Anybody in NC grow sugar cane?

[strawhousefarm]

I'm thinking I might try it out next year but I'm not sure where to get it or how to get started. I know that my great grandparents used to grow it just down the road but I don't know what variety. Maybe sorghum? I've got red clay wether that's good or bad it opinionated. I do have a good creek on the property so I think I have the water it needs.

Any feedback or advice is more than welcome.

[RoseGarden]

Sorghum and sugar cane are two completley different plants, not related. Sorghum is what 'black strap' molasses/cane syrup is made from; sugar cane is what table sugar is made from. If your grandparents grew it in NC, it was likely sorghum.

[emerald_2033]

Lots of folks here (Western NC) grow sorghum. I don't think it particularly likes clay soils as I usually see it in very loamy ground here...maybe just coincidence though since we don't have a lot of clay around here! I do know it is drought tolerant and actually likes dry years...good for us here the past couple of years .
Here is a link...
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sorghum.htm
Hope this helps.
BTW...not all molasses are black strap...at least according to my neighbor who makes and sells it. He said black strap is from a particular sub type of the sorghum grass.
Good luck.
Andrea

Originally Posted by RoseGarden

Sorghum and sugar cane are two completley different plants, not related. Sorghum is what 'black strap' molasses/cane syrup is made from; sugar cane is what table sugar is made from. If your grandparents grew it in NC, it was likely sorghum.

You've got several things mixed up here.

Blackstrap molasses is a byproduct of sugar production. It's the liquid left over after all the extractable, crystalizable sugar has been removed. May or may not have sulfur in it, may or may not be fit to eat. The better grades are pretty good. The poor stuff is used for livestock feed.

Sweet sorghum AND sugar cane can both be used to make syrup. They are somewhat different from each other in flavor, but are otherwise rather similar.

Coastal North Carolina might be able to provide a long enough growing sweason for sugar cane to make syrup making worthwhile, but I haven't ever looked into it myself. Generally speaking the line for growing sugar cane for syup runs roughly from Central Georgia west. South of that you can grow cane and north of it you are likely better off growing sweet sorghum for syrup making.

.....Alan.

[Randy Rooster]

I used to grow it here- never found anybody that had a press to press it out though and one year I lost all my plants when I didnt mulch them well enough after the harvest. Thats how you keep the plants going. New plants grow from the stem cuttings and you need viable stems for next years crop. At least in areas that freeze thats how you do it.