With enough planning, care, teams can beat the heat
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Long, hot days are no match for a properly prepared Outfield Detasseling crew.
Local youth from a range of ages have officially begun what many consider a summertime rite of passage in rural Nebraska -- detasseling season.
As a reminder, detasseling is the process of removing the pollen-producing flowers, or “the tassel,” from the tops of corn plants.
According to Outfield Detasseling co-owner Jeremy Dubas, the season has gone quite well thus far, despite the threat of high-heat and a late start to planting (or replanting) for some producers.
“Our kids have had days to work and the days have not been too long,” Dubas said. “We’ve gotten most of our days done by around one o’clock or so.”
Of course, days stretch a little longer when they need to, he added, but even then they’re done by 2-2:15 p.m. The recent respite in the last week from the heat has been a help, too.
“It’s very physical work,” Dubas noted. “I have a lot of respect for those kids in the field and I’ll be honest, we have really good kids on our crew. I think we have close to a couple hundred kids, and there was a few that found out it maybe wasn’t for them, but really we’ve had very, very few kids not finish the season.
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