My experiences in vegetable gardening indicate the unpredictable, often bad results of cross-pollination show up in the next generation of plants ONLY.. In other words, the cross-pollination affects only the seed of the plants that are being crossed by whatever means, not the taste, color, quality, etc. of that seasons fruits.. Am I right or wrong or partially right but there are exceptions? Have I stated the question comprehensively? I could believe corn might be an exception, next year I'll do experimental plantings of corn to find out about it if I'm able.. Soooooo, what do you think, speak up now, don't be shy.. Love to all, Hank.
Hank, you are right about the cross-pollination showing up in the next generation. Pollination is all about propagation, so the first generation's offspring stays true, and the second's may be noticeably different. Your corn experiment will be interesting--let us know your findings, please!
Jane is correct Henry. The seed is what carries the genetic information for the fruit. So this years fruit is from last years seed. This years seed will produce next years fruit. You too are correct, corn is a little different, it is a grain not a vegetable. It does taste like what it was pollinated by THIS year. If you are doing corn be aware that it is dependent on wind movement for pollination, so any corn growing around you can cross pollinate your corn even if you have remove all the tassels from your corn. My mom and dad had an awful crop of corn this year....They were surrounded by field corn and it was cross pollinated.... Theirs all tasted like field corn and the seed will carry their genetic traits into next seasons corn and taste different than this years crop if they were to save their seeds and replant them. If a sweetcorn variety has a couple of letters next to its name such as SE...this means it is "sugar enhanced" if it has Sh2 next to it it is "super sweet". SU is the sugary and distinguishes sweetcorn from field corn. most of the older varieties of corn are most likely SU varieties. Su corn can be pollinated by the se or the sh2, but the se or sh2 cannot be pollinated by the su corn. You will have just wasted big bucks to have SU corn. The SE and SH2 corn have more sugar in the kernel and don't convert to starch quite as quick as SU corn. Confusing? it takes time to sink in, that's all. You can plant any of these next to each other if you have a two week gap between tasseling of the two different varieties, otherwise keep 250' between them and hope it doesn't get really windy. Same principles apply for growing your own experiments.... get busy and have an adventure! Just let us know what you come up with. Being a farmer is hard work and takes an enormous amount of knowledge. I don't think any of us really understand what farmers need to know to feed the nation.
Hiya Hank--I shall try and respond to your question, in-so-far as I am capable. As I understand your question, you are asking if cross-pollination has an effect on veg fruit and/or seeds. Correct? Well, First of all something that you already know is that some things cannot cross-pollinate, for instance Forget-Me-Nots and apples. It just doesn't happen. You know that. A second aspect of cross-pollination is where you have say, patti-pans that become cross-pollinated by something in the gourd family for instance. The cross-pollinated flower may produce a white, crenellated "fruit" that you recognize as a patti-pan and will probably even taste normal in all respects, but the seeds inside will have undergone a change...so that next year when you plant these seeds expecting patti-pans, you may get a fruit that is white and has crenellated edges, but the fruit probably will not taste or have the consistency that you expect. So, this form of cross-pollination affects ONLY the seeds of the new fruit. Finally, corn. Corn is a plant apart. Corn has male and female flowers on one plant (like squashes/courgettes), but it is pollinated in a different way. It may be unsettling to you to know that corn plants in your garden can be pollinated by other corn plants yards or even miles away. Sweetcorn plants pollinated from "regular" corn plants will not taste sweet and can be tough. Popcorn plants pollinated by other types of corn plants will not pop. Thus you see, this cross-pollination will effect this years' crops as well as their seeds for next year's planting. For the best result in terms of pollination of corn and a fully developed roasting ear one can better plant their corn in blocks rather than long single rows. Poor pollination manifests itself in the form of cobs that have kernels missing when the rest are swollen and ready to eat. This may be way more information than you want or need to know, but I meant well. hahaha.
Right. Crossing affects the seeds for next year. In the case of corn, you decide to either eat the seeds or plant them next year.
