The work, explained
What is roguing?
Roguing seed corn
Roguing is the job that comes before the detasseling season. It generally starts around the beginning of July, give or take a few days, and detasseling follows about 10 to 12 days after roguing begins.
Where detasseling is an individual sport, roguing is a team sport. The crew "sweeps" the field as a group — spreading out at even intervals and moving through the field more or less together. Each person is responsible for their own section, and it's their job to remove the rogue corn in it.
Rogues are corn plants that have mutated slightly, and they're easy to pick out once you know what to look for: generally taller than the normal plants, with a broader, darker leaf and a thicker base. Often they carry suckers — small corn plants growing in twos and threes from the base of the main stalk.
Pulling rogues before they can pollinate is what keeps the seed genetics pure — it's detail work at a walking pace, and it's how the crew gets its legs under it before the detasseling rows start.
