Seed Corn (stupid) Question

[DownSouth]

I tilled up a little area out by the front fence where I had some summer veggies growing (that mostly burnt up) today.


Those are tomatos on the right side of the picture, they are setting fruit for the second time this year. Anyway, on to the question. I wanted to plant some sweet corn here. I had trouble finding any seed this time of year but after a trip to the old garden center / feed store he had seed. I think it's bi-color as I recall, maybe peaches and cream. Anyway when I opened the paper sack (he sells it by the ounce) I discovered the seed had a red coating of some kind on it. I've never seen this before although I'm guessing it's common. So what is it, and what's it's purpose? My guess is to keep it dry, or maybe some sort of fertilizer? It comes off on your hands sort of in a powder form, but not much of it when handling the seed. Here is a picture of the seed.


One last thing. I'm wondering what is the best way to store seed. No cool dry area here, we are near the coast and it's hot and humid on a regular basis. I planted some leftover corn from this spring and I got less than 10% that came up. It was stored in the house, but the AC was off all summer. Should I keep it in the refrigerator? Curious because I didn't plant it all and would like to set out more about February.
Note: We have not had a freeze in several years now, that last freeze we had lasted about 6 hours. Our coldest weather is usually the first week of January so the corn I planted today should be ready a couple of weeks prior to that.
 

[CheeseHeadFred]

Seems like seed companies used to coat their seeds with an insecticide for bug larvae that ate the corn or the new roots as it sprouted back in the 60"s. It was even the same color. Don"t know if it"s the same stuff being used today, but i wouldn"t lick my fingers after planting it.
 

[donjr]

It's a seed treatment for seed maggot and some other pests. Not reccommended for consumption. Hopefully distasteful to birds, also.
 

[tomNE]

store it in a coffee can or any can with a lid.
be sure to get it between 1.5 and 2in deep when planting!
 

[BCnT]

i store my left over seed in a ziplock bag in the freezer...red stuff is a pesticide/fungicide combo...wash your hands good after planting.
i miss Galveston Island simply because of the soil and long growing season...we had a garden year round and if a freeze did come along we ran a sprinkler till sun came back out.
 

[FBH44]

Believe it"s a powdered fungicide to prevent rotting. Don"t taste it or leave it on your fingers. Don"t let anybody eat it or an animal eatit.
 

[IaGary]

That is captan(sp). To protect the seed till it gets up and growing. All seed corn is coated with it here.

Let us know how your corn turns out.

Gary
 

[keh]

I store seed in a refrigator. Keeps 2-3 years ok.

KEH
 

[DownSouth]

Thanks guys. Gary got it, it"s Capstan I"m pretty sure. I have heard of that, I guess I just had never seen it. Not to worry, I did wash my hands well since I had no clue what it was.
And I"m going to try the refrigerator for the leftover seed. I thought about a coffee can with a few of those moisture absorbant packs you get in shipping boxes to keep stuff from rusting or whatever, but honestly not sure that would be safe with a food product.
Got a nice gentle light shower last night (instead of our normal 10 minute monsoon) so hopefully the corn will come up later this week.
 

[sdc eastern ia]

freezer