baby corn detasseling harvest before pollination market hotel export
How do I grow baby corn and what is the market for it?
PPradeep Dahiya8mo ago · 340 views
7 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓8mo ago
Baby corn is the young, unfertilised maize cob harvested 1 to 3 days after the silk emerges, before pollination, so detasseling (removing the male tassel) is essential to keep the cobs tender and unfertilised. Use baby corn specific hybrids, plant at closer spacing for more cobs, give good fertility and water, and harvest by hand daily once silking starts, since timing decides tenderness and grade. One plant can give 2 to 3 baby corns and you can take 2 to 3 short crops a year in warm areas. The market is hotels, restaurants, salad and processing buyers, and some export, usually through contracts or city wholesalers, so line up a buyer before scaling. The leftover green plant is good cattle fodder, adding to returns.
YYashpal8mo ago
Daily harvesting and detasseling on time is the whole game. I tie up with a hotel supplier so the cobs do not go to waste.
DDatta Kale7mo ago
Near Pune I sell to a city vegetable wholesaler and they want the cobs with husk on, because they stay fresh longer for the retail shelf. Asking the buyer how they want it packed got me fewer rejections.
OOmbir Singh7mo ago
One caution: it is daily hard work, you must walk the whole field every single day at silking or the cob overgrows and loses grade in one day. I keep my area small enough that my family can pick it all each morning.
MManjunatha6mo ago
In Karnataka I stagger my sowing in small batches a week apart so the picking and the supply to the buyer spread out instead of all coming at once. Staggered sowing kept my daily harvest manageable and the buyer got a steady supply.
GGurdas Singh6mo ago
One tip from my Punjab plot: the detasseled green plants and the husk make good fodder for my buffaloes, so almost nothing is wasted. Counting the fodder, baby corn paid better than I expected even after the daily labour.
SSachin Patil6mo ago
A caution from Maharashtra: do not delay detasseling, because once pollination happens the cob fills with grain and loses the baby corn grade and price. I check for the tassel daily and pull it the moment it shows.