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stonedawg
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this is a fascinating topic - so if you are meticulous and get your timing right you can get 100+ seeds per plant?
When Are Your Seeds Ready to Harvest
- Thread starter Nelson
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mattinuk3
Guest
You can tell the phenotypes for some traits just by looking at the corn kernel before you plant it. If it is wrinkled on top it has the recessive sweet gene and can only pass on sweet corn. If the seed is anything but white or yellow, it has a dominant color gene and will change the color of some of the kernels on your yellow cobs around it. Below is a link of a cross between a purple dent corn and a yellow sweet corn. Look at how the different kernel types show up in predictable ratios. Imagine if we could document seed phenotype and track it all the way through the bud stage. I wonder if there are correlations that could be made outside of the obvious kush and sativa seed shapes.
http://senweb.lr.k12.nj.us/downing/corn_genetics_1.htm
Nelson
R.I.P. Gone, but not forgotten.
Unfortunaly I don't grow corn. Yeah I have a food garden. In pot seeds the only thing I can tell is the maturity of the seed by looking at it. White seeds very immature hardly ever hatch. Best to just throw them away. Light green color some chance of growing probably 50%. Nice dark seeds mature and will probably hatch at a better than 90% rate if they are dried and stored properly.
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mattinuk3
Guest
I was thinking things like how some seeds seem to have a seam on one side, others are more symmetrical. Some have tiger stripes, some don't. Some are very dark vs others that are mature and light colored. I wonder how/if those types of things can predict the mature plant's phenotype. In corn, if you see the dry seed is wrinkled, you're 100% sure it's sweet corn. I wonder if some seed phenotype could guarantee bushy plants or something.
Nelson
R.I.P. Gone, but not forgotten.
I don't grow corn but I do grow other vegtables. I have never had any luck predicting what will come out of a seed when I look at the seed. The only thing I can tell is how old the seed was when it was harvested. White seeds were harvested when they were very immature. Not many hatch and I just throw the white ones away. Light green seeds are halfway in between and about 50% hatch into plants. They are not a waste of time but no seed company should be selling them. Mature seeds can vary in color and sometimes even have darker areas on the flats that lighten twards the seams. Harvesting is as good as it is going to get. Seeds must be stored properly or their hatch rate falls off. Dry them well and identify them well along with the year of production. Put them in a small jar or medicine bottle. I like to refridgerate mine.
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Nelson
R.I.P. Gone, but not forgotten.
I usually wait a month after I separate the male and female to let the seeds mature. How long do the rest of you wait?
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Nelson
R.I.P. Gone, but not forgotten.
At 5 weeks Muddy they must be falling out of the plant they are for me at 4 weeks. The male was probably doing its thing for four or five weeks before that. Do you have some method for collecting the seeds that fall?
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Muddy
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I've hardly had any fall. Off the top of my head I can only remember 1 that fell and then sprouted, an Mi5. I do check the top of the soil just in case but have never found any.
Nelson
R.I.P. Gone, but not forgotten.
I have some fall out. sometimes they just fall out when I move the bud to check their progress. I don't worry much about the fallen ones that go in the pot. After the plant comes out I just through some Promix on the top and see if the seeds sprout kind of like the first test. I am ging to buy some cookie sheets to catch the seeds that miss the pot.
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