Saving sweetcorn seeds for next year?

[Snadger]

Never done it before, but do I just let the corn ripen and go hard on the plant?

I'm never going to get all mine eaten and I'm not struck on frozen stuff so I thought I would save myself a bob or two on seed for next year by keping my own seed (corn has done surprisingly well!)
It was F1 swift but I don't mind a variation if I keep my own seed!

[Bigmallly]

Hi Snadge, I've just found this extract if it's of any use:

"Leave a couple of healthy and plump looking corns on a healthy and disease free plant for seeds. Cover your chosen cobs with paper bags and tie around the corn to prevent insects entering the bag. Remove the corns after allowing them to dry thoroughly, peel back the husks and hang somewhere, insect and rodent free, to dry completely. The seeds can be extracted by twisting the cob between your hands and picking out any remaining plant debris. Allow the seeds to dry for a few days before storing in a cool and dry place for up to two years".

[Alison]

Give it a go but my seed saving book says that you need a large (and I mean large) number of plants to ensure that you get decent seed. Am guessing it won't get in bred in a single season though and your bigger problem would be that you'd get a very starchy type next year due to the fact that you're saving an F1.

[Scarlet]

Give it a go but my seed saving book says that you need a large (and I mean large) number of plants to ensure that you get decent seed.

What book is that? Would love a decent book on seed saving....

[Alison]

What book is that? Would love a decent book on seed saving....

It's the Sue Stirkland one. Think it's called Back Garden Seed Saving or something like that. It's very good.

[Richard Eldritch]

F1 one seed won't come true. You'll have a range of plants dependent on the strains from which the seed was created. Chances are some will taste aweful.

[marchogaeth]

It's the Sue Stirkland one. Think it's called Back Garden Seed Saving or something like that. It's very good.

And fairly cheap, 2nd hand on Amazon. Even better/cheaper though, is the free advice (doenloadable booklet) available from Real Seeds.

[Kristen]

It was F1 swift but I don't mind a variation if I keep my own seed!

I think you will mind, as I would expect it to taste awful. Some of the kernels on the resultant cobs will be rock hard, and some sweet some not etc. You can get that effect in current-season by unfortunate cross pollination, let alone growing the resulting seed which will mean that adjacent plants are genetically different, let alone wandering pollen for a nearby crop

If you want to do that I think you need a heritage variety, rather than a supersweet one.

[BertieFox]

The heritage variety I grow and save seed from is called Sativa Early and I got it from Chase Organics. I grew a good crop the first year and saved several cobs for the seed, leaving them on the plants until they went hard at the end of the season.

I simply stripped the seed from the cob this year when I needed to sow it. It came perfectly true from the seed and we enjoyed a dozen or so delicious cobs this summer until something appeared overnight in the garden and stripped all the other cobs down to the core! I'm fairly sure the raiders were coypu which we have in this part of France and living next to a small river and large pond!

So the wildlife certainly thinks this is a good variety too!

In seed saving, the main difficulty in a wetter climate would be to harvest the cob before it begins to rot but leave it long enough for the seed to fully ripen. Just store the cob whole for winter in a dry place as I did.

[Snadger]

F1 one seed won't come true. You'll have a range of plants dependent on the strains from which the seed was created. Chances are some will taste aweful.

Thats part of the fun of experimenting!

[Alison]

Thats part of the fun of experimenting!

Depends if you've got enough space to risk a failure. If you don't mind getting anything from that area of land then give it a go. It if crop space is at a premium then it's orzo ably a bad idea. I don't mind experimenting in some places but not, for example, in my polytunnel as I want all my peppers and chillies etc to have maximised crops so I ensure I isolate well for seed saving and minimise risks of failure.

[Snadger]

Could this be a ploy from the F1 breeders to keep the cost of there seeds up?

An instance:-

There is a show variety of tomato that is called F1 Cedrico. Most people on our allotments, including myself, are growing the third and fourth generations from it off the tomatoes grown originallyfour years ago,and it seems to get better every year? No distorted,stunted,mishapen tomatoes or plants......in fact all like the original Cedrico tomatoes whose seeds they were grown from. (If not better)
As an experiment, I also grew some Desiree spuds from real tomato seed I harvested myself (little green tomato like fruits). As Desiree is a hybrid of DOY and A N Other I should have had a selection of plants but all that were grown showed exactly the same characteristics as Desiree?

As my signiture says, I like to diversify and prosper!

[Bigmallly]

As an experiment, I also grew some Desiree spuds from real tomato seed I harvested myself

Now that needs patenting Snadge.................

[Alison]

Could this be a ploy from the F1 breeders to keep the cost of there seeds up?

An instance:-

There is a show variety of tomato that is called F1 Cedrico. Most people on our allotments, including myself, are growing the third and fourth generations from it off the tomatoes grown originallyfour years ago,and it seems to get better every year? No distorted,stunted,mishapen tomatoes or plants......in fact all like the original Cedrico tomatoes whose seeds they were grown from. (If not better)
As an experiment, I also grew some Desiree spuds from real tomato seed I harvested myself (little green tomato like fruits). As Desiree is a hybrid of DOY and A N Other I should have had a selection of plants but all that were grown showed exactly the same characteristics as Desiree?

As my signiture says, I like to diversify and prosper!

Would agree with many things such as toms (although how you grew a potato out a tomato I have no idea!) but sweetcorn is rather unreliable anyway and there us a significant difference between the original varieties and the likes of supersweet. Added to the fact that it is wind pollinated rather than self pollinated I don't think your chances of success are that high but as I said, if you have the space, give it a whirl.

[BertieFox]

Some F1 vegetables do produce very desirable offspring in the F2 generation, tomatoes especially, which can be selected and stabilised to create a new open pollinated type.
But NOT sweetcorn... unless perhaps you did it on field scale! Even then it would be enormously difficult as sweetcorn is wind pollinated and can be affected by any maize or sweetcorn plant in the vicinity.
I have tried this and as others have said the resulting offspring are disgusting if you want something sweet.
DO try it, if only to convince yourself that this is the truth, but you would do far better to choose and try to improve on an open pollinated type like Sativa Early where you could select cobs from the best plants and grow these on.