I have never planted any of those varieties. I think you will find that the harvest window is very short for top quality corn.

Stowell's Evergreen- Large ears, reasonably good roasting ear, but remember it is just the first step above field corn. Late 90+ days. Vigorous plant.

Bloody Butcher - Just a red field corn.

Double Standard - Have not tried.

Black Mexican - My mothers favorite. Smaller and earlier than Evergreen, but much better flavor in my opinion. During the 30's and 40's we planted mostly Golden Bantam, but Mom had to have some white corn and this was her choice.

Thanks for the replies.

I can remember eating field corn as corn on the cob when I was young. Only had a few days to get it before it got really tough, but was pretty good if the timing was right. Some kind of dent corn, not sure which.

Black Mexican - Black Iroquois - Black Aztec
Are these the same variety? The descriptions sound the same in the seed catalogs. Seems like a pretty versatile corn; good for fresh eating when young, good for cornmeal if dried.

Have always had a slight preference for white or bicolor corn, but Golden Bantam would be an option too.

Are you expecting to find something nice & sweet AND something you can save seeds from? Is this for economical reasoning? I think even the worst supermarket corn has to be many, many times sweeter than much of the OP corn. If economics is the reason, that seems like a poor reason since you can get "more modern" corn seed for practically a penny a seed. Do you just want to be able to save your own seed? I don't think I'd ever grow an OP again, personally, and would gladly spend what would average out to about $0.75-$1.00 per year for something non-OP that tastes much better.

Mark

Definitely not for economic reasons. My "bang for the buck" comment applies to productivity only. Corn takes a good bit of space, so the more ears per stalk the better.

Just like the do-it-yourself idea of saving seeds. And I don't mind that the OP variety won't be as sweet as the modern hybrids, so long as it isn't tough as boot leather.

I usually only get about 1.2 to 1.6 ears per plant average, but I'm talking 60 eight inch ears in a 6ft x 8ft spot on my paved driveway. How many do you plant or how much space?

This year I've got 7 rows, 36' each. Thinned to one plant every 12". Have ~190 plants now after thinning & culling. Will probably go to 8 rows, 18' each, next year to provide more room for potatoes & butternut squash.

The best open pollinated corn for sweet corn are Golden Bantam and Country Gentleman, the latter always my dad's favorite corn. I grow only OP corn and I adore both. Real corn taste, sweet if picked just before eating and you can save seed.

Bloody Butcher is a beautiful heirloom field corn. It's not a sweet corn.

Haven't been able to check in for awhile, but thanks to all for the advice & recommendations.