When do i harvest broom corn

Broom corn plants grow slowly at first, but after they are a foot tall they grow very rapidly. There are many varieties of broom corn, from dwarf types that grow short to really tall types.

Some farmers feel the best brush is harvested when the plant is in flower, or at most when the seed is only slightly formed. At Living History Farms, we usually harvest the plant in the middle of October when it looks like this. When the farmer feels the broom corn is ready, the plant is tabled. Our farmers walk through the corn patch and bend the stalk over like this.

As the stalks are bent over the next row it creates the look of a table top in the field. Doing this allows the tassels to stay straight as they continue to lengthen. The farmer then takes the tassels to a building that has slotted shelves to place the tassels on.

These shelves allow the tassels to completely dry in a flat position. The seeds are then combed off the tassels and the tassels taken apart in order to separate the fibers by length. The sorted tassels are then placed into bundles and the different length bundles are sold to broom making factories. The factories then use the broomcorn to make different styles of brooms to be sold at stores. At Living History Farms, our broom corn factory still makes brooms using machines over one hundred years old!

Around Town Seasons. This is my first year to try growing broomcorn. The plants have grown nicely and the tassels are hanging long with plenty of seeds. Waiting now for the final stage of maturity. Wish me luck on trying to assemble some type of primitive looking broom.

How did it go? My husband and I are about to take the broom plunge and grown broomcorn. You filled in some holes in my understanding of broom corn and brooms.. I have at times purchased very handsome wreaths made of broom corn, the rimming bunches made with the top 2 feet of the plants, tied sequentially onto a round metal frame. I hung one on a heavy hook outdoors and it was a squirrel family's Thanksgiving feast. We got a lot of pleasure from giving them this gift as we daily watched their antics of acquisition.

Not a seed remained after about three weeks. As a young man 16 yo in the fifties I cut broom corn and I would like to caution you about using that big butcher knife. A broom corn knife called a Johnny Knife is only a few inches long. To use it you only lay the knife against the stalk and pull the head against the knife. This way the stalk comes out of the sheaf and no stripping is necessary. When "Breaking" the corn a person walks between two rows grabbing several stalks in each hand about hip level.

By breaking the stalk behind you alternately left to right, right to left it forms a table hip high so the heads hang conveniently off the the edge of the row. Sure makes it easier to cut then you can place the heads on top of the table for easy collection. This is a very interesting site to me. I am a native of Campo, a small town in southeastern Colorado. Broomcorn was the main money crop of Baca County Colorado until the early 's.

I remember coming home from college on fall break and restacking the broomcorn ricks in our field that the cows had torn down. My dad along with several others in the county ran broomcorn crews to harvest the crop. Crews would run any where from 20 to 40 men sometimes women and children. Harvest would begin in the fall when the first crop was ready to cut and run until the last ricks were baled and put in storage until sold to a local broomcorn buyer.

This crop created a whole culture that we no longer have. Many interesting stories and happenings centered around the broom corn industry. Thanks for the interesting site. I have some spaces in our community garden and planted a patch of broom corn.

I was inspired by a little festival I went to where someone was making brooms and I thought it was really cool. Ryan trims all the stalks to the same length. Here is a closer look at the broom corn stalks — they are very woody with dry piths inside.

Next, Ryan and Gavin bring the bundles of broom corn to the corn crib where they could dry undisturbed for the next two to three weeks. Ryan and Gavin hang the broom corn in smaller bundles, so it could dry vertically and straight. My corn crib is original to the farm, and is one of the most photographed outbuildings on the property.

It is located at one end of my party lawn next to one of my horse paddocks and this long allee of lindens. A few weeks later, Ryan returns to the corn crib — the broom corn is now dry.

When making brooms, these sprays are brushed with a curry comb to remove all the seeds. If left unharvested, the seeds can be used as a winter food source for wildlife — birds love them. Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing broom corn to the United States in the early s. Initially, broom corn was grown only as a garden crop for use in the home. By commercial broom corn production had spread to several states in the Northeast and started moving west. Now, broom corn is grown for more ornamental uses and as feed.

We use these bags everywhere around the farm — they are so useful for so many tasks.