Found some rare corn seed-need help!

10 years ago

Hello
This is a long shoot I have found a collection of rare corn seed , at a second hand store ,I have never seen these variety's before , all large kernels - each packet has completely different colours or colour combinations they were pack away in a large glass jar. I couldn't believe what I found , with the corn were also beans, rice, wheat, quinoa, and some seeds I have no ideal what they are.
Can anybody help me - I would like to know what I have , is there a master list of corn seed somewhere I could check to see what I have. If these are what I think they are , someone family heirloom seed bank , with very old variety's of vegetable seeds . I want to get them to somebody who could keep them safe and have the experience to grow them out. But first I need to find out more about them. Thank you for any help.

Comments (4)

sred98
10 years ago
Your best bet would be to check with Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They would probably know. Someone from Seed Savers Exchange might know, as well. Both of those places specialize in heirloom seeds.
jimster
10 years ago
Unfortunately, corn seeds don't have a very long viability, not much more than a year normally. Some of the others, such as beans, may still be viable, depending on how they were stored and for how long.

Jim
josephlee
Original Author
10 years ago
Hello
So far I have identified 5 of the variety of corn seeds, Thank you sred98 for your help. I have 12 more unidentified corn seeds to discover there names.
weedlady
10 years ago
Properly stored, corn and many other vegetable seeds definitely are viable for much longer than one year--often 3-5 or even longer. The only seeds I know of that we are urged to buy fresh each year are parsnip and onion seeds. I never in my 45 years of gardening have bought fresh seeds each year! What a waste of $$!
Now, each successive year of storage the germination rate from a given packet may drop, but most seed packets provide way more seeds than a home gardener will need for several years. (By then often we want to try new varieties, anyway! LOL)