[GrowinGrowinGone]

Most years I grow a small variety of sweetcorn called minipop f1.  I absolutely love it, and it's ready way earlier than full size corn and you can eat the entire sweetcorn.  Does anyone know of any sweetcorns as small as this that are not hybrid/f1 ?  I plan to start saving as much seed as possible next year, and minipop being an f1/hybrid I cannot save the seed.  I have searched Google without any luck, I was hoping someone else might know.  Thanks 

[Kristen]

Are you wanting to save-seed, or reduce the cost of buying seed?

I suspect that Baby Corn varieties are long-season crops, and you might struggle to get them to maturity in the UK (in order to collect seed from them).  Sweetcorn is very promiscuous, so growing your own to save seed would need there to be no other sweetcorn in the vicinity - tricky on an Allotment, for example.

Moles Seeds sell 500 seeds of Minipop F1 for £5 - dunno if that is a bargain though

http://www.molesseeds.co.uk/flower_and_vegetable_seed_store_uk/Products_F1_Minipop_4165.html#.VJId0tKsWSo

[GrowinGrowinGone]

Thanks for the reply Kristen

Yes I want to save my own seed, and as minipop is a hybrid f1 it's not ideal for seed saving.  The Minipop corn is ready to pick early to mid july in my area, way before other corn is ready.  I'm trying to find another variety of the same size that is not hybrid so I can save the seed myself. 

[cadalot]

It might help if you added your area to your profile, then people nearby may be able to help you.

[Kristen]

The Minipop corn is ready to pick early to mid july in my area, way before other corn is ready.

I'm picking cob-Corn by then, or shortly after, whereas I think Mini-corn has got a long way to go from that point - it isn't even pollinated at the point you pick it, so you need Pollinate, Ripen [which would do for the Kitchen) and then Mature (which will be needed for the seed to be viable).  I'm guessing, but I wonder if a UK season is long enough for that type of corn to mature?

... they are the old-type of corn - tall plants, like forage Maize - whereas the ones bred for UK Cob-corn are very short, so that they can start producing cobs sooner and be ripe before a UK summer is over.

But its only a guess, it might be feasible to get mini-corn to mature seed in a UK summer.

[BabbyAnn]

To answer your original question for a non F1 type, DT Brown sell Snobaby (doesn't appear to be F1 but can't be sure - I've not tried it so don't know what it is like)

[DD.]

I know this is an Australian link, but Snobaby is an F1.

http://pdffactory.triality.com.au/550c384a-fa47-4739-a7ad-d74926.pdf

[Kristen]

There is, presumably, something special about Baby Corn which makes then different to "unripe corn cobs" - but I wonder if it is critical?

[DD.]

I assume the big differences are that baby corn produces more cobs per plant (I wouldn't be happy with one or two mini-cobs per plant) and it doesn't need to be pollinated.

[New shoot]

I copied Sunshineband's way of growing minipop.  You cram them in a small space, cut the male flowers off as they form and then you get lots of little cobs forming over a period of time 

Unfortuately, harvesting time for me coincided with a bit of a family crisis, so I didn't get to the plot often enough to pick them, but I'm having another go this year, as it produced a good crop out of a small piece of ground.  Mine grew bigger than the supermarket versions, so could be cut into several pieces for stir-fries 

[mumofstig]

Ask Jungle seeds if theirs are f1- it doesn't say

http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d67.html

[GrowinGrowinGone]

The Minipop corn is ready to pick early to mid july in my area, way before other corn is ready.

I'm picking cob-Corn by then, or shortly after, whereas I think Mini-corn has got a long way to go from that point - it isn't even pollinated at the point you pick it, so you need Pollinate, Ripen [which would do for the Kitchen) and then Mature (which will be needed for the seed to be viable).  I'm guessing, but I wonder if a UK season is long enough for that type of corn to mature?

... they are the old-type of corn - tall plants, like forage Maize - whereas the ones bred for UK Cob-corn are very short, so that they can start producing cobs sooner and be ripe before a UK summer is over.

But its only a guess, it might be feasible to get mini-corn to mature seed in a UK summer.

Thanks again for the reply.

I must admit to overlooking the fact of how long they would take to reach maturity to save seed.  But I have saved seed from other corn of other variety in previous years without any problem so i'm just guessing it would be possible to do so.

[GrowinGrowinGone]

The reasons I grow these corn over other corns are:

1.  They are ready to harvest much sooner than regular corn
2.  In other years when we have had bad weather my regular corn have failed to form and been a total disaster.  Minipop has never failed me.
3.  I personally think they taste great, and as good as regular corn, if not better.
4.  You can eat the entire corn, unlike regular corn.
5.  Take up less space in the freezer

[GrowinGrowinGone]

I assume the big differences are that baby corn produces more cobs per plant (I wouldn't be happy with one or two mini-cobs per plant) and it doesn't need to be pollinated.

Mine have always produced at least 4 per plant.  This is not many in itself, but when you grow 50-60 plants it gives you a nice amount

[GrowinGrowinGone]

Ask Jungle seeds if theirs are f1- it doesn't say

http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d67.html

Thanks, I will ask them.  £1.56 for 15 seeds I hope they plant themselves too lol