Crop Duster Sprays Field of Corn Detasslers in Iowa

[pstans]

My wife is a nurse and got called into work this morning after a crop duster sprayed the wrong field that was full of people detassling corn. She said nurses and doctors at the hospital wore Hazmat suits while treating the people.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa -- Doctors at a Marshalltown hospital are treating at least 30 people for injuries they suffered when they were sprayed with anti-fungal chemicals Sunday morning.

A Marshalltown Medical and Surgial Center spokeswoman said the people, ranging in age from 18 to 58, were complaining of breathing problems and nausea -- symptoms included vomiting. The woman said some of the people will have to be hospitalized.

The Marshall County Sheriff's Office confirms they are investigating an accidental spraying at the corner of Highway 96 & Vance Avenue on the border of Marshall and Tama counties.

[PDJane]

spraying anti-fungals.............

And what do these things do to the rest of the environment? Stupid, stupid, stupid......aerial spraying is destructive as hell.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. How horrific!

Many of my friends in college made extra money in the summer by detassling corn. It's a pretty common job in Iowa.

[HeeBGBz]

6. Common for young teens too

My nephew used to detassle corn. It was one of his first jobs.

[pstans]

13. I detassled when I was 15

I think you have to be 14 to detassle. I hated it and only did it 1 summer.

[Critters2]

23. Me, too. It was a rite of passage where I grew up

The first job you got, before going on to fast food or whatever. Everyone detasseled.

[pstans]

2. Also, a plain crop dusting crashed south of town last week, killing the pilot

[madrchsod]

4. a crop duster went done around here-northern illinois

last week.. it`s a very dangerous job

[krispos42]

3. And on Monday..... "Terra! Terra! Terra!"

Prepare for the screaming about how vulnerable we are... "Oh, what if that plane had flown to Des Moines with a load of anthrax?"

sigh.

[dkofos]

5. Does the corn grow so high in Iowa that the pilot could not see them

when he over-flew the field, or was he just trying to save fuel (money)
and didn't bother to?

[Rincewind]

8. crop dusters

Usually, crop dusters fly very low over the fields when spraying. In some cases, only 10 to 20 feet over the crops. The pilot probably didn't see the people until he was almost on top of them.

[Beelzebud]

20. Umm, it grows that high everywhere corn is grown...

[seemslikeadream]

7. OMG

[JacquesMolay]

9. god, that's awful ...

.. hope they're alright.

[pipoman]

10. One of my first jobs in NE

Roguing and detasseling seed corn. The corn in that part of the country is 7-8' tall by now, he maybe couldn't see them. It sounds like these people were migrant workers? The age range and the fact they were working on Sunday seems consistent with that.

[Wiley50]

11. OK, what does it mean and what are the agracultural benefits of Roguing and detasseling corn? n/t

[pstans]

14. I am not an expert, but I will give it a shot

Roguing is for beans, and I think it is just basically weeding.

Detassling is pulling the tassle off the corn, so it does not pollinate.

[Wiley50]

15. Thanks. But if it doesn't pollinate I'd think it wouldn't form ears, at least with kernals on them

Maybe that's why I've never had much luck with backyard corn
I stick to Tomatoes and peppers mostly

[pstans]

16. From Wikipedia

Detasseling is the act of removing the pollen-producing tassel from a corn (maize) plant. Fields of corn that will be detasseled are planted with two varieties of corn. By removing the tassels from all plants of one variety, all the grain growing on those plants will be fertilized by the other variety's tassels. Detasseling is done to cross-breed, or hybridize, two different varieties of corn. In addition to being more physically uniform, hybrid corn produces dramatically higher yields than corn produced by open pollination. With modern seed corn the varieties to hybridize are carefully selected so that the new variety will exhibit specific traits found in the parent plants.

[Wiley50]

17. Cool. as usual, wiki is our friend. thanks n/t

[knitter4democracy]

18. Roguing is cutting errant corn plants from a bean field.

Used to do it as a kid. My step-mom's family had a big farm, and all the cousins were called in to help get the rocks out of the fields in the spring and rogue the corn.

[pipoman]

21. Sorry for the delayed response

but it appears the question has been answered.

Generally corn raised for seed are the only fields which require detasseling or rouging. Since seed production is an exact science, genetics, there are usually 5 rows of female plants then 2 rows of male plants. The male plants are generally shorter. Beginning when the plants get around 2' tall the fields are rogued. Workers walk each row removing plants which are shorter or taller than the other plants as well as volunteer plants which are usually caused by holdover from the harvest the previous year. When the plants begin to form tassels, prior to the production of silk on the female corn ears the tassels are removed from the female plants allowing only the male plants to pollinate the crop. Both of these processes result in uniformity in the next years production. Farmers buy seed corn engineered for their specific soil type, water availability and weather conditions.

[pipoman]

22. BTW this isn't easy or fun work, it is hot and dirty

but it was a great summer job when I was a kid (14 yrs was the youngest) I did it until I was 16 and could get a job at a gas station.

[pstans]

12. They were from Texas

or say they say.

[knitter4democracy]

19. That stuff is nasty.

I remember having to get inside and shut all the windows when they'd do the field behind my mom's house. Still could smell it, though.

I had a friend pass out walking in a banana plantation in Costa Rica. Several others in the group got nasty headaches for the rest of the day, too. Those chemicals are strong and not to be messed with.