Sunday, July 24, 2016

maize and corn

the dense yellow #2 in the industrial filed behind the big box stores ( first photo )is doubtlessly genetically modified...if for no other reason than to allow it to grow so closely together...and probably be immune to atrizine...seed savers' exchange swore by all that was wholly organic that my heirloom seeds were not...still there is a srtiking family resemblance...the industrial field is flowering heavily (third )...the "petals" have separated and they will be pumping out corn pollen soon enough...same thing going on int the back yard ( fourth ) and with the same ultimate ends in view...pollen to fertilize each strand of silk on an ear...there are a lot more flowers in the industrial field ( fifth ) but then there is a lot more corn as well...i am curious as to why the industrial corn has so much more robust support roots though (sixth )...i do have nascent ears of maize out back...didn't detect any in the industrial field yet...will be looking in on it next weekend.

2 comments:

  1. Engineering corn to grow close together is still well beyond the state of the art. It would go much faster with traditional breeding, at least for now.

    It would be mighty peculiar if your corn didn't bear a strong family resemblance to the industrial corn.

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  2. if indeed this corn is not engineered to grow more closely together the field is seriously over planted. two to four inches between plants is the norm with some right next to one another. hardly seems like a recipe for good production and i will be looking for ( and probably not finding many ) multiple ears.

    since they are different varieties from the same family it would be odd if there weren't a strong family resembalnce. there are differences however. among others the Bear Paw Maize is developing multiple ears ( two or three on each plant ), it isn't nearly as tall as the industrial corn, and it does not grow as quickly. Different as they are alike.

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