Corn, Festivity, Sweet (su with some sh2) (85 days) Zea mays A new selection bred by Jonathan Spero of Lupin Knoll Farm that is the result of crossing Festivity with Tuxana sweet corn.  Open pollinated, cold tolerant, rainbow-colored, multi-stalked with frequently 3-4 ears per plant.  Created with cool soil, higher latitude locations and low-fertility in mind.  Most cobs have a blend of white, yellow, red and purple kernels.  Variable.  5-6 feet tall. OSSI Pledged. * Harvest when the kernels produce a milky white fluid, if it’s clear it’s too early, and if there is no fluid, it’s too late and they’ll be starchy (however good for roasting still)....

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Hooker’s Sweet (su)(70 days) Zea mays This variety is named after Ira Hooker who developed this short stature (4-6’), early maturing sweet corn to ripen successfully in the cloudy and rainy Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. Plants produce 2 ears of 7-8” long sweet corn with white and yellow kernels that begin to turn blue as it becomes over mature. Mature seed is a gray-blue. Flavor is rich, full and sweet with wonderful texture. We’ve adapted this over the past 20 years to have good cold soil emergence for early sowings. HEIRLOOM. * Harvest when the kernels produce a milky white fluid, if it’s clear it’s too early, and if there is no fluid, it’s too late and they’ll be starchy (however good for roasting still). Packet: One Ounce ...

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Corn, Spero’s Orange Sweet (se) (90 days) Zea mays This is a work in progress breeding project that we are sharing an early release of if you are so curious that you don’t want to wait for the finished project which is still 2-3 years from now. Originally initiated by late great sweet corn breeder, Jonathan Spero as a cross between the white sweet corn, Tuxana (which he bred) and a variety of different orange flint corns with the goal of breeding an orange sweet corn. Jonathan Spero passed away in 2020 and left the various crosses with some notes that I am grateful to have inherited. We grew the different crosses in 2021 and then have laboriously hand sorted the wrinkled (indicative of sweet corn) kernels from the rounded (flint type) kernels. If you are excited to join in the experiment of participatory plant breeding then we welcome you to give feedback as we move towards this homage of a pioneering organic plant breeder! One Ounce (≈ 110 seeds) CORN - Zea mays Growing Tips:  Plant corn by direct seeding 1-2” deep after soil has warmed to at least 70° (Triple Play, Painted Hills Sweet & Hooker’s are specifically adapted to cool soil planting so can be planted earlier in the season).  You can also transplant corn for earlier crops, but you have to baby them a bit.  Plant Spacing:  Seed 6-10 per foot and thin to 1 plant per 8-12”, rows should be 24-36” apart.  Hill method: Plant 5-10 seeds 1-2” deep in a mound, which should be 4-5 feet apart.  Grow squash in-between and plant pole beans in mound once corn has emerged.  Works better with flour corn and popcorn as it becomes somewhat jungle-like to harvest sweet corn with this method. Pests: Protect young seedlings from bird predation with floating row covers.  A common novice gardener problem is to assume that their corn didn’t come up; when in actuality birds such as jays, robins and crows were digging and pulling up the young sprouts.  Scarecrows, floating eye balloons and reflective tape are somewhat effective.  Dogs are good, too.  Corn earworms (which are actually the caterpillar stage of a moth) can be controlled by spraying Bt. (Dipel™ is a brand name of OMRI certified organic control).  Or just bear with their minor inconvenience by chopping the tips off of infected ears. Harvest:  Sweet corn when it’s in the “milk” stage, which you can determine by finding an ear whose silks have dried, gently peeling back some leaves while the ear is still on the plant, then nicking a kernel and looking for milky liquid to ooze out.  Clear fluid indicates that it is too early, no liquid – you’re too late, save for seed or flour corn.  Raccoons can devastate a corn crop if they find it appealing.  Some folks put a battery powered radio in their patch to provide a menacing noise deterrent to keep coons at bay. Diseases:  We have not experienced any significant diseases here in Oregon, but my counsel would be ample fertility from well-matured compost and foliar sprays of compost tea, fish emulsion and kelp when plants are young if you do experience yellowing or die back. Seed Specs:  Sweet: 125-225 seeds per/oz.; Popcorn: 250-300 seeds/oz....

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Corn, Starburst Select Sweet (F4) (85 days) Zea Mays Starburst Sweet Corn has a red splash of color in a star pattern over white kernels. Eating quality is on par with the open pollinated white sweet corn, Tuxana with large ears that are  9-12” long. The orange red pigmentation is still somewhat variable and we will be working to continue to grow and stabilize the unique variety in the coming seasons. This variety began as a chance cross when we were growing out our Sunfire Flour Corn and upon shucking it we noticed a few dozen dried wrinkled kernels indicative of sweet corn seed. Typically flour corn seed remains plump when dry. So we carefully pried those kernels out and saved them for a future opportunity to grow them out. 4 years later this project is came to fruition and it’s just about ready to be released and minted as a bona fide variety. Siskiyou Select Original.  OSSI Pledged Packet 1/2oz ...

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Corn, Zanadoo Bi-color, Sweet (85 days) Zea mays While Zanadoo may have been the summer capital of Kublai Khan, it is unlikely that he even savored anything as delicious as this unique new introduction from breeder Jonathon Spero of an open pollinated bi-color sweet corn with good ear size, organic adaptation and ample sweetness.A selection from Anasazi crossed with Tuxedo (se) – Following on the heels of the white Tuxana, Zanadoo has a mixture of white and yellow kernels and we are finding this bi-color is promising to be a little sweeter than the single color white or yellow Anasazi cross corn lines. About 82 days to maturity with mostly 14 rows of big deep kernels on 7 1/2" long, wide diameter cobs. Robust flavor, long husks give good ear protection. 2 ears per  6 1/2' tall plant. Selected to produce without high fertility levels and without coddling. * Harvest when the kernels produce a milky white fluid, if it’s clear it’s too early, and if there is no fluid, it’s too late and they’ll be starchy (however good for roasting still)....

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