Tallest Heirloom Corn?

[DebM]

Our county fair always has a friendly competition for the tallest corn stalk. This is zone 5 the week after Labor Day. It is almost always commodity varieties. I would love to enter an heirloom variety. Any suggestions?

DebM
www.sycamorecircle.com

[DebbieG]

Hi DebM,

Does the corn have to be sweet corn? The reason I ask is because broom corn or sorghum can grow up to 15 feet tall, plus it's really pretty with all the seeds on the top. Hope you enter something, hope you win, but most of all, I hope you have fun!!

DebbieG

[BrianS]

Deb, You need to try some the Peruvian corn I have. It makes stalks up to about 20 ft tall! It sounds hard to believe but I had never seen corn as tall as this stuff before

[reubenT]

I think shumway had a giant corn of very old heritage, we grew it, um....... must have been at least 30 years ago. It is absolutly gigantic, like 6-8 ft to the first ear. I think it was quite long season but it'd be worth a try.




couldn't find it at shumways (I'm sure I've seen it there in the last couple years) but anyway I did find one source http://www.hollandsgiants.com/corn.html

[EdlinUser]

Hickory King, legendary corn among hillbillies from W. Virginia to the Ozarks. Less demanding of soil fertility to produce a crop and grows 12' tall. It goes back at least 3 generations in my hillbilly friend Jerry's family. Knowledgeable 'shiners insisted on Hickory Cane (that's the way Jerry and his family pronounce it.)

Seeds are available from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Here's what they say about it:

85/110 days. [Pre-1875.] In the hills and hollows of Virginia this corn is still appreciated as a roasting and hominy corn. It is considered the best variety for hominy because the skin of the kernel is easily removed by soaking. Also good for grits, corn meal, and flour. Makes a nice roasting corn (the old fashioned way of eating corn on the cob). To roast corn preheat oven to 375-400oF, or prepare a good bed of coals. Husk young ears, remove silk, replace husk, fill husk with water, drain, twist husk closed, and bake about 25 minutes. Alternatively: husk completely, rub with butter, salt and pepper, foil wrap, and roast. This variety grows extremely tall. Our stalks reach 12'. Some people use this variety for providing support for pole beans. Produces about 2 ears per stalk. Ears have very large flat white kernels. Husks are tighter than most varieties and give excellent protection from beetles and earworm. Has good tolerance to northern leaf blights (H. turicum) and southern leaf blight (H. maydis).

[strong eagle]

Yeh, I would vote for "Hickory Cane"as being the tallest corn I've raised with "Bloody Butcher" being the 2nd choice. Be carefull tho if you plant both close together. They cross and if you plant the seed from that crop you get a bicolor corn with huge plants.[ A hybrid Heirloom?] Strong

[redneckplanter]

brian does your texas size corn make edible ears?

[winter_unfazed]

Originally Posted by BrianS

Deb, You need to try some the Peruvian corn I have. It makes stalks up to about 20 ft tall! It sounds hard to believe but I had never seen corn as tall as this stuff before

My word! I have a Mexican corn which grows up to 18 feet, and I thought THAT was "something else"! Do you have any seed available?

[DebM]

I usually grow Ohio Blue Clarage and Hopi Blue but last year I planted Bloody Butcher. That's what made me think about entering the contest, the BB grew very tall and had interesting colored husks (I always think I'm going to make paper some day). I think I can space three different kinds around the farm, dunno, it's pretty windy here and I'm surrounded by agribiz corn. Thanks for the suggestions.

DebM

[BrianS]

Originally Posted by winter_unfazed

My word! I have a Mexican corn which grows up to 18 feet, and I thought THAT was "something else"! Do you have any seed available?

Not very many unless I can get my mother in law from Lima to send more. This corn needs a very loooong growing season. It didnt start to make ears until September and then the few I got were very small compared to the ones you see in Peru. Its ashame coz this is the neatest corn I have ever seen and its an old time Andean favorite.