Adding endophytes to corn

So after reading about James F. White and his research. It turns out indigenous peoples used local grasses to inoculate corn plants. They would soak the corn seeds in wild grasses for a period of time and than plant them. See here
More can be found here https://archive.org/details/cu31924101546921/page/n31/mode/2up

Excerpt

It was recorded in the book 'Iroquois Foods
and Food Preparation'[4] that the Iroquois would gather roots
of common reed grass (Phragmites australis), bottle brush
(Hystrix patula), Elymus canadiensis, and other common
woodland grasses. Roots would be rinsed and placed in warm
water, probably to aid in the removal or exiting of bacterial
endophytes from roots (and root hairs) into the water. In
some cases, roots were boiled—and this likely resulted in
activation of Bacillus endospores in older parts of the roots.
The Native Americans would then soak and partially
germinate corn seeds in the liquid derived from wild grass
roots. After inoculation with root bacteria, the seeds were
planted in corn mounds. It is difficult to envision how the
Native Americans developed their biostimulant methods, but
it is likely that corn growth and health were considerably
improved beyond the growth of corn without the corn
medicine. It may also be considered that the method for
inoculation with biostimulant microbes used by the Native
Americans, and wherever farmers of different cultures used
similar methods, was likely superior to that used in modern
agriculture in terms of microbial diversity. In modern
methods we tend to select a defined group of soil or plant
microbes to use as biostimulants—while the Native
Americans obtained a larger undefined community of
biostimulant microbes from a selection of wild grasses, and
this increased their chances of obtaining a selection
(community) of microbes that were already adapted to
grasses. In essence, the Native Americans transferred the
entire root microbiome from wild grasses to cultivated corn
to better cultivate their corn crops.

So what i ended up doing was much smaller scale than that. I found one grass which was growing in the bed's i was going to plant the corn into. I washed the roots and the plant. Soaked the plant in water for 12 hours. Put the corn in for about 14 hours. Than planted the corn.

I would have soaked it longer however the weather here has been cold and wet. I mean last year i planted (Direct seeded)corn may the 5th! This year i planted the corn may 29th and it came up june the 5th.

So i am hoping this helps my corn grow. I am trying to develop a corn which germinates(Direct sown) in cool weather, shells easily and provides a crop with minimal inputs from me.

Alot of this has been inspired by Joseph Lofthouse.

Very cool Jordan!  Did you plant any seed without the soak for comparison?  I don't see how that soak could hurt anything do you?  Might have to try it myself.

I'll be interested in your results Jordan. I did the same thing based on Dr. White's information. My corn is coming up but it's been wet and really cold here too so it's been slow. At least the corn hasn't rotted in the ground due to the weather. I'm hoping for improved growth this year using this method along with more careful seed saving to preserve the endophytes at the end of the season.

I did notice with my tomatoes that the plants from seed I save (no acid washing or fermentation to kill bacteria) are twice as big as the two varieties I bought commercially and are more hardy looking. It could be variety but it could be endophytes too.

If anyone is interested, there is a course on endophytes and one on growing landraces at https://growingmodernlandraces.thinkific.com/

So no I didn't plant any which has not been soaked.

I believe when i do this next year i will find a few more grasses as well as i will soak the seeds for longer. I remember reading they soaked the corn until the corn started sprouting...

Here is what the corn looks like about 60 days after those first photos. We have had a rather cool summer. So far we have had hot weather for about 3 weeks.

I have watered them once during the heat wave. They have not received any pee from me or attention otherwise....