The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Tina Turkey on December 02, 2012, 01:45:03 pm

Title: Mais in France - can you keep cobs for seed?
Post by: Tina Turkey on December 02, 2012, 01:45:03 pm

Hi folks, bit of a daft question here .... we are in France ... weve just gone and picked up loads of corn cobs off the ground from the neigbouring farmers field as he has just harvested it all.  We are going to give most of it to our pigs but wondered if its worth keeping some to dry and use as seed for next year and grow a few rows ourselves.
I read somewhere that GM crops are not allowed in France - does anyone know if thats the case? And if it were GM then would it germinate next year or not?
Many thanks
M 

Title: Re: Mais in France - can you keep cobs for seed?
Post by: Ina on December 02, 2012, 02:15:36 pm

It might germinate... But - Monsanto&Co would be on your back in a flash and take you to court! (In the US, organic farmers were taken to court because their produce was contaminated with the GM stuff their neighbours grew. Any sane person should think it would be the other way round - the organic farmer taking Monsanto to court - but not so. Money always wins.)

Better ask the farmer what kind of maize he used. I can't quite remember what the rules are re growing GM in France just now...

Title: .
Post by: RUSTYME on December 02, 2012, 05:35:10 pm

I think france are still gm free atm . The main problem would be if they are F1 varieties . They may or may not germinate, they may give a crop of useless corn . If you can find out what variety then it may be worth having a go if they aren't F1 .
If ? they are gm i wouln't even feed them to my pigs , i'd leave them to rot where they are !

Title: Re: Mais in France - can you keep cobs for seed?
Post by: spangleman on December 03, 2012, 01:13:31 pm

You can save it and sow it. It will germinate even if it is GM modified. However your problem will be you wont know what you wil get. All commercial varieties of maize are F1 hybrids which means they wont breed true , in plain english they wont be the same as the maize in the field. The flavour may not be as good, they may be smaller etc. If you have lots of space to try it then it may be fun to try but personally I would feed it to the pigs and buy a new packet of seed and be sure of what Im getting.

Title: Re: Mais in France - can you keep cobs for seed?
Post by: Tina Turkey on December 03, 2012, 02:17:04 pm

Thanks folks.  Think its going to be fed to pigs.  Not worth bothering with.
Isnt the world crazy these days! :(

Thanks again
M