Seed Corn Field Question

[Pete-IN]

Was driving thru an area that grows a lot of seed corn yesterday. I noticed that a lot of the fields had the outside 4 to 8 rows bush hogged close to the ground. The tassels had been removed from the standing corn. What would be the reason for the mowing down of the outside rows?

 

[Bolivar Allis C]

Was driving thru an area that grows a lot of seed corn yesterday. I noticed that a lot of the fields had the outside 4 to 8 rows bush hogged close to the ground. The tassels had been removed from the standing corn. What would be the reason for the mowing down of the outside rows?

The outside rows are male rows and the detasseled plants are female. A cross is produced when the pollen from the male plants falls on the silk to produce an ear.
At the end of the pollinating season the male rows are destroyed so that no ears of corn from the male plants get mixed in with female cross. There were probably one or two rows of male corn amongst the female plants. They will also be destroyed so that there is no contamination of male ears of corn with the new cross corn. Also it is done because a big storm or strong wind it might blow the male plants into the female rows causing a problem when the female rows are harvested.

 

[da.bees]

Those are seed corn producing fields. Corn plants produce both male (tassels) and female (silks) components BUT for good pollination (all rows of kernels formed on cob) 90% of pollen on silk must come from tassel of a different stalk. The vast majority of corn commercially grown is hybrid. Kernels from hybrid corn will not produce the same corn plus yield is poor. That means seed corn is cultivated differently to corn going into feed,Ethenol ect. Tassels were removed to prevent them pollenating silks in that field. Those rows which had been brush hogged were a different verity who's tassels pollenated interior plants which had no tassels AND/OR the perimeter rows acted to intercept the occasional spore blown from an undesirable plant far away. Tassels from perimeter plants might be harvested then have their spore mechanically spread to interior plants.

Bottom line,if you buy a bag of corn you like don't waste your time planting it if label says it's a hybrid.

 

[Bolivar Allis C]

Was driving thru an area that grows a lot of seed corn yesterday. I noticed that a lot of the fields had the outside 4 to 8 rows bush hogged close to the ground. The tassels had been removed from the standing corn. What would be the reason for the

Bees is correct that all corn plants have a tassel and silks. I am like a politician, giving an answer without answering your question. The reason that the plants were destroyed, so at harvest time, the ears of the destroyed plants do not get mixed in with the ears of the standing plants.