teosinte talk

there's been a few questions in the comments area of this blog about teosinte seed procurement so as a visual aid to the rundown i am going to do about my seed sources ( which are pretty simple ) i brought some teosinte ears in from the back yard ( top photo ) and took them down in the basement to compare with the indoor plants under the lights ( obviously the second photo )...the outdoor plants have died back more rapidly but both sets are going the way of all annuals...unlike maize the teosinte ears are opening as they dry and the seed heads are shattering ( third and fourth ) and the indoor plants are already dropping seeds into the soil in the pots (fifth...obvious again ) i am collecting all the mature seeds i can find and will be storing them away...are they viable? i am not sure since the seeds my plants produced in 2011 did not mature...i will be planting some of these around ( along with commercial seed i have purchased ) the middle of march, both at home and in a maize bed at the i u northwest community garden as part of the ancestor/domesticate project there..my hope is for a second generation of teosinte...mostly just so i can say i did it...but also as an exercise in seed saving which is yet another facet of sustainability i hope we can build on in the gardens...now as for sources...the northern tepehuan teosinte is an annual and while the plants do not resemble maize tremendously closely they will, under the proper conditions ( pretty much lots of sun and water ) produce multitudes of seed ears..these seeds are commercially available and i bought mine from native seed in arizona http://www.nativeseeds.org/ for the serious grower it's a good source...Zea diploperennis is a perennial strain that i have managed to overwinter and perpetuate for three seasons here in northern indiana...it looks strikingly like maize but i have never gotten any seed ears...i am inclined to think it is a photo period issue with longer summer days this far north of its native range... i just mulched it for winter and you can look back over posts from last weekend to see how that went...those seeds i got from the usda http://www.ars-grin.gov/ a word of caution..the seeds were absolutely free ( as were the seed potatoes and wild potato seeds i got for the ancestor/domesticate project )but they must be for an educational purpose and the usda will want to see some data on results ( and this blog has supplied them with some of that data..as well as an anthropology research paper some poor soul got to read )...the pgp and the community garden are both educational projects and having a university email address doesn't hurt...i am told zea dipoloperennis seeds are commercially available but i have failed to find any...that sums up my seed source knowledge for teosinte...if anyone has more information leave a comment please and i will post it to help those seeking germplasm...more as it comes up.