Let Me Explain

     Have you ever looked at a package of corn seed? Most of them I have ever seen have a statement on them something to this effect:

Since Corn is wind pollinated, it's better to plant 4 or more short, side-by-side rows than 1 or 2 long rows. This will help pollination and ear development.

     I planted my Glass Gem corn in 3 rows. about 15 inches apart. and planted the seeds 12 inches apart. I originally planted 2 rows of 17 seeds and 1 row of 10 seeds. 

X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X

                                   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X

X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X

     But then I had a little problem with some snail damage after the plants had been up about a week and it wiped out the red X's. I had 7 seeds left so I planted them to try to keep the big gap from being left. I put  some organic snail bait out to try to keep the snails off the corn.

     It didn't work as well as I had hoped it would and I wound up losing some more corn plants. It kinda left my corn looking like this:

                    X   X   X        X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X

                         X      X     X   X   X   X   X   X        X   X

X                                 X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X 

     The 5 purple X's were 2 weeks behind in maturing and are where the "Pearl" kernels came from. And that one blue X was kinda left all by it's lonesome. it matured when the black X's did. But it was over there by itself. 7 feet away from the other stalks that were maturing when it did. And it affected it. It made some beautiful seeds, but that whole ear development thing didn't work out too well. 

     The top ear. That's the one from the plant by itself. Pretty kernels. Pitiful ear fill. The plant by itself didn't have much chance for any of the other plants to pollinate it. Those other plants were in the middle of a big pollination party. While that one was over by itself. Playing solitaire with a deck of 51 cards.

              

Glass Gems and Pearls

     I posted about growing corn a few weeks ago. But I didn't post all the pictures I should have. So to provide some pictures of the process, I planted some more. The picture on the right is glass gem corn 15 days after it was planted. I decided to plant some and see if it could make a second crop. OH NO! I just realized I must be one of those big-ag monoculture farmers cause I planted it in the same spot I planted the other Glass Gem corn.
     No-Till Glass Gem corn, planted by sticking my finger into the ground, putting the seed in the hole, then filling it with compost. 

This is Glass Gem corn 29 days after it was planted. I actually used a shovel and disturbed the ground here a bit before I planted the seeds. It's growing pretty good, but I'm not sure it's going to ever make anything. Mainly because here in South Texas it gets HOT. How hot?

     2 days before I took the picture above, I took the picture to the right -->
If you can make it out, the leaves of the plant are really curled up. It's a corn plants self defense system to protect it from hot dry weather. curling up reduces moisture loss from the plant. (or so I was told once upon a lifetime ago)
     Anyway I hope to get some more pictures. and hopefully I will get a few more ears of corn. The older plants were planted from seeds I got off of these ears. These are definitely what I had hoped for when I planted those seeds in the first place. But I did have a few ears that were behind those. 2 weeks behind them, in fact.

     These ears are what I called the pearls. I don't know if you can make out how beautiful they are. But I photographed them against a dark background. You know how you always see pearl necklaces and earrings and such shown agains black velvet backgrounds? Well, I didn't have black velvet, just a dark colored towel. 
     I have some seeds that I didn't plant. And I am thinking I might sell them. I'm not looking to sell them at the price I saw them on Amazon, where the person was offering 8 seeds for $2. Nor am I looking to sell them at the price I saw on ebay (and they may still be there at that price) at almost $1 per kernel. 
     No, I'm thinking that I will sell them in one of 3 sizes. 25 seeds for $3.75. 50 seeds for $5.00. 100 seeds for $7.50. PLUS shipping and handling.
     So if you would like to try growing some of this beautiful corn, let me know how many seeds you want. Whether you want to Glass Gem or Pearls.

Make An Offer   
     Have a Great Day! God Bless You!

Jesus was an Inventor

     Today is the first night of the revival at the church I grew up in. Things have changed since I was a little child. Used to be the visiting pastor/preacher/evangelist would go to the home of one of the congregation and have supper before he 'brought the message'.
     Now they have a potluck supper on the first night.
     If you don't know me or haven't read any of my thoughts before, you are probably wondering what that has to do with Jesus being an inventor.
   You've read the Bible, you've heard the sermons, you've been to Bible studies. None of them ever mentioned Jesus being an inventor. He gave sight to the blind, healed the sick, made the lame to walk, turned water into wine. The most important miracle he performed though is the one that still touches lives today. Whether you are a believer or not you have probably been touched by Jesus' most fantastic miracle.
    2 fish and 5 loaves of bread fed 5000.
     Yes, on that day in history Jesus invented the casserole. One of the greatest inventions of all time. There isn't a potluck meal since (or at least none I've been to) that didn't have at least one casserole. Whether it's a family get together, a church meal, a meal after a funeral, a department meal at work, a meal to welcome a new neighbor, or even to welcome a new pastor. There has been a casserole dish there.
     The lowly casserole. Often made fun of, but always welcome, a symbol of God's love. Jesus's best miracle in my opinion.
     I know that Jesus really DID perform a miracle when he fed the 5000. And it wasn't inventing the casserole.


The miracle was that he did it without Cream of Mushroom soup.

What If They Were Right? (AKA 40 years)

     When I was a little boy, I had a girlfriend. Her name was Ms. Norma. She worked at the Farm Supply. I loved going to see her. She'd give me hot cocoa. Hey, when you're 3 or 4, that's all it takes for true love.
     Being at the Farm Supply meant there were old guys hanging around there. In all honesty, they probably weren't that old. Maybe not even as old as I am now. But I remember hearing one time they were talking about weeds. And one of them said that pigweed seeds could lie dormant for 40 years before sprouting. 40 years. That's a long time.
     Later in life, when I was 10 or 11, I was in the 4-H club and I signed up for the wildlife food plot competition. One of the other people who signed up was talking about there being pigweed in the seed package they had gotten. There HAD to be because they hadn't had any pigweed in that field in years. One of the Extension Agents made a comment about pigweed seeds could lie dormant for 40 years before sprouting. 40 years. That's a long time.
     And now. I hear reports about there being Roundup resistant pigweeds. Pigweed, the plant whose seeds can lie dormant for 40 years before sprouting. We may be looking at there being Roundup resistant pigweed sprouting for the next 40 years. 40 years. That's a long time.
    Read about the study.
     Maybe those old guys had heard about that study. Or possibly the Ag Extension agent had learned about it in college. Either way, they had heard or knew something that is backed up by scientific proof.
     40 years. That's a long time.
     Just to give you an idea of how long 40 years is, Roundup was introduced to market 39 years ago.
     And what that means is that there is a possibility that those Roundup resistant pigweed, may have been around before Roundup was even introduced onto the market.