JD Seller - Re: Corn

Dr. Walt

Well-known Member
JD:

In your response to JDMAN60 in "What was this
crop" you stated: "The rows you saw missing were
the "male" rows. After pollination they are
destroyed so they are not accidently harvested."

My question is - How do you DIFFERENTIATE between
"MALE" & "FEMALE" Corn kernels when it comes time
to plant, so that you ONLY get "MALE" plants in a
particular row???

I've always thought the Corn kernels all looked
the same.

Doc :>)
 
Around here when seed corn was a big item one of the boxes on the planter held the corn that was the male corn. It would be an outside box. The other boxes held the female corn. Since you had 2 row of male corn together you picked them first. Everyone that raised seed corn had a 2 row mounted picker at that time. The male corn was picked first and taken to the seed plant. They would also detassle the female corn so pollination would only occur from the male corn. It was good job for a couple of weeks for high school kids.
 
I'm not so sure there is a male plant and female plant, but just certain plants with the traits they want to pollinate (keep their tassels) the other plants they de-tasseled. So one "acts" as the male to the others that "act" as the female
 
Pretty sure the kernals are neither male or female, but one variety will have the tassels pulled, become the receivers of pollen from the variety with the tassels left on. Those rows that have the tassels remain are then destroyed to prevent any of that corn from being harvested, the receiver (female) rows are the hybrid used for seed corn.
 
Corn plants have both male and female parts (tassel and silks). The only thing that makes a plant a "female" is that the tassels are removed mechanically so as not to pollinate itself. This cross between two inbreds makes for a "hybrid" offspring.

One thing to note is that to make the desired cross the male and female are specific to their gender so as to make manifest the desired traits. That means that a cross between inbred A as the female and inbred B as the male would express different traits than a cross of A as the male and B as the female.
 
There is not "male" and "female" seed. The tassel is the male part of the plant and the silks/ear are the female part.

So the "female" row/line has the tassels removed. That mean that the pollen from the "male" rows/lines pollenates the entire field.

The "MALE" rows are destroyed before the ears are matured.

They are taking two non hybrid seeds lines and combining them into the hybrid seed that 99% of planted corn is. This is why you can't replant the corn you grow. It reverts back to the two parent lines neither of which would yield like their hybrid "off spring"
 
J. Schwiebert:

The question was - How do you DIFFERENTIATE between the kernels since they all look the same.

And don't tell me the "Female" kernels are the ones wearing the dresses. LOL


As I've stated many times on these forums - I'm NOT A FARMER, I'm a MINER, I've never grown Corn - so it's a serious question - How do you differentiate between the Male & Female plant when it's in the kernel stage! ??

I'm not trying to be a "smart azz", as I said - I'VE NEVER GROWN CORN ! - so how do you propagate Corn.
 
JD:

OK, this is about as clear as MUD, LOL, I've NEVER grown Corn (I'm a MINER, not a Farmer), so how do you propagate "Non-Hybrid" Corn so you can use your own seed year after year?

:>)
 
(quoted from post at 11:56:56 09/21/14) JD:

OK, this is about as clear as MUD, LOL, I've NEVER grown Corn (I'm a MINER, not a Farmer), so how do you propagate "Non-Hybrid" Corn so you can use your own seed year after year?

:>)

Every kernel forms a complete corn plant that will produce both the male tassel and the female silks. Kernels are not Male or Female, they hold a complete embryonic plant.

If you want to propagate your own corn year after year then you need to purchase OPEN pollenated varieties not HYBRIDS. Then you can save the best ears for next years crop. You don't have to DO anything except grow it.
 
You can raise a field of one type of non-hybrid corn, all the offspring will be that variety (assuming you keep it isolated from another field of a different variety).

So every year the seed companies grow three fields of corn:

1) a straight run of the variety used as the male

2) a straight run of the variety used as the female

3) a mix of the two varieties with the females detasseled so the seed is hybrid
 
36F30:

THANK YOU !

I'll try the Open Pollenated type & see what
happens.

I don't have a "green thumb" for Gardening and
such. The only things I've successfully grown are
Rocks, Weeds, & OLDER ! LOL

:>)
 
There is a lot of seed corn grown in my area. I asked a seed corn man the same question. His answer was way above my head. He mentioned how many different lines of genes there were in each male and female rows. The seed for the male rows are extremely expensive. I've even seen where the seed company plants two males rows side by side, just inches apart.

The female plants are much smaller and the ears are smaller than normal corn ears.

The corn is picked on the cob before the corn has dryed. They said the wet corn is less likely to be damaged when picking. It's neat to see how do it. There are many air shows too, lots of crop dusting. All the places the seed corn company rents must have irrigation.
 
There's no differance in the corn.The GROWER decides which is male, etc, The corn plant is a"gasp" hermophrodite and will impregnate it's own self,horrors,so you raise it up to just before puberty and whack off its boy parts and make it a girl,impregnate it,and that's the one you harvest!!!You don't worry about the leftover girl parts on the boy plant 'cause your'e not going to harvest it anyway.'cept maybe salvage for hog feed!! Jeez,I been LMAO while I type this
 

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