Saving corn seeds

Being a student always leaves you feeling stupid and, here I am again. I'm getting too old for this, maybe. For other newbies out there let me just say that if you are planning on saving corn to plant next year, it had better be open pollinated corn and not hybrid corn. With open pollinated corn you can hand pollinate the corn (no snickering out there, you know who you are) and then bag it (sort of the opposite of what people do) and have corn with the same genome for the next year. With hybrid corn there is no chance. Self pollination only leads to divergent genomes, mixed populations of corn. This is what I am reading in a book called "The Omnivores Dilemma". Besides the above, in spite of $10,000,000,000 annually in commodity supports for corn growers, most of them are just barely getting by, while the low price of American corn is killing Mexican agriculture!!?? Adios Mexico, good morning Juan.

Additionally, Americans consume more corn, in all its' manifestations than Mexicans. There are corn by-products in a quarter of the products sold in the average supermarket, not to mention the construction materials in the building. How do they know that? That's another fascinating exposition.

The book may end-up sucking but it sure starts out like a house afire.

Got mine from the library.

That's my book report for the night.

- Bill Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

Reply to
Bill Rose
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"New legislation in Iraq recently put in place by the US prevents farmers from saving their seeds. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 97% of Iraq?s farmers use saved seed from their own stocks from last year?s harvest or purchased in local markets. When the new law Order No. 81 (4/26/04) goes into effect, seed saving will be illegal and markets will offer only PVP (Plant Variety Protected) seed which has been ?invented? and patented and licensed by the transnational corporations. "

There are many articles about this happening.

It's no wonder farmers in southern Iraq are beginning to grow poppies.

They who control the essentials, control the people.

Next thing you know, we who save seeds will be busted.

Screw 'em. Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

The price of corn in the US is way up because of ethanol production. The USDA predicts that more corn will be planted this year than has been planted since before WWII. (The exact year eludes me. I'd have to look it up.)

The price of corn is up in Mexico, too, making it hard for poor folks to afford masa to make tortillas.

The first book Michael Pollen wrote is pretty interesting, too:

"The Botany of Desire."

I'm not quite awake yet. Please excuse the stilted language...

Jan

Reply to
Jan Flora

Do you think they will have the freedom to develop their own

*anything* ?? Anything that would be theirs and theirs alone?

I think not.

Seems to me they had a system going, wherein they were saving their own seeds. As were those in India with cotton. Hybridization is certainly beneficial and results in some marvelous crops... sweet corn for instance. Stowell's Evergreen (open pollinated) is not even close to being as TripleSweet Hybrid or any of the super sweets. Which do I buy at market? The really really sweet hybrids. But I also have five pounds of assorted open pollinates in suspended animation. Hybridization creates dependency, which fosters control and exploitation.

Saving seeds is a tradition and that, along with Lord knows what else, is being destroyed. All over the world.

Jeez man, how many children died, on account of sanctions, even

*before* the war?

When I mentioned poppies, here is the link.

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bloggers are speculating that, for some Iraqi farmers, there is more profit in opium than in having to try and make a living raising "licensed" crops. Plus the ignominy of being forced to play by rules foriegn and not of your liking. Hell, should any of us like this?

Rant over. Back on topic. Just back from the local plant house with a half truck load of color for the garden and patio area. I recently was offered a rather large stash of pots and containers of various sizes. and am going to grab some barleywine, turn off this infernal froth makin' machine, turn on the outside music and sink my hands in the dirt and make pretty and happy.

Next year I am going to start more of the old-timey flowers to save seed. One great thing about the old heirloom stuff. They often smell good. Try smellin' a hybrid Wave petunia next to an old-fashioned vining 'tunia. You'll know what I mean.

Care, and have a sudsy weekend all! Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

A bunch of nonsense.

John

Reply to
John Bachman

The super sweet are too sweet for my taste and, to my taste, don't taste like corn but then I've only bought them out of a store. When mine are good, they taste like sweet corn. I don't mean to start a pissin' contest, it's just the way I like them.

Only the seven deadly sins seem to be in vogue.

Only 500,000 under 5 years of age. Madeline Albright assure us that it was an acceptable number, may she burn in Hell.

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America, Afghanistan. Always a big jump in drugs. Ollie North was financing his shadow government with it.

Oh, ask the Russians. They will tell you how this is going to end. American trainers going off with their military students and not coming back. The rest of the arabs and Iranians will do what they need to do. When you get mad enough, you don't care about anything any more. You just want to push back at any price. Bush wants his eternal war and so do his backers. More war profits and less public control is the name of the game and everybody in Washington knows it. But who dares bite the hand that feeds them?

That weren't no rant Charlie, that was just speculatin'. I'd like to give you my version of a rant but I'm out of time. My lovey will be home soon and I should be getting dinner on. Maybe next time.

Like hybrid roses and the real deal. Do you know if echinacea, astragalus, and hysopp have smells? I guess I'm gonna' find out.

Don't worry about me. I never drink too much. I always pass out first. Prost! Charlie & Bill

Bang those pots

Reply to
Bill Rose

John Bachman expounded:

Too bad it isn't.

Reply to
Ann

Uh, John, we know you are a level headed man. A pragmatist. Could you expand on this?

- Bill Coloribus gustibus non disputatum

Reply to
Bill Rose

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum

ahhhh...someone else has been paying attention the last few decades.

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats." -- H.L. Mencken

The world consists mainly of normal men...and women.

I do so enjoy a righteous rant. I am trying to portray my kinder, gentler, garden nature. My early USENET years were spent in some of the more unsavory places where one's language was *not* an issue. ;-)

Echinacea does have a nice perfume... it is light, ya' gotta get right into it, so you will poke your nose when you enjoy. In my part of the world, bumble bees and butterflies love the blooms.

The other two I don't know. Let us know.

If you want intoxicating evening perfume, and beautiful flowers, and a wonderful climbing screen, try Moonflowers, if you haven't. Beautiful four to six inch nightly blooms. We have been doing them for twenty ears....we love the perfume even more than jasmine or Night Blooming Stock or petunias. We plant the night scents so that as you walk or sit in differnt areas of the garden (patio is simply an extension of garden), you inhale different scents.

Same with the herbs. Rosemary, basil, lavender, etc....are planted and placed so that you brush against them or can rub them at will.

It's heaven, my friends, pure olfactory heaven!

Bangin' away Bill, always bangin' away!

Charlie, one half of the current Charlie and Bill Show

Reply to
Charlie

Interesting article that dovetails with your current read. I am in the midst of corn country and I see this. Life is a bitch for producers in the midwest. Land prices over $5000/acre in select areas of Iowa. Who wins? I think ya'll know who doesn't win.

"From the news these days you'd think farmers have never had a better friend than ethanol. Headlines holler that corn prices are soaring and that at this moment farmers are planting more acres of corn than they have in the last 50 years. Reporters writing about the ethanol boom are throwing around words like gold rush, jackpot, and nirvana. But if you actually are a farmer, ethanol and the high corn prices it brings is looking less and less like a blessing -- and more like a curse."

Full article at:

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"We won't get fooled again" Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

Charlie expounded:

Is that all? Around here it's at least $250,000 an acre for a buildable house lot (!!)

Reply to
Ann

Won't get fooled again Charlie? Maybe not this way but, there are lots of ways to fool us. I have to admit though, it is a conceit that I would aspire to.

Reading along in "Omnivore's Dilemma", it takes just over a calorie of fossil fuel to get a calorie of corn. Back in the 1940's, before chemical fertilizers, the yields were lower BUT you got 2 calories out for every calorie put in (crop rotations and manure).

Pause to scratch head and ponder. So if we are going to be expanding our production of corn, who wins? Exxon, Shell, BP, et al. win. Why are we growing more corn? To lessen our dependancy on oil. What do we need to grow more corn? More oil. I think we can all join the farmers here by dropping our shorts, grabbing our ankles, and pray someone hasn't thrown sand into the vaseline.

I really got to go plant those 'maters.

- Bill

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (and bang those damn pots)

Reply to
Bill Rose

"In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell." -- H. L. Mencken A wonderful man. I need to read more of him. We need news people like him but what do we get? We get Walter Lippman wanna bes, working their tails off and, completely dedicated to "manufacturing of consent" for the ruling class.

But I digress . . .

I tried this one once before but it up and died on me. I'll give it another shot. I have the perfect place for it.

Plant 'maters and get Moonflower seeds. I should be able to do that.

Care, and have a sudsy Memorial Day weekend all. Support the troops and get them home, where we love & want them. We don't need no more stinking memorials.

Prost!

- Bill Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (Bang those pots)

Ya know Charlie, alphabetically speaking, that should be the "Bill and Charlie Show";-) (I've never been a sock puppet before.) or maybe "Rants Uber Alles" Mon dieux, ce fois nous sommes aller trop loin. Uh, what kind of frogs do you have Charlie? . . .

Reply to
Bill Rose

Some say that nicking the hard seed coat will aid in a speedier germination. Tried that. It works, but is a major PITA.

Soaking overnight in water is effective.

Peut-être pas. Si oui, c'est la vie. Je suis sûr que beaucoup nous ignorent maintenant

Frogs indeed we have. When we had the koi pond, a bullfrog took up residence. Pond went by the wayside as maintenence required lots of knee time and that wasn't working so well.

Peeper frogs of some sort live in the creek and serenade us from spring to fall and and we always have several tree frogs. Which are a boon to our mini-ecosystem, but when the tree frogs are feeling amorous they are the loudest and most annoying thing I have ever had in the garden, self included.

Sometimes I can't stand it any longer and get the hose and long range nozzle and start blasting around in the trees until he shuts up, but it is never for long.

Four of my boys friends, and a couple that are close to me, are stuck in that hellhole as we speak. One of them just had a child, and he is not even in country to be with his family. Everyday they are in my thoughts.

To life, to love, to caring Prost! Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

I drove in metal rods to hold on to about the pond. Serious rods three of them. This after a sculpture I was holding onto gave in while trying to rescue a large koi. Not nice or safe.

We have all sort of sounds here peeper are quiet compared to some.

I think of them as soccer guys I coached. I thought we learned better but it seems national tragedy blinds us all. The image of towers ....the image of people...enough.

Bill Wagner

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Reply to
William Wagner

Mon dieux mon ami. Dans mes bras. Tu a caché des chose. Quel surprise et joie. Bonne fête.

Salut la compagnie,

Bill Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

Reply to
Bill Rose

Pour ceci je ne peux pas prendre le crédit, mais peut-être il m'inspirera apprendre. Je suis désolé de décevoir, mon ami. Je suis désolé

Soin Charles, le trompeur

Reply to
Charlie

Amen brother, amen.

Care Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

Kein probleme.

Im jedenfalls werder wir die Kochtöpfe weiter schlagen.

Dein guten Freund,

- Bill Coloribus gustibus non disputaum (mostly)

Reply to
Bill Rose

In der Tat werde ich. Möglicherweise verwirren unsere Austäusche einiges hier, aber dieses ist eine gute Sache. Die, die Ohren haben, hören. Ich finde es zu unterhalten!

Deine Filter einstellen, um eine vorbehaltliche Linie mit Charlien anzunehmen. Das Verständigen mit jemand auf einem persönlicheren Niveau ist eine Spitze, die für mich traumatisch ist, aber was die Hölle? möglicherweise ich sie dieses Wochenende riskiere.

Die maschinelle übersetzung bitte entschuldigen, denn ich bin nicht imstande, dieses auf meinen Selbst zu vollenden.

Ich hoffe, daß dieses sinnvoll ist. Das Aufheben der übersetzung scheint, eine angemessene Idee des Gedankens zu geben.

Obacht und Durcheinander und ein grosses Grinsen Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

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