Good Sweet Corn for HOT, Dry Climate?

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I am going to be visiting Pakistan in May & June, and I have a friend who has acreage there, and I want to bring him some seeds of vegies that would grow well in a very warm climate. I'm in the Pac NW, so my seed catalogues are geared for a completely opposite climate. So what grows well in Texas? They don't really have sweet corn like we have here, so I was hoping to find a good corn for him. And basil. Some tomatoes -- y'all tell me what cultivars you'd recommend. Flowers, too. Any of those hot southern thangs we haven't got a hope in hell of growing here in the NW.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), April 11, 2002

Answers

Please, before you export any seeds to your friends check with the U.S.D.A. to see exactly what you are allowed to take on your trip. With the current situation of world affairs I would sure hate to see someone from the United States be blamed for introducing a noxious SOMETHING to another country.

Having said that, the Pakistanis certainly aren't afraid to import seeds to our country. By the way, they have some great cucumbers and beans.

Any of the All American Selection seeds should do pretty well since they are selected to grow well in most any part of the country.

Think about okra, peppers (though they already have some good hot ones), squash, pumpkins, and others. Seed catalogs I would think should show what will do well in what zones. Mine do anyway.

Sure hope you have a good SAFE trip. I wouldn't have nerve enough to go to a country so close to a war type zone.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), April 11, 2002.


More than temps and humidity --we need to know a little about the soil. I suspect sand and that would steer me away from corn and toward well drained crops. Onions, carrots, and peanuts. Potato, Eggplant and Turnips. For man does not live by bread alone--He must have peanut butter also !

-- Joel Rosen (JoelnBecky@webtv.net), April 12, 2002.

Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S), a nonprofit organization based in Tucson, Arizona; conserves, distributes and documents the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seed, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures of the American Southwestern and northwest Mexico.

They separate catalog into high desert and low desert varieties. If I remember the high desert varieties are most drought tolerant. The low desert varieties the most heat tolerant. I experimented with some of their stuff in early 90's because it gets very dry here in NW AR in July and August and I dont have water to spare for garden. They have lot varieties of corn. As to sweet corn they had some varieties but I didnt try them as way to grow sweet corn in this area is to grow shorter season variety so it matures before the yearly drought. I just cant imagine sweet corn most people grow doing well here in edible milk stage during dry hot months unless you just poured the water on it. That would be very wasteful although I'm sure some do it. If you want corn for meal, regular open pollinated Indian flint corn sold for decoration in fall is very drought tolerant and tolerant of poor soil also. I also grew some decorative sorghum with mixed black and white seed heads that did very well, again very drought and fertility tolerant. If water is not a concern, you should have no problem as corn in general tends to like hot humid environment. In USA I think length of growing season is biggest factor where a variety corn will do well given adequate availability of water. I was just assuming your friend lived in an arid region, but maybe there are more tropical areas in Pakistan??

Rather than worrying about USA government, I'd think it would matter much more what restrictions the Pakistan government put on seed imports. Most governments worry about what plant materials are imported, not which are exported.

-- HermitJohn (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), April 12, 2002.


Maybe you folks could recommend some websites of seed companies geared for the south, because all we have up here are seed companies geared for damp, cool, short growing seasons. I am not sure about the soil type. I know he grows wheat and mustard, and other stuff but I don't know what. Peanut butter, Joel, was introduced by Christian missionaries who set up a factory -- I know you can get it there, but it is not very popular. Eggplant & okra are good ideas. They have them there, but I thought he'd have fun with different varieties. I think ground cherries would do well. I was just hoping for him to be able to taste real sweetcorn. Their corn is more of the cornmeal type. They do sell corn grilled over charcoal and sprinkled with chillies (of course), but it is tough and dry and not the to-die-for glories of the midwest.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), April 12, 2002.

Also, about the Pakistani import restrictions, the customs officers literally buy their jobs, and they come quite dearly, too, because the potential "earnings" are so great. They really don't care about plant materials in the quantities I'm going to be bringing in, and they do not bother foreign tourists anyway(at least not the non-hippie types.)

Despite what you hear in the news, Pakistanis are very welcoming. When I used to be a travel agent specializing in Asia, I sold a ticket to an American man who was retiring and going to take a big Asia trip. After touring India, he was going to visit a Pakistani fellow he had gone to college with many years earlier. When he returned, he told me how much he enjoyed Pakistan -- much more than India. He said, "You go to India and the people say, welcome to India -- what can I sell you? You land in Pakistan, and the people say, welcome to our country, we're glad you've come to visit -- please come have some tea with our family." The media and the US govt have a vested interest in keeping up the anxiety about terrorism to maintain support for the war. Even so, I'll have my street radar on "alert". I have been visiting Pakistan for 23 years and speak Urdu very well.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), April 12, 2002.



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