Rocky Mountain Corn

[GilpinGuy]

This looks interesting. Anyone ever try it? If I can get some corn growing up here, I'd be a real happy camper.

http://rockymountaincorn.com/

From their website:
"What is Painted Mountain Corn? Simply put, it’s a corn that grows where no other corn grows. Bred to withstand the harsh climate and short growing season of southwestern Montana, we’ve found that it’s the only corn that will grow and reliably produce at elevations above 5,000 feet in the northern Rocky Mountains. Bred from a variety of semi-extinct western Indian corns, Painted Mountain Corn represents a gene pool with 1,000 years of selection for reliable production in the arid and nutrient-poor soils of the western United States."

[TheGrey]

Really pretty corn, isn't it?

I don't much care for their payment options (cash, or money order with the payee section left blank.) I get the whole 'off-grid' mentality, but this doesn't leave a person much recourse if their product goes missing.
They don't accept mail that is registered. They don't accept mail sent by signature-on-delivery.
They don't guarantee that the USPS won't lose your mail.

So, if you've got money that you want to gamble with, I'd say go for it. If the gods smile upon you and the money you send actually makes it there and they send you the product you ordered, I'd be interested in seeing how it does in the Colorado soil.

[BushMasterBoy]

Painted Mountain Corn on ebay too. I might order some as insurance.

OK...I just found out he sells on ebay. I bought a pound of seeds for $9.99 free shipping.

[TheGrey]

Painted Mountain Corn on ebay too. I might order some as insurance.

OK...I just found out he sells on ebay. I bought a pound of seeds for $9.99 free shipping.

That's good news. Buyers have a little more protection through ebay/paypal.

Let us know when you get it? Are you going to plant it next year, or hold it back for 'just in case'?

[BushMasterBoy]

I will probably start a few seedlings in germination in the house to get a feel for viability. I have multiple bugout locations in mind but they are all in high country, so "yes" for just in case!

[68Charger]

knowing water requirements of corn, and looking at their 12 steps... water is your limiting factor.

I'm on a well- but I am allowed to water up to 1 acre from my well... and I'm watering only around 1000 sq Ft of lawn right now... plus I have an established erosion-control dam on my property- that can yield more water if I planted where I can use water from the holding pond in front it it (dry 90% of of time, but holds 1000s of gallons when full)

What I would need is the time to tend to it... unless I can get the kids enslaved, er... interested in tending to it.

if You're looking into this- concern yourself where you're getting your water from

[BushMasterBoy]

Ok, the corn came in the mail today. It looks pretty good. Now I have to test germinate it. One pound for $10 off ebay.



http://ufotestpilot.com/corn.JPGhttp://ufotestpilot.com/corn2.JPG

[TheGrey]

Nice! That was fast. :)

[ferrum]

Very interested in your results.
All my corn ends up the size of baby corn on 2 foot tall stalks.

[BushMasterBoy]

I just put 6 seeds under a wet paper towel on a plate. 2 red, 2 dark & 2 yellow seeds. If they sprout, I will plant them in some pots or buckets. I don't know how well they will do indoors. I will update this thread with pics as they grow.

[GilpinGuy]

Sweet! I'm real interested in your results as well. [HiFive]

[GilpinGuy]

Any germination results?

[BushMasterBoy]

5 of the six germinated. Planted in starter pots 48 hours ago.

http://ufotestpilot.com/sprout2.JPGhttp://ufotestpilot.com/seedling3.JPG

[TheGrey]

That's awesome!

[Colorado Osprey]

Very interested in your results.
All my corn ends up the size of baby corn on 2 foot tall stalks.

I noticed your location. I've had good luck near you with Walmart's Burpee "Sugar Pearl" 6-8' stalks and 2-3 ears per stalk. My elevation there was between 7-7250ft which is higher than Falcon.
They require lots of water, the rainfall here isn't even close to adequate but they will grow and produce if you water them a lot.

[ferrum]

Thanks for the info. I will pick some up in the spring. Also going to try a small green house for peppers and tomatoes

[GilpinGuy]

Just ordered a pound myself.

[rbeau30]

So, obviously it needs to pollenate otherwise you won't get any seeds to germinate.

What would you say is the minimum number of plants you should have to make harvest effective?


EDIT:

I ordered a half pound. I have a space where I can put some. We will see how much I get out of the space that I have set aside. You can now order online without having to send them a check.

[BushMasterBoy]

Pic taken today! Growing nicely planted in some plain old backyard soil.

http://ufotestpilot.com/leafy1.JPG

[GilpinGuy]

You can now order online without having to send them a check.

I ordered mine on ebay. Shipped today!

[screagle2]

So, obviously it needs to pollenate otherwise you won't get any seeds to germinate.

What would you say is the minimum number of plants you should have to make harvest effective?


EDIT:

I ordered a half pound. I have a space where I can put some. We will see how much I get out of the space that I have set aside. You can now order online without having to send them a check.


Pollination on and germination are not inter connected in any way except if the seed does not germinate...........nothing happens.

special seed for high altitude.... Not. Growing degree units to black layer, yes, but altitude is not a factor. Check how many "day" the seed is.. Many here are mistaking double cross, single cross, etc...

[GilpinGuy]

Pollination on and germination are not inter connected in any way except if the seed does not germinate...........nothing happens.

special seed for high altitude.... Not. Growing degree units to black layer, yes, but altitude is not a factor. Check how many "day" the seed is.. Many here are mistaking double cross, single cross, etc...

75-90 IIRC.

[rbeau30]

Just got my .5 lb bag of it. We will see how it grows at the Beau homestead this year. Tasted a few kernels and they were tasty. Ordering to delivery was about a week.

Putting them in the basement until growing season.

[longhunter]

I need some of this...they are claiming that it is heiloom too?

[BushMasterBoy]

It seems all my corn has died. I think it was the lack of sun light. I was putting it out in the day time, but keeping it in during the really cold days.

[GilpinGuy]

Boooo. Well, we'll both be experimenting in the spring I guess. Your germination results were promising. [Beer]

[GilpinGuy]

Sweet. 100% germination. We'll see how this grows up here.

58888

[rbeau30]

Mine is nearly 8 inches tall. It survived the hail and cold pretty well, We planted them around Mother's day weekend.

Direct sow seems to work best.

[GilpinGuy]

Good luck rbeau30. I put about 20 sprouts in the bed and have 8 in pots in the house as backup. The weather up here is really messing up my plans.

[rbeau30]

I hear ya, I have lost 4 fruit trees this year, and another Cherry tree and plum tree are not looking so good. I had to do some drastic pruning.I started 12 kernels and pretty much planted them right away because they germinated in two days and quickly threatened to become root-bound. I added 4 more to the bed to top it off directly sewing them, and they quickly caught up to the others.This makes me realize that there is no way I can come close to subsisting on my measly property. And in years like this, I think we would be starving.

[GilpinGuy]

Direct sow seems to work best.

I took this to heart and had extra space, so I sowed about 30 seeds as well. Hoping for the best.

[Delvehound]

Any word on these? How're they growing? Any ears yet? How do they taste?

[rbeau30]

Any word on these? How're they growing? Any ears yet? How do they taste?

I have 2 ears on most of my corn plants, some ears are like super-market sized. I think they seeded fine, but I am not really sure how to tell without opening the ears up. I planted these in a 2 x 6 raised bed for an experiment. They seemed to do pretty well, except they blow over easy. They don't seem to require a lot of water either. (I also covered the dirt with grass clippings on all of my gardens.)

I'll try to take pics this weekend.

These are a "Field Corn", so I have been told they can be eaten "sweet corn style" but will not be as sweet as one would expect something from the supermarket. They do well as meal/grits/flour or a hominy type of food.

[GilpinGuy]

Mine are only about 2.5 feet tall - no ears. The early season rain and cold really set everything back up here. The only things going really well are strawberries, sugar snap peas and herbs.

[ray1970]

The corn in Iowa is about six feet tall and looks like it has the ears on it.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Ours are about 3' http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/08/fad6b6b5a7704b1e182fb28dd2449f3f.jpg


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[Delvehound]

Lookin' good buddy

[ChunkyMonkey]

The last few days the corn and potato plants are growing pretty fast. We will be gone for a month next month, this is going to be interesting!

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/16/5c2192051057768a4b974934e2238548.jpg


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[hollohas]

I planted a short season corn this year. First ears were harvested on 7/26 and the last on 8/6. Heirloom corn with varied, small sized ears. Sweet and tasty but not nearly as sweet as the super sweets you find in the market.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/25/58c9ff49e3af7c820db6e2d898d6549d.jpg

Corn was all grown in pots. Shown on the right side of the above picture in late July.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/25/1be19202407e2392bad48ace0db548f1.jpg

Grew poles beans with them.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/25/79068850caefdabe4969db7f0336e114.jpg

Grew in goofy sizes from 4 inches to 10 in.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/25/8e1c7fe417980ebba626741fd89da008.jpg

One ear per plant. Plants were a very short season variety, grew only about 4ft tall.

[rbeau30]

This is what I got this year. From 12 stalks.

60564

For perspective... Right is what I planted / Left is what I got. mostly 1 ear per stalk. Some had two.

I am very pleased because corn is wind pollinated. If I got this out of 12 stalks in a 2' x 6' raised bed. I think I would get a better yield off of a larger plot.

Perhaps next year I will delay half of the crop. and sew it later in the year.

[GilpinGuy]

Man, I have a lot of silk, but the "ears" are pretty damn small. Hopefully it's frost resistant like it's supposed to be. It's getting damn chilly up here at night.

It's interesting, the seeds I germinated inside, then transplanted, are way smaller than the ones I sowed directly. Someone mentioned that it's better to direct sow. Good to know for next year.

Every single seed I germinated inside or directly sowed grew though. Pretty awesome.

[rbeau30]

Direct sow. Otherwise they get root bound in only a couple days. Out of 12 kernels I got 1.5 lbs of corn. My ears are small and some of them do not have completed rows of kernels. I guess this is a lack of pollenation. I need to expand the corn to the 4x8 raised bed next year that I am not using to tomatoes and rotate. My corn finished early enough this year I can till and use the bed for something like lettuce later in the year.

Next year I will plant half from my seeds and half from the original stock. Perhaps it will help the next generations with this area