Friday Rogue Round-up: Wonky Corn

It was originally called "Friday Rogue Roll Call," but then I said it aloud and it sounded like I'd choked on a golf ball. So we'll stick to Round-up, despite the word's somewhat chemical and weedy connotations.

So welcome! This is the first Friday Rogue Round-up: my new tradition where I highlight one (or a few) of the weirdos that've popped up in my garden recently. It's also where I try not to type rouge every time by mistake.

This week, I'd like to introduce you to a very interesting chorus line. Or should I say... corn-us line? 

(no, no I shouldn't.)

IN THE BEGINNING -- there was mom.

Hi mom.

Mom was a very, um... interesting ear of corn. So unusual, in fact, she earned herself the name "Jaberwocky." She came from the first batch of Painted Mountain I planted April 24th. This ear was harvested around July 17th. She was a tiller ear, not a main ear, and silked after most plants had already tasseled (hence the very poor pollination).

Painted Mountain corn is a notoriously early corn; for me it silks approximately 40 days after sowing.
When I harvested this ear, the stalks had not yet dried down. I had only sown a small bed, and any weak/slow to mature plants were culled. I ended up with fourteen ears.

SIDE NOTE: Corn seed has very early viability as long as care is taken to dry the kernels well after harvest. No attempt to remove kernels from the cob should be made until fully dry though, to avoid damaging them. Viable corn seed can be obtained from ears as little as 20 days after silking. Commercial sweet corn seed is harvested around this time.  

While seed savers are usually encouraged to fully dry down the corn until the husks are brown to obtain the best most viable seed, I decided to test this -- I've now planted 50 seeds of my second generation. Some ears were relatively dry when harvested, others were still in the milk stage and the kernels easily punctured.

I dried the ears in mesh bags in front of a fan for about a week. Then I shelled several  of the driest kernels (mostly from the tip or end) from each ear and planted them. Many of the kernels were tiny, misshapen or shriveled. However, I've thus far sown 50 of these seeds and achieved a 96% germination rate (48/50 sprouts). There was, however, a wide sprouting period - the earliest seeds came up in four days, while others took around two weeks. END SIDE NOTE   

For the 2nd generation (not to be confused with the F1, as this was a Painted X Painted cross, not a hybrid breeding) I used 30 gallon tubs and planted 4 kernels from each mother ear, each in their own row, with several rows per tub. They will undeniably be overcrowded, but the goal here is to get an idea of the  characteristics of each mother ear's offspring, not necessarily to produce the most ample harvest.

Which, after all my above yammering, brings us to --

THE CORN-US LINE:

(I can't stop)

Jabberwocky Baby 1:

"Hi, I'm Baby 1. We're actually all the same age, but since I'm the biggest that makes me number 1."

Jabberwocky Baby 2:

"I'm Baby 2, and Baby 1 is full of shit. She's only Baby 1 because godzilla planted us left to right, so since she's leftmost that makes her 1-most. And I just... wait, where's my middle poker..."

Jabberwocky Baby 3:

"I'm Baby 3 and I thoroughly resent this numerical system. Also, I was buried too deep. And my dirt feels, I dunno... crusty.
AND this a terrible photograph. Look at that angle. What am I, a lawn clipping?"

Jabberwocky Baby 4:

*PRIMAL GARGLING NOISES*

Clearly, genetics are having some fun here.

After conferring with Greyweiner the cat and the Mantis army, we've named her Cthulhu. And while her sisters, thus far, seem to be obeying the laws of physics and normality, I'm suspecting that all four not only share the same mother (Jabberwocky) but also have the same father (whoever). 

Since it was a late setting tiller ear, and the pollination was so poor, I'll venture a guess that only one plant was still capable of puffing out a last little bit of man dust. And while the pericarp (outer layer) of the kernel is always maternal, there is a striking degree of similarity between the planted kernels, as well as the few still remaining on the ear.

But Jaberwocky wasn't the only strange ear in the first gathering of fourteen. That said, she was definitely the wonkiest, and is the only one so far to spawn a child of equal or greater wonkery. 

So, what does the future hold for Cthulhu?

Will she make it to adulthood unscathed? 

Will she produce little wonksters of her own?

*dramatic TV music*

TO BE CONTINUED.

~~~~~~~~~~

That's it for this week's Rogue Round-up! I hope you've enjoyed meeting one of our newest unstable celebrities. And if you've encountered (or posted about) any of your own rogues recently, do share!