I've been playing around with corn breeding for a few years now. I harvested this year's crop this morning, and have been very pleased with my progress!
This BLACK one was a surprise. I was breeding for other traits, but this popped up and I LIKE it. Glossy, and just about as close to black as you can get. I'm thinking of calling it 'Black Gleam'. One more year to grow it out and make sure there aren't off types in the seed, and this one might be done!
The husks are very dark red as well, and even the stems of the plants are black as you can see in my not-very-good picture. The stand of them looked better before the groundhogs got it into their tiny brains to start tearing the plants down. These black stems were actually my goal for this population, so I'm quite happy about that. And pleased that the beautiful dark kernels came along for the ride...
On the OTHER extreme, I've been aiming towards this color mix for a while and just love it. I'm calling it 'Mother of Pearl' I really like the delicate pinks and blues and lavenders. Some of the plants have too much dark blue in them, but I think I'm getting close to my goal with this one.
A total surprise... from a population of white popcorn, these ones have just a touch of pink at the top of each kernel. I really like it... I'm calling it 'Pink Blush' for now, but I keep thinking it needs a better name. Suggestions would be appreciated.
I really like the mix of colors from this population, LOVE the glossy kernels, and they also were really good growers, with big full attractive ears. Too much boring yellow in the mix, but I'm going to go through and pull out the best colors and sort them out into a series of different color strains.
I love them! Is it just the picture or does the Pink Blush have pointy kernels? If you don't have anything perfect by the end of the month we can brainstorm names on our way to the germplasm center!
ReplyDeleteI would call the black one 'Persephone' because the black kernels look like pomegranate arils (which plays into Persephone's legend), she's the daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, and queen of the underworld thing, which works with the black and deep reds.
ReplyDeleteYou should post this pic in the social inter webs. It might go viral like "glass gem" did.
For 'Pink Blush,' I'm thinking maybe the name 'So Many Nipples?' Probably not commercially viable, but it's hard for me to see anything else in the picture. (A more acceptable option, making the same reference a bit more slyly, might be 'Lady of Ephesus.')
ReplyDelete'Mother of Pearl' is really pretty.
You amaze me. Thanks for sharing your latest project and for starting up your personal blog again. It's always a good read!
ReplyDeletePink Blush makes me think of UNIX (red hat kernal).
ReplyDeleteThat last one looks like jellybeans glued to a rolling pin.
J- I love the black plants! We just got our first shipment of corn stalks at the garden center where I work. I think the black ones would be so chic. About the breeding: are these edible or purely ornamental?
ReplyDeleteMr Subjunctive and I are seeing the same thing as a similar title to his leapt to mind when I saw Pink Blush. Mother of Pearl is very pretty. Why not stick with the Pearl theme for all of them so that that starts to become your trademark? The black ones would be Black Pearl, which suits it well, I think. Are these only for decoration? You don't mention what they taste like.
ReplyDeleteAny chance that we could import your black corn into Taiwan? I could make a fortune selling SIX Black Paste!
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