Open Pollinated Field Corn

While op corn does not yield like regular corn , it will be higher in protien. And you can also keep your seed for next years crop. Weigh out your options, and do what you want. A company that I have used is Green Haven out of NY State, they have other farms working with them in the country, so the corn may come from another state. Their phone # is 607-566-9253 web site is www.openpollinated.com. So give them a jingle and get the information you need, they have several differant varieties, all the way from 120 days , down to 85 days. Good luck. > Thanks Marc

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Another convert to RR corn. And you ask why there are so few dealers offering OP Corn. You answered your own question.

I think Rural king usually carries some OP corn.

Yuca, Lehmans sells old timey stuff tht u cant find everywhere. How many people do you thiunk they know exist. Ive showed catalogs to lots of country people, and they never knew about them.

Same thing with op corn. Perople by seed close top home as possible. The major ddealers have had plugs into seed and feed stores for 60yrs or better. In those same years all they been doinbg wityh op corn, if they did anything at all, was try to develope it more as a slight competetion to hybred corn. In some ways they cant, as in yield. In some ways they can, as in more nuitrants. Its all in what your looking for.

Here in Okieland, I find I get as good a return from Reids as from RR corn. I planted RR corn once and that was that. I could get the same thing from Reids at 1/2 the cost. My ground is sandy loam. Heavy on the sandy. It wont support the populations that can be hadf with RR corn or Hybred, so I might as well go as cheaply as I can, and in return, get higher nuitrants both in the ears and the stalks, as I intend to run the entire stalk through a husker shredder I have. The stalks will be bone dry, and, because of the higher nuitrants in the stalks, Im hopeing the cows will like them.

I got mine from Backwoods Home magazine. Ron Macher, the old editor developed an open pollinated variety that yeilded well in the Midwest. I bought a little at their booth last Fall at the Small Farm Today show.

They might have some left, they might not.

i planted reids yellow dent for quite awhile. we also have sandy ground & i felt a population of about 18 to 20,000 was best. one thing that you will find out is the stalks on open pollinated corn are very weak & dont stand well. Gene Logsdon saved his best ears from the strongest stalks for years & improved on the stalk strength some but not completely.
years ago i gave some seed to a friend of mine & he (get a load of this) just broadcast it & harrowed it in. he picked by hand but it was a nightmare BUT he had a heck of a good yield. he claimed it was worth the trouble picking it as the stalkes held each other up. he planted 1 acre.

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Heck, that away, Idda just cut the stalks and made shocks. When I was done, id bring in the shocks and shuck them and feed the stalks to the hogs. Nothing would have ate the stalks whole, but they would have ate the shucks.

I have never had a lot of problems with the stalks not holding up, but we do get ours picked as quick as I can. I know they wouldn`t hold up over wintering like some hybrid corn will. We like to plant some every year just to have seed, If (God forbid)anything happens, we will have seed for next year, hybrid seed will not grow well the second year, and worse the next. You will have stalk with no ears from hybrid saved seed. So don`t expect large yields, but you sure will have good corn and seed for next year. > Thanks Marc

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I'm going to try to get a couple bags this year and use it mainly for silage.

I found this at RH Shumways, and just now from another source online. LANCASTER SURE CROP Is drouth resistant.

You plan on 180 bushels with 80 dollar an acre inputs? Are you serious, or am I missing something??

That's a new one on me.

I've never heard it called anything but 'yellow dent', and that's all that's on the tag. I don't remember the brand name of the actual seed producer if that's what you're asking.

What he wants to know is the variety such as, Reed's Yellow Dent, Leaming, Jarvis Golden Prolific, Minnesota 13, Golden Glow, Lancaster Sure Crop, Henry Moore. Those are some yellow dent OP varieties available. The place you bought it should be able to tell you. It sounds like they just didn't put it on the tag for some reason. That's like selling tomato seed as just "red tomatoes".

I highly respect anyone that is trying to keep the OP corn and other OP breeds from extinction..you should respect yourself, continue to pursue it if it is your desire..and ---- the naysayers..if it doesn't work at least you respected your heart

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I usually plant Reid's.

Calling Albert Lea Seed House will give you a better idea of what they have - a very cool seed store. Go there every spring to buy my 'fun' seeds - plowdowns and pasture mixes and turnips, etc. Their online info isn't always up to date, esp in the smaller volume seed areas like OP corn. They have very knowledgable folk, and sell everything from OP organic corn to Smartstack most expensive GMO corn, they really cover it all and know what they are talking aobut in both extremes. God place.Yea, shipping will be a problem.

Be aware that there are seed shortages this year, for hybred corn too, because it was a poor growing year last year. The very dry harvest conditions in my area also is stressing soybean and other bean-type seed supplies.

I'd expect there is a shortage of the OP corn seed as well. Since folks can save their own seed, it is a very unprofitable thing to get into selling OP seeds - people order small amounts, and then don't buy any more for years - hard way to make a living selling OP seeds, that's why those places aren't so visible, can'tr afford advertizing and so forth.

It's nice to match corn to the growing conditions you have, sunlight available, rainfall, and growing season. They can get very specialized, what grows well in Florida might be terrible in Indiana, and so forth. Be careful with recomendations from across the whole USA, pick one that works in your climate.

OP corn can work real well for silage, there are some types that outproduce hybred corn for silage.

It won't yield as well as hybred corn for grain, but can offer other benifits that might be important to a grower.

I'm a little confused by the person that says raised 180 bu corn for $80 of inputs as well, that doesn't match up.

Most hybred seed and probably OP corn as well is sold by the seed count, 80,000 kernals per bag. That can be a 42 lb bag, or it can be a 65 lb bag, depends on the kernal size. If you are buying by the 50lb bag, you need to guess a bit as to how many acres a bagful will plant.

--->Paul