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  • From: Rosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [nafex] Subject:,Re: OT a bit- Saving hybrid seed (corn)
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 16:41:52 -0400


Naomi,

I attempted to stabilize (make open pollinated) the Silver Queen hybrid. If you plant hybrid seed, you get an unnerving result - inbreeding depression. You have to be patient through several generations of inbreeding depression, selecting out the ones that are not what you want, and then saving seed each year, until you get about 5 generations. Then grow the corn out in a large area (an acre would be great, a quarter acre would be minimal, and do a final selection of ears to save. In my ignorance, I introduced problems.

If you are interested in seed saving, which I HIGHLY recommend, please get hold of one of Carol Deppe's books on plant breeding or John Navazio's The Organic Seed Grower.

Open pollinated varieties do not suffer from inbreeding depression. They are maintained as Lee Reich suggested.




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