Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

In a message dated 11/9/2008 4:05:50 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net writes:


> >1.  A neighbor who sometimes grows oats for deer gave me a gallon bag of
> "oats".  Are these what you referred to earlier as 'groats'? Can this be
> eaten as is instead of planted? 

Yes, but if they are not hulled, they will be mighty chewy!!  You can grind 
them into flour hulls and all, it will still be coarse but will make good 
pancakes.


>> kind of fungicide or anything-no 
> color or smell. 

Then there is no mercury based fungicide.

 >> years old.  If I plant them, what kind of germination 
> should I expect?


Close to 100 percent.  Oats are like corn and wheat, even very old seed is 
usually still viable.



>>  The site I read seemed to
> indicate that there would be ears of yellow and ears of red corn as
> opposed to ears of mixed colors.  True?

That's fairly common with several kinds of corn.  The Bloody Butcher I'll be 
sending you as soon as it has dried enough will sponsor a sport every three 
or 
four years where 10% of the ears are snow white.  I've never planted any of 
those seeds.  The next year all red again.

With only 25 seeds, consider starting them in pots.  If you get 25 seedlings, 
plant them in a 5 x 5 block of plants or you will get very little pollination.



> >
> I think it might be Bloody Butcher, but after seeing the images of the
> Calais, I am wondering if there is any way to tell what variety of corn
> I have.  Obviously, it is a red corn.  I put a picture of the ear on
> Myspace, but that may not be helpful.

That's exactly how I got my seed start.  Bloody butcher cob has a cross 
section like the Reid's Dent corn and all those hybrids derived along those 
lines.  


> 
> >4.  Is there some formula that gives an approximation of germination
> based on the age of the seed in years, assuming it was stored properly,
> or does it simply depend on the what kind of seed it is, that is corn
> might not last as long as beans, for example.


It hugely depends on the seed.  Corn can germinate after 100 years (and I'd 
say close to 1000).  Beans will last four or five years with high germination 
and then start falling off.  Peppers scarcely last from season to season.


James

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