october seeds

it is mid october and there has been a low that hit freezing a couple of nights ago...and still there are green zea mexicana ears that are tightly wrapped in stems and green husks...

others that have separated and are moving towards maturity...

some have been thoroughly browsed...

and some have opned and shattered...or been harvested...

the teosinte plant in the center of this photo...

has rendered me three hundred and forty-two seeds of various colors and sizes...the darker seeds would seem to have more endosperm ( they sink in the hydrogen peroxide when i break domancy...the lighter ones float ) and germinate more readily than the lighter colored ones ( although about two thirds of the lighter colors germinate as well...at least last time i measured that )...

that three hundred and forty-two includes the the nine seeds i got from the last unshattered ear i could find on the plant today...along with the seeds i have harvested from the other plants i have better than a thousand at the moment with, hopefully, more on the way...some will join last year's in the freezer...some will be kept out to germinate in spring for next season's crop...it has been a fair year for zea out back...

there are seeds coming along on the field peas as well...they seem to have weathered the recent cold alright and the temperatures are forecast to moderate...they may make it yet.