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market-farming - [Market-farming] Synergistic, Sweet Gene and Sweet Breed Sweet corn types

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  • From: "Wyatt Jones" <wyatt_jones AT netzero.com>
  • To: <Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Synergistic, Sweet Gene and Sweet Breed Sweet corn types
  • Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:43:34 -0400

 
 
What a weird day.  It rains 2 inches in 15 minutes then almost immediately there isn't a cloud in the sky, Hot and muggy of course, then an hour or so later its dark again and pouring like before, the cycle repeating over and over.  Its been going on this way since noon and my pasture is flooding, I think I might start canning beans or make some jam. Was hoping to get some fall crops in.  Oh well at least I got my corn cultivated yesterday.  Anyway I got started on this research and thought it might be of some interest.
 
To give you an idea about pricing differences in the synergistic corn I'll list some here.  My neighbor told me that Harris, a seed company in New York ( my friend told me they were out of Kentucky LOL), is expanding their untreated and organic lines and I called them to confirm that so I guess I'll keep an eye on them.  They say their corn isn't GMO but they don't test for it like Fedco so there is no guarantee unless you test it yourself and confront them with that information, which is beyond my means.  Maybe if a few other people and I bring it up a few times they will at least start testing the organic seed as they seem genuinely interested in getting a good standing in the organic seed market.  Fedco finds GMO in sweet corn seed all the time, I don't remember if it was last year or the year before but they rejected the tuxedo sweet corn and some others they received because of it.  Harris claimed there was no such thing as a GMO sweet corn but if there is GMO field corn around it can certainly get into the sweet corn genetics pretty easily.  They were VERY surprised when I told them of Fedco's findings so, even though they seem sincere, I have to wonder about them as I would think, being a seed company, they would know about such things but maybe they just needed somebody to open their eyes.  Still one would think they would be more educated about such things and I wonder what else they don't know.  I'm really hoping Fedco gets some larger qtys of Serendipity with a qty break on the price, they have their problems but I do think they are worth the trouble and they try pretty hard.  I hope they get some other synergistics, Sweet Breed and Sweet Genes (triplesweets) in the future, including some white ones like Avalon or Sweet Ice.
 
Synergistics are (se x se) x (se x sh2)  Sweet Gene's (Se x Se) x (Su x Sh2)  and Sweet Breeds are Se x (Su x Sh2) I've noticed that all the Sweet Breeds I found are early corn, while the Sweet Genes tend to be later corn, Synergistics are all over the board.  Not sure if thats a coincidence or there is some reason for it.   I have noticed that the triplesweets have a more tender texture than the synergistics which is good or bad depending on your requirements, won't take rough handling which isn't a problem for me.  Haven't had any experience with the Sweet breeds but they are supposed to have similar qualities to the Sweet Genes which would make sense given their genetics.  All the varieties I've seen of these three of these types have a small cob and so a smaller diameter ear though they do have very deep kernels.  That seems to confuse some customers used to large cobs as the ears look bigger and it seems like there is more edible corn on the cob when in fact they are pretty comparable in that respect
 
There is Mirai Corn, it combines the Su Se and Sh2 types but they're not telling exactly how, apparently it is very popular in Japan and the sweetness is compared to that of sweet fruit or melons.  Marketing hype or reality? Don't know, but I read conflicting information about how fussy it is about growing.  Some claim it can tolerate drought band hot weather better than other varieties , other that it needs more water.  I think it is simply an augmented Supersweet (se stacked on top of a Sh2 gene, not sure how that works but its genetic and texture are similar to a synergistic but its sweeter, almost too sweet for my taste) myself and Harris Seeds lists it that way.  As such it definitely need more water and likes the heat, not a cold weather variety at all though some of the new Xtr-tender varieties are listed as more tolerant to somewhat cooler soil.  I've grown the Xtra-tender 374a, another augmented supersweet white corn and it was great though a bit too sweet for my taste, the squirrels came for miles around and I found cobs EVERWHERE.  I thought the wind knocked over the whole stand at first but the stalks were knocked away from the windbreak and I couldn't figure out how that was possible till I saw the little buggers making off with the ears.  The squirrels would knock down stalks and when the cobs hit the ground all the birds went for it including the doves, never saw anything like it,  It was a real wildlife party I can tell you LOL, They were having a good old time and I didn't get many ears of corn, though I didn't find one worm or any evidence they had been there.  Isolation is an issue though.   The Mirai company strongly suggests selling its corn at $6 a dozen!  The seeds sell for about $5.50/1000 to  at qtys of 100,000, a little more than most synergistic but a little cheaper than Montauk and the other augmented supersweets although its hard to correlate the two as the Xtra-tender is sold by the pound instead of a seed count.  Johnny's lists the seed count of the xtra-tenders to vary between 2500-5500 which makes a huge difference but they don't say which is which, Harris lists the seed count of all but the xtra-tender 277a (2900sds/lb) and 282a (3300sds/lb) as 3000sds/lb  The Maria varieties had similar counts for he most part but the 301BC was listed at 4000 sds/lb and at $300/50000 seeds its $24.00/lb.  probably have problems with seed plates with that one.
Cultural information for growing
Mirai Sweet Corn.

You need to have a well prepared seedbed and continued good conditions.
It must be warm when you plant soil temps 60 F.
Plant shallow, no more than 1 1/4 inch.
Seed is light but not small and will require experimentation with planter plates.
Plant 25,000 seeds per acre.
Push the fertility.
Do not use Accent herbicide.
Hand harvest only, as Mirai has extremely tender kernels.
At harvest ears should be allowed to mature fully for maximum flavor and sweetness, 21-24 days after silking. "Click on Mirai Maturity Chart with 0 and +2 being optimum maturity for the Mirai Experience."

When populations are good expect excellent yields of nicely packaged attractive ears with superb tip fill and irresistible kernels.

I asked Jordan's a while back about untreated corn but they stopped responding when I asked. They seemed helpful until that point but I never got a response after I asked about it though I repeated sent e-mails requesting that information so I have to assume they don't deal in untreated seed though I don't know for sure. I was thinking about ordering other items till I got that treatment as their prices seemed very reasonable.  Definitely NOT good customer relations in my opinion.
 
Note: I assumed 2500 sds/lb unless I saw seed counts specified, that is probably a very conservative estimate but that was what Johnny's claimed for synergistic averages though they  gave a range of 1700-3500.  The types I actually found counts for individual types were considerably higher than that average and even a bit higher than the maximum Johnny's gave, Maybe those types that had a higher count specifically mentioned them to show that their prices were more reasonable than a first glance would indicate for marketing reasons, again not sure but that seems a reasonable hypothesis.  Johnny's data has proven very reliable in the past, judging from my experience so I tend to trust their data more than most.
 
White
 
 
Avalon Triplesweet (Rust resistant Sweet Gene) 82 day 8x1.85" 
 
 Southern states: 50lbs  $440.00 ($9/lb)
Jordan's:  $550 ($11/lb)
 
Misquamicut Synergistic 78 day 8.5" x1.8"
couldn't find pricing on this one
 
Sweet Ice -Sweet Breed  74 day couldn't find any size data but it looked about the size of Polka
sensitive to rust, not too disease resistant but good cold soil germination and vigor
Harris 100,000 sds $487 $12/lb
 
 
Bicolors
 
Serendipity  Triplesweet (Sweet Gene) 82 day 8x1.85" 3860 sds/lb
Quickly becoming a standard
 
Southern states 50lbs $400 ($8/lb)
Jordan's: 50lbs $490  ($9.80/lb)
Fedco 10 lbs $150 ($15/lb)  No larger unit size available for 2009
 
Providence triplesweet ( Rust resistant Sweet Gene) 82 day 8"x1.85" (rust resistant Serendipity type)
 
Montauk synergistic 80 day 8"x16-20 row
 
Jordan's 50lbs $627 (12.5/lb)
Johnny's 100,000 sds (about 40 lbs) $719 ($18/lb)
 
Polka synergistic 65 day
A new variety that I grew this year, quite impressive to me, one of the quickest and very good.  Sets ears fairly low and short stalks, 5' or so  Jordan lists the ear at 8.5x1.7"  Johnny's lists it more accurately by my experience at 7 1/2" 14-16 row. Most were around that size but it varies more than it probably should,  A few were as large as 9 inches and some were more like 6"  Excellent flavor and very sweet.  I've had customers say it was the best they ever had but its early corn and the very tips didn't always fill out but I've found that to be normal in very early sweet corn and since it tapers quite a bit toward the end there isn't much loss of kernels, its more a cosmetic issue.  With the smaller cob all these types have, some customers thought they were overly small but they had quite a bit of edible corn, very deep kernels.  Still customer perception is a factor and its their money.  I'm selling it pretty well in Yellow Springs, a college town and making headway in the country but I do get people turning their noses up at it because of the perceived size.  Those I get to try it come back for more though. Its available from Johnny's in both untreated and organic nutrient based (Natural II) treated which I found works as well a the traditional treatment , maybe better.  The organic treatment costs about 20% more but I plan to use it for my early corn.  With the better germination rate it at least balances out anyway and might be in fact a better buy
 
Jordan's  100,000 sds $326 ($8/lb)
Johnny's  100,000 sds $457 ($11.5/lb)
 
Frisky  synergistic 67day 7"x12-14 row 
 
Johnny's 100,000 sds $457 (11.5/lb)
 
Kristine Synergistic 80 day 8.5x1.9"
 
Jordan's  100,000 sds $470 ($12/lb)
 
Cameo   synergistic 82 day 9x2.1"
 
Jordan's  100,000 sds $466 ($11.50/lb)
 
Charmed
 
 
 
Yellow
 
Honey Select Synergistic 78 day 8.5x2" 3640 sds/lb
Jordan's  50lbs $500 ($10/lb)
 
 
Applause Synergistic 73 day 8x1.8" (Bodacious type)
Jordan's 100,000sds (about 40lbs) $400 ($10/lb)
Harris -  Available untreated 20lbs at $13.50/lb  100lbs at 11:50/lb
 
Well I could go on but hopefully you get the idea.  These sweet corn types seem to be catching on pretty fast as they are very sweet with good flavor and keep longer in the field and refrigerated, as long as 10 days refrigerated, without most of the problems associated with Supersweets, including the tougher eating quality.  Organic and untreated availability lags behind the ones contaminated with chemicals but that's the world we live in unfortunately
 
 


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