When I got the keys to my greenhouse space, one of the first things I did was sow a bunch of field crop seeds. I didn't know if there would be a need for me to grow them in the greenhouse, but I did know that it can be a tricky proposition. Better to sketch out a quick SOP now than wait till I need one and then add a 6 month delay to the project as I figure it out on the fly...
So a couple seeds bought for my garden and 3 months later, and I had some sweet corn with dinner. You can see how poor pollination was (as I didn't make much of an effort to pollinate it myself). Still, not too bad considering the stand only had a half-dozen plants.
Neglect left the plants savaged by aphids and spider mites towards the end - which is just as well as I'd probably have left the ears till they were dry if I had kept waiting in vain for them to get to full size.
They did taste good though!
Impressive none-the-less! I can imagine greenhouse growing being helpful to prevent heirloom varieties from getting contaminated.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteIt's super easy to self-pollinate and preserve the genetic composition of heirloom corn varieties by bagging the ears and tassels in the field. I'll write a how-to post on it when my garden plot corn gets big enough.