Anyone with Sorghum experience?

[salmonslayer]

We just planted 4 rows of sorghum as an experimental plot (we know its very late but we are trying to figure out what to plant next year as this is our first year on the farm) and I was wondering a few things.

We planted the seeds (Mennonite Sorghum) at 6 inch intervals and about a half inch deep in 4 50 foot rows spaced about 2 feet apart. My biggest question is there a better way to plant the seed? They are extremely small and doing it by hand is hard on the back.

Next year we will be growing a lot more sorghum and I was wondering if anyone has ideas for a winter covercrop that would benefit the sorghum in the spring and if anyone has had success with rotational planting Sorghum and if so; what would be a good 3 year mix?

Finally, this year whatever grows will just go to silage but if we were to harvest the stalks for pressing next year, do you wait for the stalks and leaves to start dying off at the end of the season or do you harvest them at a set time or when still green?

We have had suggestions all over the map and it doesnt seem to be a popular crop around here so I was hoping someone on this board had some personal experience or knowledge on sorghum.

[MattC]

The easier way to plant it is with a planter. I plant mine with a 2 row planter pulled by a old ford 8n. If you don't have a planter, but are having large gardens, get yourself an earthway push planter. They have a variety of seed plates, I'm sure one would work for Milo. As for a cover crop, you are not scavenging nitrogen as milo uses N so I'd recommend a legume something to smother weeds in spring and add back some N when you plow it down. PLant clover winter peas or vetch in Spetember after you harvest your milo heads. What you going to do with the milo? I am growing it for wildlife. I may hand harvest a little and grind it with my country living mill, see if its any good as a flour. Some of it is high in tannins to keep the birds off it.

[MOgal]

Salmonslayer, last November someone was advertising sorghum and a book on how to make it, how to cook with it for $6. I had forgotten that I had saved the site on the St. Louis craigslist. I don't know if you can still send an email to these folks but here is their address: sale-fzavw-1484731061@craigslist.org
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/grd/1484731061.html

Also, you might try a listing of your own on Craigslist asking for a response from these folks. You might also try to find some festivals that demonstrate sorghum pressing and cooking and ask about the person who does it. When we lived near Holt MO, one of the churches pressed sorghum and sold the syrup as a fund raiser--can't remember which church. Also, Luxenhous Farm hosts the Old Deutsch Country Days in October at Marthasville MO. Their email is info@deutschcountrydays.org and their website is http://www.deutschcountrydays.org/index.html. Their goal is to keep the old German crafts/life skills alive so I would just bet they would be happy to help you contact the people who do their demos. Silver Dollar City probably has a demonstration during their fall festival but I don't know how willing they would be to share skills/knowledge. Good luck.

[oneokie]

He's asking about syrup sorghum.

Do not know much about when to harvest for making syrup. It is a heavy feeder. It will deplete the P & K in your soil quickly. More so if you have adequate levels of N.

[Ravenlost]

My Daddy used to grow sorghum and had a syrup mill. He used a planter for planting it and, if my memory is correct, harvested it in the Fall to make syrup. We loved to chew on raw pieces of sugar cane.

[salmonslayer]

He's asking about syrup sorghum.

Bingo!! Thanks for all the responses. We have a 1948 Allis Chalmer WC with the side PTO and a bunch of belts and we want to grow sorghum and make syrup. I know how to do that part but the raising of sorghum is somewhat of a mystery to me. The seeds are so small that I cant conceive of how a seed planter would work. Its been 2 days since we planted the test plot and nothing has popped up yet but we are hopeful.

I will look up the link provided about the deutchcountrydays MOGal so appreciate that, I just retired from the Army and we are having a blast establishing the farmstead so some of my questions may be a little goofy but we have more enthusiasm than knowledge. We bought some sorghum syrup at a store in Lebanon and I am hooked....fresh buiscuits with cream butter and sorghum syrup is very addictive. So far we are awash in fresh peas, squash, peppers, raddishes, lettuce, various herbs, and now tomatoes and the corn patch looks promissing so we figured why not sorghum!!

[Bearfootfarm]

The seeds are so small that I cant conceive of how a seed planter would work

Large scale planting is done with a grain drill that has a "small seed box"
Planters made for grass seed would handle it too

You could probably use an Earthway if you mixed the seed with a "carrier" like pellitized lime.
It wouldn't be as precise, but would get it in the ground

[clovis]

When I was in FFA, we had a 2 acre field of sorghum.

I think we sold it at $5 a quart then, and sold, literally, every bottle of sorghum molasses we had. It really was unbelievable how well it sold. There were, no joke, standing orders for the next year, and people bought entire cases of it. The entire crop was sold out within a week or two, and we were a small town back then.

It is going to be VERY, VERY, VERY important that you time your sorghum just right. You need it to get it cut and processed before the stalks start drying out. Timing is VERY critical, so pay attention to the open window between maturity of the stalk and when it starts drying out. Dry stalks drink up sorghum juice.

It is best to strip the leaves off the stalks before processing it. It is a time consuming task, but the leaves drink up or consume tons of the juice. Your amount of molasses will increase quite a bit if you strip the leaves.

Be careful when cooking the molasses. Don't get it too hot, or you will scorch it.

If you happen to be at the Indiana State Fair, they usually have a molasses demonstration going. Those folks are extremely knowledgeable about the growing and making of the stuff.