detassling corn???

Anonymous-0 · Aug 30, 2010

I've read on here of some of you doing it. What is the purpose? Never saw it being done in my life and asked a German farner the other day about it and got that look................

Just wondering.

Dave

Burnie · Aug 30, 2010

They detassle corn when cross breeding for planting seed. You plant two different varities in alternating rows. Before polinanting starts you detassle one varitey so the pollin from the other varitey crosses with the detassled one.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 30, 2010

(quoted from post at 00:05:24 08/30/10) They detassle corn when cross breeding for planting seed. You plant two different varities in alternating rows. Before polinanting starts you detassle one varitey so the pollin from the other varitey crosses with the detassled one.

that simple??? I gotta figure out howta beef that up before I tell it :roll:

So, if you are already buying hybrid seed, no need to cut the tops?

Is there really an advantage to the extra work and expense?

Thanks, Dave

Anonymous-0 · Aug 30, 2010

Dave,The Seed Co. does the detassling to creat the hybred seed that the farmer plants for grain. The farmer doesn't do it unless he is raising seed under contract for the seed co.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 30, 2010

Around here the seed co. plants 4 rows of seed corn that they detassle and one male row. They started picking it last week. The corn is picked on the cob.

Spook · Aug 30, 2010

The hybrids will not reproduce. Kind of like a mule is generally sterile. If you notice, volunteer corn from last year's hybrid crop never grows right, it's stunted, doesn't produce.

Tony C. · Aug 30, 2010

The seed companies do it to create specific hybrids. To make a hybrid you have to take the pollen (tassle)from the desired male variety and have it pollinate a different female variety (silk). The resulting offspring (ears) is what you buy to plant hybrid corn. Almost all corn grown, both sweet and field corn is hybrid.

If you didn't de-tassle the corn it would self pollinate itself and you wouldn't get the desired hybrid seed.

INCase · Aug 30, 2010

We have alot of seed corn here. Pioneer and DeKalb, plus a bunch of small operations.

I've see a few start to pick here too. They are usually early to get at it anyway but this year is really early. Last year I think they were still detasseling in August.

Daughter detasseled for Pioneer this year. She (surprisingly) didn't complain about the work but did complain about the goobbers and goof-offs she had to work with.

Dave, Look up detasseling on You-tube. Quite a few videos on there both the machine and hand pulling. They usually go thru with a machine to get the majority of the tassels and then go thru by hand to get the ones the machine missed (30%). They shoot for 99%.

Mike (WA) · Aug 30, 2010

I used to see detassled sweet corn around here- all was detassled after pollination, to make it less likely to blow down in a windstorm. Done in only the more wind-prone areas, or if there's a couple days notice of a big storm.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 30, 2010

They machine detassle first then a week or so later do it by hand. Then before they pick the seed corn, they take a high wheel machine, like the detallser and run the male row into the ground, don't bother to harvest it.

detassling corn???

Anonymous-0

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Burnie

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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Geo-TH,In

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Tony C.

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INCase

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Mike (WA)

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Geo-TH,In

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