First, this is not ‘detasseling’ to control pollination. There are several corn fields near me now, in late August, that have the top half of the plants cut off. Those fields still have corn plants at about 3 to 4 ft high left. There are ears of corn on the bottom half. I assume the top half had ears of corn that were harvested.
Why is this done? what is the advantage?
I’d like to avoid speculation, at least for now. Again….it is NOT detasseling to prevent certain corn plants from fertilizing others. We are well past that season.
Once the corn has been pollinated and the ears are developing, some farmer will top the plants to A) direct nutrients to the ears and lower parts of the plant, and/or B) reduce the chance that the entire plant will be toppled by high winds.
I have no idea of how effective topping a corn plant will be for either of those purposes.
Eastern MN. so you are correct that its still growing season, but I think the corn is more ‘maturing’ now than actively growing.
I noted there were ears on the remaining half, which seemed pretty low to the ground. The ears were maybe 2-3 ft off the ground, when I’m used to seeing them higher. It just seems an odd way to direct nutrients to the ears by lopping off the half that is producing the most energy.
I find this hard to believe. I’ve never seen/heard of a corn plant with two ‘sets’ of ears. I don’t suppose you could provide a picture of what you’re describing?
You are correct. I am wrong here. But the corn fields I’ve been seeing have the ears still there. So it appears they harvested the top halves for silage, maybe.
If a silage chopper came through a field and chopped the top halves of all the cornstalks, it would also drive over and ruin a goodly portion of the bottom halves of the stalks. So I don’t think this would be possible.
Not that north Texas is a serious corn growing region, but that’s what they grow around here. Or maybe that’s how it grows here. It’s not uncommon to see corn, but it is uncommon to see it taller than 4-5 feet.
It might be dwarf corn, but its not a natural growth. It literally (in the literal sense) looks like the farmer came in with his equipment set to 3.5 feet and mowed the entire field down to the same height. THe stalks are most definitely cut to that height.
I’m working on getting a picture, but if you imagine a corn field cut smoothly to 3.5 feet…..that’s exactly what it looks like.
I confess I’m not familiar with any piece of farm equipment that could do such an operation. And it would have to be such equipment with the wheels lined up so as to drive between the rows of corn so as not to flatten the stalks.
Are all the stalks 3.5 feet tall, without any damage from equipment tires?
Such equipment definitely exists, and I have seen them up close. They are used to detassel corn and basically consist of small rotary mowers mounted on a tractor designed to do exactly what you say would have to be done.
Here’s a link to an example. https://bigjohnmfg.com/830d-detassler/
I can’t speak as to why the field was cut, only that the equipment to do it is available. A detasseled field would also have rows of uncut “male” corn.