Erin's land journal

I wrote this up for the short-season corn group, posting it for reference:

The crows left me some plants this spring, though not nearly as many as I planned to trial. It's been a late year, a cold spring, and I got everything planted very late in roughly mid-June, though the end of August has been warmer than is typical. Here are my thoughts so far, I haven't harvested anything yet:

Gaspe has been more-or-less reliable for me for three years now. This year the plants ended up relatively large, in the past transplanting them has stunted them, and some had as many as 4 ears that look well-shaped. It's more prone to weird hormonal things, like an ear that sticks out the top where the tassel goes, but even those were well-shaped. Planted June 10th, tassels showed up roughly July 18. I'm anticipating maturity shortly. My seed is from Great Lakes Staple Seeds, John Sherck, and Heritage Harvest Seed.

Saskatchewan rainbow is a hair taller than gaspe, and it is less than a week behind it. It also has the multi-ear form and looks happy and healthy. I'm anticipating a harvest before frost from this one. Seed from Heritage Harvest Seeds, does anyone have more information on this one?

Atomic orange & Saskatoon White are in the mid-range, maybe 5' tall. 1-2 ears per plant. Both tasseled in early August. My Saskatoon White is the only one the crows left alone; it ended up being quite densely spaced, comparatively, while the Atomic Orange was hit hard and thus very widely spaced but it did fill in some. These might squeak in to seed viability for next year but it'll be touch and go. My atomic orange was from two sources, Baker Creek and a friend in California; Saskatoon White is from Adaptive Seeds.

Painted mountain and what I understand to be selections from it, Montana Morado and Magic Manna/Starburst Manna, will squeak in under the line in most cases or at least some ears from each planting will. Starburst Manna is the earliest of the bunch, Painted Mountain is uneven as expected in such a diverse mix, Montana Morado is last and may not quite make it. My Painted Mountain was sourced from 4 locations and there was a significant difference in germination and emergence speed between all 4, then the crows ate all but two types. The Glorious Organics source came in earlier than the Sweet Rock did. Magic Manna is from Adaptive and self-saved, Starburst Manna is from Snake River seeds and self-saved, Montana Morado is from Siskiyou Seeds and I expect would have done well if planted early into cool ground.

Cascade Ruby Gold Flint (Adaptive?) is going to be just too late for me, and Open Oak Party (Adaptive) will be a hair after that.

Early Riser (Yonder Hill), New York Red and Homestead Yellow (Great Lakes Staple Seeds) are only now starting to tassel. They have maybe three weeks till frost. So, the trial weeds them out for future plantings.