sorghum/sudan grass
- Thread starter TreeDaddy
- Start date
Weed Wacker
5 year old buck +
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
The recommendations I've seen as a cover crop are to mow it when it gets to 3 or 4 ft tall down to maybe 8". The mowed top growth will break down and the roots keep penetrating and spreading. Depending on the weather and fertilization, you might mow several times and then mow off before frost. For an ag cover crop, the mowing limits the top growth to deal with but a plotter won't mind as long as you can mow and chop it up effectively. I would tend to put my screen in the same location each year so I'm not sure the soil building valuable.
Bill
Administrator
I've used it for screening for years. Less and less now.
The problem with it is once it Browns down it will snap in the wind and the screen is gone. Usually good through November though. Also you have to replant every year.
I've been converting my Sourgum screens to miscanthus Giganteus. It stands all winter and you only have to plant it once.
Do a search here and you'll get good info on it.
The problem with it is once it Browns down it will snap in the wind and the screen is gone. Usually good through November though. Also you have to replant every year.
I've been converting my Sourgum screens to miscanthus Giganteus. It stands all winter and you only have to plant it once.
Do a search here and you'll get good info on it.
My experience with sorghum and forage sorghum is the same as Bill's. Last year I prepared a 15-18' wide strip of dirt, broadcast sun hemp and then forage sorghum into that. I cultipacked it and it came up great. The sorghum would have surely fallen over during the winter but the sun hemp kept if standing. The sun hemp lost all it's leaves and the sudex kept some and together it was a great, all winter standing screen.
My soil is heavy clay and we average around 30 inches of rain a year. I have a high deer density and they browse it but they can't keep it down. I will continue to do this until the miscantus gigantus I plant this spring can take over the screening.
I'm planting 2 rows of the gigantus as Steve Bartylla recommends, every 18 to 24" in a row and then another row that far from the first row, staggered from first planting. I'm hoping that in three years I won't have to plant the sun hemp and sorghum combo but it certainly do a good job as a screen.
My soil is heavy clay and we average around 30 inches of rain a year. I have a high deer density and they browse it but they can't keep it down. I will continue to do this until the miscantus gigantus I plant this spring can take over the screening.
I'm planting 2 rows of the gigantus as Steve Bartylla recommends, every 18 to 24" in a row and then another row that far from the first row, staggered from first planting. I'm hoping that in three years I won't have to plant the sun hemp and sorghum combo but it certainly do a good job as a screen.
Bill
Administrator
With good weed control you will be very happy in three years. Atrazine or simazine will help with weed control during the first three years. After that it should be good to go.
I planted it for the first time last summer. My purpose was two fold. First for screening, which others have mentioned after the first frost or two, it turned burn and was easily blown over. Second as a soil builder. Most of it was planted on sandy soil. Old pasture ground, poor fertility. I was impressed with the growth, even though we experienced a drought. Of what i planted the poorer soil, averaged 6-7' the better soil areas were more like 8-10'. I through some in my garden among the sweet corn, it grow 12'. None of the plot plantings received any fertilizer. I did a RU burn-down and disced and rolled it.
Ill plant it again. Im not sure what to do with the area that I planted last year? Buckwheat, clover, more sorghum/sudan?
Ill plant it again. Im not sure what to do with the area that I planted last year? Buckwheat, clover, more sorghum/sudan?
