If any of you have left over corn seed how do you preserve it for next year ??? I put some in a coffee can and put it in the freezer....do you think this will work ??? I had some seed from last year that I left set out in my basement in the shade which is air conditioned...the seed looked fine and I planted it a couple weeks ago and it did not germinate,so I bought new at Southern States yesterday and planted it today...
Left over corn seed....
- Thread starter Cactus
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Bird
Rest in Peace
Cactus, putting it in the freezer sounds good to me; reminds me of a guy who said he puts a kernel of corn in each little divider in ice trays, freezes them, then plants the ice cubes. He claimed that makes them germinate better and they're self watering for the first time after planting. I never tried it myself, so I don't know whether that helps or not. However, not being a horticulturist, I don't know what might be the "best" way to store the seed. However, I kept quite a variety of seed from year to year simply in paper envelopes or ziplock bags in coffee cans in my shop building, which was NOT air-conditioned. I really did not think that was a good way to do it, but those seeds seemed to work just as well as the fresh seed.
thcri
Elite Member
I never have really done anything special. I always just left them in the bag that they came in and put them on the garage shelf. They have always came up except for this year. Well they did come up this year until they hit the crust on the topsoil and then turned back around and went down. So I am tilling it all over and replanting. We had over 15 days of rain here and a hard crust developed. My dad who ran a fertilizer company for over 15 years told me that can happen with corn. If a heavy crust forms before it sprouts the sprout will come up to the crust and turn back down. Sure enough I dug some up and I have a 2" sprout that is U shaped. He said I could take a rake and rake over the top and it may come up.
As far as storing I guess if you keep them in a dry place you shouldn't have any problem.
murph
As far as storing I guess if you keep them in a dry place you shouldn't have any problem.
murph
Yes, placing your seed in a freezer will keep them fresh for the coming year. Long ago when I was a preteen, my dad had a pillow case half full of black eyed peas in one of his large chest-type freezers. It was left alone for years. One spring he decided to try planting them. The germination of these seeds was excellent. I remember him bragging that they had been in the freezer for seven years. And I don't think this was an exaggeration. He wasn't the type to exaggerate, and I remember seeing the sack in the bottom of that freezer year after year after year. Why he kept them for so long, I don't know. He was just the type to hang on to anything that might be useful tomorrow.
Well,,that guy who put each seed kernil in an individual ice cube,,musta had a lotta ice cube trays,,,,I plant a pretty good amount of sweet corn each year,,,more than your average gardener I'd say,,it covers about 1/4 of my 1/2 acre garden each year,,,,always order new seed,,even though I always order to much,,,its not that I have money to burn,,just that I like stuff to grow that I plant,,,,peaches and cream corn is the best I've found,,grows when it's dry,,wet,,or inbetween. thingy
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> Well they did come up this year until they hit the crust on the topsoil and then turned back around and went down. </font> )</font>
I dug around in my garden and this was not the problem.....it just did not germinate....I know the Indians had to store there corn somehow. They probably put it in a pot or something ....and they managed somehow to keep the corn in production.
I dug around in my garden and this was not the problem.....it just did not germinate....I know the Indians had to store there corn somehow. They probably put it in a pot or something ....and they managed somehow to keep the corn in production.
Birdman
Silver Member
My poor ole grey haired Mother told me that when she was growing up and they saved seeds for next years crop, they put the seed in a Mason jar and then put a small piece of cloth on top and put a couple drops of kerosene on the cloth to keep bugs away. I just keep mine in the bag it came in, in an open top box in the kitchen cabinet. I also had the crust problem this year and was about to till it under and then we got a little rain and the corn came on up.
