Chopping off the tops of corn plants may seem counterintuitive, but it’s all part of the detasseling process at Beck’s. The seed company uses machines designed to lop a few inches off the tops of growing corn plants at high speeds.

A couple of days after that machine passes through, a second machine makes its rounds, pulling the exposed tassels from the female inbred plants. And a couple days after that, a crew of workers removes any remaining tassels during one, two and sometimes three additional passes to achieve genetic purity.

This may sound like a lot of work from the outside, but even after all these passes with machinery and people, a small percentage of tassels still will be missed. Darin Lucas, production agronomist at Beck’s, explains that the goal is to remove 99.5% or more of the tassels.

Removing the tassels from the female plants ensures that the male plants will do the pollinating. For a seed company like Beck’s, this helps achieve the intended hybrid seed crosses that will later be used on the farm.

Detasseling routine

The detasseling routine Beck’s uses comes from years of experience and testing. Removing tassels without causing extensive damage to the rest of the plant is a fine line to walk — and everything must be strictly timed.

“We have a scheduled regimen,” Lucas adds. “That regimen is that we cut, then wait two days. Then we quad pull, and immediately the following day, we walk. That’s how most fields are done.”

Here is a closer look at this method:

Cutting. The cutting machine passes through a field, cutting off the tops of the plants. This step does not remove the tassels, but it evens out the plants so the quad puller can get a better pull on the exposed tassels two days later.

Beck’s uses Oxbo and Hagie detasseling machines for both cutting and quad pulling. Different heads can be attached to the machines. When cutting, the machines can cover 250 or more acres each day.

Quad pulling. Two days after cutting, a detasseling machine with a quad pulling head passes through the field. This step involves pulling the tassels from the female plants. They are now more visible following the cutting step two days prior. Lucas shares that they try to quad pull when 1% to 5% of silks are exposed.

This step also requires a great deal of attention from the machine operator to ensure the head is set at the right height.

“The machine operator has to determine from the cab — maybe even get out and walk around after he’s made a pass or two in the field — how much deeper to set the head,” Lucas says. “You don’t want to gut the plant, but you also want to get as many tassels as you can. It’s kind of a balancing act between getting down far enough to get the tassels, but not destroying too much plant material.”

The head is also broken into sets of two units controlled by sensors. Those sensors constantly tell the units to independently raise or lower to best target the tassels they are removing. This is the same for the cutter head.

Walking. The day after quad pulling, crews of workers walk through the field to physically remove any remaining tassels. These crews then come out a few days later to make one or two more passes and ensure they have not missed any tassels.

Lucas explains that they are not worried about having enough machine power to get through detasseling season; they are more worried about the walking power.

“There can be long days, sometimes starting at 6 a.m. and stopping at dark,” he adds.

While detasseling makes for some full days, the entire season lasts a little over a month.