Glass Gem Corn 2013 Thread

[Freya]

I just got my order today (was on the Native Seeds SEARCH waiting list).


25 seeds. Now I am nervous to plant any.



Anyone else able to snag any? We should have an official thread to see how it goes this year! My kids are SUPER excited!!

[Freya]

Has anyone actually eaten it? The packet lists it as "popcorn".

[Sour Kraut Farm]

I just placed my order for 1 packet ( was on waitlist ). I'm curious if it's ok to save seeds from this years crop to plant again next year?

[AngieM2]

I hope you that have this, keep posting about how the growing and such goes. I saw that corn photo, and think it's so dog-gone pretty.

I hope it is good food.

[oth47]

Somewhere I saw a picture of corn that had the colors of glass gem,but looked like star sappires on the tops of the kernels.Can't find that pic again,was it on HT? Anybody remember this pic?

[7thswan]

Originally Posted by oth47

Somewhere I saw a picture of corn that had the colors of glass gem,but looked like star sappires on the tops of the kernels.Can't find that pic again,was it on HT? Anybody remember this pic?

Here is the old thread, maybe it's in the posts here.
if anyone is interested in cob glass gem corn seed

[Freya]

Originally Posted by oth47

Somewhere I saw a picture of corn that had the colors of glass gem,but looked like star sappires on the tops of the kernels.Can't find that pic again,was it on HT? Anybody remember this pic?

I know if you do a "glass gem corn" image search on google it comes up with pics like that, but they are not glass gem.


Here is a link to the story from Native Seeds SEARCH about it: http://www.nativeseeds.org/index.php...glass-gem-corn

And there are pics on there. They had a HUGE waiting list.

[Freya]

I think I am only going to plant half my seeds and cross my fingers. I will try to save most of whatever grows... though I will try eating one "on the cob" and try popping one too. I guess we will see.

The dried seeds are not translucent like the fresh cob looks, that about all I can tell you right now. And they are small.

[Freya]

Originally Posted by Sour Kraut Farm

I just placed my order for 1 packet ( was on waitlist ). I'm curious if it's ok to save seeds from this years crop to plant again next year?

NSS encourages you to save them and share them.

[bassmaster17327]

I got 40 seeds off ebay, I have never grown corn before so I am worried about messing it up

[Sour Kraut Farm]

I always had a problem with corn, because I wasn't planting enough. Since I started planting in larger blocks with lots of compost its been growing better.

[7thswan]

I am missing something. Corn grows great for me, so should and why should I grow some of this corn?

[7thswan]

It sure is Beautiful.

[Freya]

Originally Posted by 7thswan

I am missing something. Corn grows great for me, so should and why should I grow some of this corn?

I think most people are doing this because of its unique look and how rare it is.

There is very little "real" seed out there and it has caused a bit of a frenzy and some people have resorted to selling fake seed to make a quick buck. So be REALLY careful where you get it from, especially online this year. There are many coloured corns out there being passed off as "gems".


Everyone would need to be REALLY careful about crossing it with anything else!!!!

[Appalachia]

Wow that's a beauty!!

[mylittlepony]

I am new here, but came across this thread in my perusing. I also purchased some seed on ebay. I have already planted mine and have some growth I cannot wait for them to mature!!!

I have copy and pasted the pics and description from where I bought mine. These pics are supposed to be the actual parent crop to my seeds.

Glass Gem was developed in the traditional way by Cherokee Carl Barnes. It only recently became publically available due to his advancing age. My original seed came from a grower in North Carolina who received it from The Heirloom Vegetable Seeds, Seed Trust.
I plant about 3 weeks before my average last frost date. I grow plants 1 foot apart in rows 30" apart. Best results are obtained by planting several shorter rows in a block rather than one long row. This variety is too long season for my garden, so I only harvested seed from about 1/3 of the crop. (I have selected for shorter season.) Glass Gem is a robust corn, growing about 9 feet tall in my garden, and producing up to 15 cobs per plant if given enough space. [Update January 29th: I actually grow this corn and took pictures during the growing season. Check out the picture at the bottom showing one corn plant with 16 cobs on it.]

Some authors on the web have described Glass Gem as a popcorn. While some kernels do pop, the expansion ration is only about 7 times. A great popcorn expands around 24 times.

Landrace
A landrace is a foodcrop with lots of genetic diversity which tends to produce stable yields under marginal growing conditions. Landrace crops are adaptively selected for reliability in tough conditions. The arrival of new pests, new diseases, or changes in cultural practices or in the environment may harm some individuals in a landrace population, but with so much biodiversity many plants are likely to do well under the changing conditions. With the tremendous genetic diversity in these seeds I expect them to adapt to just about anything your garden throws at them. Save the seeds from your best growing plants to adapt the variety to your garden.
Growing Conditions
I do not use herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, or other poisons in my garden: I would rather put in a little more labor.