Sorghum Screen Fail thoughts

[birdog]

Elevating it doesn't keep the mice out. Don't ask me how I know.

I have three redneck soft side blinds sitting on 8 foot wooden platforms. Had a few problems with mice the first year until I put mice bait stations next to the steps. I drilled a 1/2 hole thru the top and bottom of the bait station and ran a 2 foot T stake through them to keep them anchored down so the coons don't drag them off. I have not had a single mouse issue since, just keep them loaded with bait. I also take the blind covers off after the season which really helps.

 

[TenPoint]

I have three redneck soft side blinds sitting on 8 foot wooden platforms. Had a few problems with mice the first year until I put mice bait stations next to the steps. I drilled a 1/2 hole thru the top and bottom of the bait station and ran a 2 foot T stake through them to keep them anchored down so the coons don't drag them off. I have not had a single mouse issue since, just keep them loaded with bait. I also take the blind covers off after the season which really helps.

I was thinking bait stations would probably do the trick. I don't take the blind covers off. Leaving the windows open might also help

 

[omicron1792]

I have three redneck soft side blinds sitting on 8 foot wooden platforms. Had a few problems with mice the first year until I put mice bait stations next to the steps. I drilled a 1/2 hole thru the top and bottom of the bait station and ran a 2 foot T stake through them to keep them anchored down so the coons don't drag them off. I have not had a single mouse issue since, just keep them loaded with bait. I also take the blind covers off after the season which really helps.

Great setup.

 

[Brian662]

I have three redneck soft side blinds sitting on 8 foot wooden platforms. Had a few problems with mice the first year until I put mice bait stations next to the steps. I drilled a 1/2 hole thru the top and bottom of the bait station and ran a 2 foot T stake through them to keep them anchored down so the coons don't drag them off. I have not had a single mouse issue since, just keep them loaded with bait. I also take the blind covers off after the season which really helps.

Have you seen mice that died from eating the poison climb into the blind to die?

 

[birdog]

Have you seen mice that died from eating the poison climb into the blind to die?

I have never found a dead mouse in the blind going on 5 years now. I have heard that when mice eat the poison it shuts down there kidneys which causes them to head to water.

 

[birdog]

Great setup.

Thank you

 

[Northwoods Whitetails]

Egyptian wheat does best for my screens. Easily towers over anything else I've thrown out there. 12' wide is probably where it's at with EW screen. I've done 4' and 8' and it's good but not quite enough as it gets later in the season.

12 seems to be the minimum

 

[Wind Gypsy]

So a few inches of wet snow and wind showed up last night and took what was a great screen and knocked it to the ground. Made it almost to rifle season.

Seems most all the growth was the egyptian wheat and hardly any of the HD blend. I planted a near 50/50 mix of the two. Seems the HD plot screen does not play nice with my soils.. Not sure if the egyptian wheat just outcompeted the HD stuff or it just doesn't do worth a shit in my soil.. if it was a competition issue, maybe i could try 12' Egyptian wheat and 12' HD screen next year? If the soils caused issues with the HD, at least the EW should work through most of sept/oct bow season.. Really need the damn spruce trees to get growing!

 

[Brian662]

So a few inches of wet snow and wind showed up last night and took what was a great screen and knocked it to the ground. Made it almost to rifle season.

Seems most all the growth was the egyptian wheat and hardly any of the HD blend. I planted a near 50/50 mix of the two. Seems the HD plot screen does not play nice with my soils.. Not sure if the egyptian wheat just outcompeted the HD stuff or it just doesn't do worth a shit in my soil.. if it was a competition issue, maybe i could try 12' Egyptian wheat and 12' HD screen next year? If the soils caused issues with the HD, at least the EW should work through most of sept/oct bow season.. Really need the damn spruce trees to get growing!

That stinks. Are you too far north for a miscanthus trial? I can't remember if that was already talked about in this thread or not.

I would definitely separate the two (HD&EW)next year to get a good feel for what does better on its own.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

That stinks. Are you too far north for a miscanthus trial? I can't remember if that was already talked about in this thread or not.

I would definitely separate the two (HD&EW)next year to get a good feel for what does better on its own.

I wanted to try some miscanthus but didn’t do a good job killing competition this fall for a spring planting. I’m pretty confident it’d struggle where I really need the screen just due to poor drainage in addition to being borderline too far north.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I have been finding more and more gigantus miscanthus around the Twin Cities. I know the landscape arboretum has a few clumps. I also know you are further north. I'm going to be purchasing a few boxes this spring and will save you some rhizomes if you would like.

 

[Northwoods Whitetails]

So a few inches of wet snow and wind showed up last night and took what was a great screen and knocked it to the ground. Made it almost to rifle season.

Seems most all the growth was the egyptian wheat and hardly any of the HD blend. I planted a near 50/50 mix of the two. Seems the HD plot screen does not play nice with my soils.. Not sure if the egyptian wheat just outcompeted the HD stuff or it just doesn't do worth a shit in my soil.. if it was a competition issue, maybe i could try 12' Egyptian wheat and 12' HD screen next year? If the soils caused issues with the HD, at least the EW should work through most of sept/oct bow season.. Really need the damn spruce trees to get growing!

Just saw this now.

I don’t mix anything with our HD screen, it needs all the nutrients and sun it can get.
We did a side by side planting of our HD Screen and another companies Egyptian wheat / sorghum sudan grass . Two snowfalls so far. Our screen is 9 feet the other stuff is 2-3 feet all falling over .
Email me or call/ text and see if we can figure out what’s going on. I’m in upper Michigan and ours is usually up until Jan 1.

The pic shows our screen on the left and another companies on the right.

 

[paleopoint]

I didn't read through all of the posts in this thread this morning.....so this may already have been covered, but......

....but, what I have accidently, and pleasantly, discovered is that forage pearl millet makes a really great annual screen.

I bought a bag from Merit several years ago. I thought I was getting a 'seed'-producing version of pearl, but what I got was a forage variety.
....which meant I got a lot of 'cattail-looking plants, with minimal seeds. But the stuff got to be 7ft tall, thick, and it stayed upright all winter.
The following spring I just brush-hogged it and lit it afire.

To be sure, lit is an annual. Gotta do it every year. It looks like corn as it grows. And like corn it is nitrogen hungry. Now....and until I can find a supplier for a seed-producing variety of pearl, I will use the forage variety as a 'separator' row between various food plots, so it sort of 'compartmentalizes' my larger plots.
It is a vigorous grower, does suppress weeds to a fair degree....and can be sprayed with 2,4-D.



*btw, if anyone knows of a supplier of seed-producing pearl millet varieties, well, I'm all ears.

Here's a pic of a seed producing variety.
The forage variety looks similar....but the head is black, without seeds, and looks very much like a cattail head.

 

[SD51555]

I didn't read through all of the posts in this thread this morning.....so this may already have been covered, but......

....but, what I have accidently, and pleasantly, discovered is that forage pearl millet makes a really great annual screen.

I bought a bag from Merit several years ago. I thought I was getting a 'seed'-producing version of pearl, but what I got was a forage variety.
....which meant I got a lot of 'cattail-looking plants, with minimal seeds. But the stuff got to be 7ft tall, thick, and it stayed upright all winter.
The following spring I just brush-hogged it and lit it afire.

To be sure, lit is an annual. Gotta do it every year. It looks like corn as it grows. And like corn it is nitrogen hungry. Now....and until I can find a supplier for a seed-producing variety of pearl, I will use the forage variety as a 'separator' row between various food plots, so it sort of 'compartmentalizes' my larger plots.
It is a vigorous grower, does suppress weeds to a fair degree....and can be sprayed with 2,4-D.



*btw, if anyone knows of a supplier of seed-producing pearl millet varieties, well, I'm all ears.

Here's a pic of a seed producing variety.
The forage variety looks similar....but the head is black, without seeds, and looks very much like a cattail head.

Pearl Millet (Tifleaf III) - Hybrid

Hybrid pearl millet is a tall, erect, small grained grass with improved forage production. It is relatively drought hardy and is adapted to a wide variety of soil types including sandy soils. Because pearl millet does not produce prussic acid, like sorghums, it is safer for livestock to graze...

store.greencover.com

 

[Foggy47]

Pearl Millet (Tifleaf III) - Hybrid

Hybrid pearl millet is a tall, erect, small grained grass with improved forage production. It is relatively drought hardy and is adapted to a wide variety of soil types including sandy soils. Because pearl millet does not produce prussic acid, like sorghums, it is safer for livestock to graze...

store.greencover.com

Does anyone have experience with the above seed from Green Cover? Curious to know how well it holds up after freezing?? Most of these seeds/ crops used as screens just do not stand up after freezing temps.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

We use VNS Sorghum Sudangrass for our screens that we drill in with 7.5 inch rows with a 7 ft drill. Some years it is still standing until Christmas, other years it is laid over in early November. I think if you fertilize you will get better height and less lodging. We never fertilize because even when it lays over it is still higher than a deers eye level. If we needed to screen vehicles or humans, I might think differently about using it.

 

[paleopoint]

Does anyone have experience with the above seed from Green Cover?

I think Tiffleaf III is a forage variety of Pearl.
At least, Google indicates it is.

 

[TreeDaddy]

We use VNS Sorghum Sudangrass for our screens that we drill in with 7.5 inch rows with a 7 ft drill. Some years it is still standing until Christmas, other years it is laid over in early November. I think if you fertilize you will get better height and less lodging. We never fertilize because even when it lays over it is still higher than a deers eye level. If we needed to screen vehicles or humans, I might think differently about using it.

What rate did you drill in the above photo?

thanks

bill

 

[Hoytvectrix]

What rate did you drill in the above photo?

thanks

bill

35 lbs/acre for sorghum Sudangrass. For a screen we just do one drill width.

 

[Foggy47]

Hey folks , first time here in a few years.
Couple thoughts:

1) This is not sorghum sudan grass, that is pretty much a guarantee failure when snow/ wind hits.
2) This does not like wet ground at all, we recommend Egyptian wheat on damp ground. Although EW doesn’t have the late season stand ability as this does.
3) The actual germ on our tests is 92-95%
The supplier always labels on the low side for some reason. But we pull a germ test once every few weeks and have never seen below 92%.
4) We have found the more nitrogen you pour to this is not always the answer. It may make it grow too fast and become spindly/thin.

Hope that sheds some light on things.
Thanks
John

I saw a very large screen area that used seeds from Northwoods Whitetails last summer. Did not know what it was when I saw it.....but was really impressed with what I saw. I got the name of the owner(MN Habitat - great guy) and finally called him today. He told me it was THIS seed from Northwoods Whitetails and described his experience and satisfaction with this product. Very impressive traits.

I need to order some of this and may perhaps blend some with some millet Sounds like the stand ability of this Sorgum variety is un-parralled. Grown in Texas......by a small outfit....is my understanding. Not cheap.....but affordable given it's purpose. The "structure" I saw was phenomenal....nothing quite like it. The cost is one reason I would like to blend it with millet.....but also for food value in winter. This stuff gets really tall.....and I'm not sure all the height is needed for my purposes......but if it will stand up through December......it is a winner in my book.