Looking for blue corn

pchesney · September 05, 2009, 09:51:35 PM

I saw where bmill and others were talking about blue corn. I am looking for bulk seed to plant 2 acres. Does anyone know the sources?

We are dying with the drought down here in Texas and I want to plant a drought tolerant corn this spring. The Indian corn is supposed to be more drought tolerant. I am also going to go back to the old way of planting check rows since I do not use chemicals or a mechanical harvester. That was the ultimate method of planting before the herbicides and the mechanical harvester came along.

Any help would be appreciated.

signed: a dried-up prune in Texas. Pray for rain.
jpc@mailsw.com

PS. I put some interesting pictures of horse-farming our corn field in my album.

fishpharmer · September 06, 2009, 01:58:16 AM

I think bmill bred his own blue corn. Have you pm'd or emailed him?

Wish I could help more.

Nice looking draft horses. I used to have one, still got a soft spot for them. So are you horse farming completely? Or working in that direction? Just curious.

Also, what is a "check" row?

I heard something about New Mexico native Americans planting a type of corn and other seeds that are much more drought tolerant. They saved all the seed. Said modern seed was tried without success. Might be worth looking in that direction. I will let you know if I can come up with more details.

Here is an interesting read i found in a search.
http://web.media.mit.edu/~reilly/spicer2.html
Seems the people preferred quality taste over quantity.

Meanwhile I will say a prayer for your rain.

beenthere · September 06, 2009, 08:31:06 AM

Check rows means you can cultivate in both along and across the rows.
Planter uses a long wire similar to barb wire, only the barbs are just used to cause the corn to drop. Lined uand staked right at the ends, then the corn is dropped evenly spaced so cross cultivation is possible.
Used to be a interesting feature in fields that were checked. Prolly went out of use in the 40's and 50's.

Norm · September 06, 2009, 08:46:30 AM

Yep that's the way they used to do it here. I had an old JD planter that had the spools on it. I had to ask an older farmer what the heck they were for. He told me that they were a pain to use and the benefit just was not worth it.

Welcome to the forum.

timberfaller390 · September 06, 2009, 09:07:56 AM

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,34661.0.html Here's the link to our blue corn discussion

thedeeredude · September 06, 2009, 10:09:57 AM

Welcome to the forum. Any more pictures of the belgians?

fishpharmer · September 06, 2009, 10:37:53 AM

Yes, Welcome.

I didn't notice that you were new. Glad you found this place, you will like it. 8) 8)

Radar67 · September 06, 2009, 01:40:24 PM

I haven't heard from Bmill since he was suppose to send out some of his blue corn. He was in the Air Force, and I am wondering if he got deployed.

jim king · September 06, 2009, 04:17:35 PM

http://aces.nmsu.edu/news/1999/110299_bluecorn.html

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/corn_seeds.htm

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/corn.htm

http://www.reimerseeds.com/blue-hopi-corn.aspx

I Googled "blue corn" seed

Don_Papenburg · September 06, 2009, 08:47:58 PM

Beenthere , them were Knots we had a special pliers to make the knots . Glad I didn ot have to plant that way . It took my dad a long time to put in a 40 acre field with a four row and stoping on each end reset the stake then do it all over at the other end. Heck I don't like how slow the markers are at lifting . I start them up before I get to the end so they are up and all I have to do is slowenough to raise the planter and turn . then the other marker is on the way down before I make the full turn .

olyman · September 07, 2009, 06:58:55 PM

i remember my dad using a jd planter with the check row feature on it--he didnt like it!!! but its all he could afford for a few years.

olyman · September 07, 2009, 06:59:44 PM

Quote from: Radar67 on September 06, 2009, 01:40:24 PM
I haven't heard from Bmill since he was suppose to send out some of his blue corn. He was in the Air Force, and I am wondering if he got deployed.

wondered the same thing--was going to send a few kernels my way also.

pchesney · September 09, 2009, 01:44:08 AM

I am on the trail of the seed merchant in Junta, Colorado. One of my friends that helps me farm knows the merchant there since he was from Paonia, CO. I hope to find the seed there. My buddy grew blue corn and Jerusalem Artichokes in CO. The Sunchokes are a type of sun flower that grows a tuber. That is a subsistence crop that grows most anywhere. It will take over your land though, if you don't plant carefully.

I don't have more pictures of the horses right now. I don't own those. They are part of the teams at this place:
http://www.homesteadheritage-homesteading.com/

This is a homesteading school. It is part of a Christian community I am part of. We teach homesteading skills of all types. One of which is horse-farming.

I have another friend that helps us farm and they just bought a new team of Belgiums and we will be farming with those here shortly. I am not a horse-farming purist. I use a Kabota 26 hp with front loader to do a lot on the farm, including plowing, disking and planting.

I will post some pictures of us harvesting our oats with a mule team and a binder this spring in my albums for your enjoyment.

pchesney · September 09, 2009, 02:50:00 AM

I also put up 4 pictures of the horse-farming school. Not very big, but interesting if you like that.

Check row planting is not for sissies

It takes a slow, careful approach. It is only for people who don't want to use chemicals and mechanical harvesters. The yields for check-row corn planting was the highest seen until herbicides and intensive row planting was used. We are looking to return a few steps to use natural means of production. This is for subsistence farming and not for cash crops. The rows are 42 inches apart. That is a completely different world.