Last year I planted 8 slips, totally ignored them and ended up with about 40 tubers. I have rocky soil, so a lot of them were quite...creative. I think 24 skips would probably get you what you want even accounting for reasonable losses. Sweet potatoes store a long time in ideal conditions, but a whole year seems unlikely, but slices dehydrate nicely and sweet potato au gratin is very tasty. (The ugly ones also make great dog treats.)

I guess I need to clarify, the question was how many ears to save seed on corn. 200 is an acceptable standard in most publications. As Dangould stated Susan Ashworths book seed to seed is the best resource for home gardeners for saving seed. The statement on using pollen from 100 stalks and silk from another 100 is 200 different plants and this is for hand pollinating. So 200 plants wind pollinated is acceptable if no other corn within a mile tassling. On the distances I stated that for older varieties larger distances were needed. Even on hybrids which are smaller plants 2ft-3ft between rows and 1-2ft between plants is need to produce a good crop.When growing a seed crop more distance is better than when growing for home cunsumption. The intent is to provide maximum light and nutrients to each corn stalk to produce the best seed. I know because I grow heirloom corns for seed both commercially and for preservation.Bill in PA it may look as if the corn in the rows is only a 8iches apart and that is true but if you measured it is probably closer to 24inches between rows vice the 18inches. This works for modern field corns which are smaller plants have less leaf spread and produce smaller ears. For the others I am not talking about growing sweet corn in a small home garden for eating. A couple of rows of intensly planted corn will probably produce a few ears satisfactory for a home grower. I answered the question as a grower and a preservationist for someone who maybe interested in growing a corn variety for seed and preserving the genetic diversity of the corn with out having any significant affect from inbreeding. Corn and other outcrossing crops can quickly develope inbreeding problems in just a couple of generations if sufficent seed from sufficient plants are not saved. For the home gardener do as you please but if you grow and pass on to someone else grow for a seed company or are intently passionate about preserving the variety get some good reference books such as Seed to Seed. Corn is a crop that takes a lot of room to produce a good crop. And it is a fun crop to grow in a small intensive plot and can produce satisfactory ears for eating. But it cannot produce seed good enough to preserve the genetic diversity unless the 200 plant minimum population size is used and adequte spacing and nutrients are used to allow each plant to produce full size ears that are well pollinated and full. Rodger Winn

Safyre--sometimes it is better to start a new thread rather than adding onto an old one. As for your question, it really would help to know what plants you're talking about. (As to the OP where how many seeds really depend on the plant). Are you talking transplanting into pots indoors, or into a garden. Since Houzz got rid of zone info, where are you at? I'm in Denver, so starting seeds now would mean I can't transplant out until April/May at the general earliest (my veg garden is just in plans right now for seed starting soon). But I have lots of pots indoors for the winter. All are different--I have some newly sprouted chives that I seeded directly into their pots. But I won't start my basil for another month or so, because it shouldn't go out until end of May due to our night temps here.

Hi everyone, I've been saving my own seed for most of the items in my garden, but not corn. Would like to start (open-pollinated, of course), but not sure I can grow enough plants to avoid inbreeding depression. While the written information I've found consistently stresses the need for many plants, I do find some inconsistency in the exact number- (all paraphrased) "...at least 200 plants, save seed from at least 10%..." "...at least 200 plants, save seed from every plant..." "...at least 100 plants, save seed from at least 1/2..." "...200 will work for awhile, but 300+ is necessary for the long term..." Have been doing some early planning for next year's garden, and here's the deal: assuming 12" spacing, 24" between rows, I can do ~120 plants without cutting into space for other vegetables & while maintaining my 3-year rotation scheme. Haven't settled on a variety, though it will be "multi-purpose"; a few ears here & there for fresh eating, the rest for cornnuts & cornmeal. Black Aztec is a leading candidate, though I'm still scouring the web for others. I would appreciate any advice or experiences from those of you who save your own corn seed, especially if your plant population is similar to what mine will be.