The physical removal of unwanted individual plants from a field before they can cross-pollinate or spread disease. Seed producers walk the rows looking for any specimen that deviates from the variety standard traits, such as wrong flower color or unusual height. Pulling these outliers ensures the harvested seed remains true to type.
Heard on the job
Send the crew out to rogue the seed potatoes before the inspector gets here tomorrow.
Also heard as
- cull
Do not mix it up with
- Volunteer: A volunteer is a plant growing where it was not planted; roguing is the act of removing unwanted plants, which often includes volunteers.