to make a miniature flour corn. The flour corn trait turned up as a surprise in the last generation, but I decided it was one of the two traits I would select for.
@malte This is the F3 generation of an experiment to make a very short season flour corn, so I haven't used them for anything yet!
Generally, flour corns are softer than field/dent corn. This makes it easier to grind them into corn meal for making cornbread and such.
My miniature flour corns are coming up. They should have a mix of white, yellow, and blue kernels. I haven't yet decided if I want to select for a specific color.
I planted them early enough that I should be able to plant a second miniature corn crop when these are done. That crop will be sweet corns with the same mix of colors.