Sorghum

[Branching Out]

Imagine my surprise today when I checked on the pole Coco de Belle Isle (network beans) that I planted alongside Ba-Ye-Qi sorghum, and found that the sorghum is sending up a seed head!. The pole bean and sorghum are each almost 5' tall. I just have five plants of each, but it is my most robust of several small sorghum patches. There are several others planted in different locations with various bean varieties, and none is as tall and healthy as this one. We are in the midst of a three month stretch of hot, dry weather and I think in some areas of the garden even the sorghum is beginning to suffer from the drought.

 

[Eleanor]

@Branching Out how did your sorghum do?

 

[Branching Out]

Well Eleanor, it is still a work in progress. The first three small patches produced a few short stalks that were looking pretty good, and then before the sorghum was ready to harvest the flower heads disappeared. I did not see it happen, however I am assuming that it was a squirrel or a rat that severed the tops and ran off with them. There are still a few stalks ripening now, and I am hopeful that I will be able to cut and dry them before critters get them. Given that I am new to this I am not 100% sure how to know when they should be harvested for grain. I tested them once by pressing my fingernail on the little spheres and they were still soft and pliable, so I figured they needed to mature a bit more.

As support poles for beans they did not perform well, which may have been a result of our hot dry weather. They grew too slowly so the pole beans had nothing to cling to. However, I am noticing that the last patch has much taller sorghum, now that the rains have returned; the sorghum is finally taller than the bean plants. If I try sorghum bean poles again I will give the sorghum a two or three week head start before I plant the beans, and I will try to give them more water.

The last issue that we had with sorghum was rust-- lots of it-- but the rust didn't seem to hurt the plants. From what I read rust is species-specific, so it did not affect the pole beans either.

On the plus side is now I know what sorghum plants look like, and I will definitely try to grow them again. They were quite a conversation starter, with many people asking me about the 'corn' that I was growing.

 

[Branching Out]

Year two of trying to grow sorghum with mixed results. Mennonite Sorghum in particular was a challenge to establish, but on the third round of sowing a few plants took hold. They are now about 10' tall and forming seed heads!

 

[ducks4you]

Well Eleanor, it is still a work in progress. The first three small patches produced a few short stalks that were looking pretty good, and then before the sorghum was ready to harvest the flower heads disappeared. I did not see it happen, however I am assuming that it was a squirrel or a rat that severed the tops and ran off with them. There are still a few stalks ripening now, and I am hopeful that I will be able to cut and dry them before critters get them. Given that I am new to this I am not 100% sure how to know when they should be harvested for grain. I tested them once by pressing my fingernail on the little spheres and they were still soft and pliable, so I figured they needed to mature a bit more.

As support poles for beans they did not perform well, which may have been a result of our hot dry weather. They grew too slowly so the pole beans had nothing to cling to. However, I am noticing that the last patch has much taller sorghum, now that the rains have returned; the sorghum is finally taller than the bean plants. If I try sorghum bean poles again I will give the sorghum a two or three week head start before I plant the beans, and I will try to give them more water.

The last issue that we had with sorghum was rust-- lots of it-- but the rust didn't seem to hurt the plants. From what I read rust is species-specific, so it did not affect the pole beans either.

On the plus side is now I know what sorghum plants look like, and I will definitely try to grow them again. They were quite a conversation starter, with many people asking me about the 'corn' that I was growing.

Have you considered trying okra as bean supports?

 

[Branching Out]

Have you considered trying okra as bean supports?

I have tried growing two types of okra with poor results. Our climate seems inhospitable for okra. Does okra grow tall where you live??

 

[ducks4you]

Okra grows tall like giants, over 8 ft tall last time I grew them.

 

[heirloomgal]

Year two of trying to grow sorghum with mixed results. Mennonite Sorghum in particular was a challenge to establish, but on the third round of sowing a few plants took hold. They are now about 10' tall and forming seed heads!

Did you direct seed these 3x?

 

[Branching Out]

Did you direct seed these 3x?

I tried direct seeding it, and also starting the seeds in soil blocks and planting out 2" tall seedlings. Even the seedlings succumbed, possibly due to unseasonably cold weather. Next year I will plant out much larger transplants, aiming for mid-June or so for putting them out in the garden.

Initially my goal was to grow sorghum as a support for pole beans, but the beans growing at the base of the exceptionally tall Mennonite sorghum aren't doing much. Other beans growing alongside Red Kaoliang are thriving-- but the beans are three times as tall as that variety of sorghum, so not a good match there either (I had to put poles for the beans to climb up). Clearly, pairing pole beans with sorghum is not an exact science in our area.

 

[Branching Out]

Finally harvested the bushy tops from the Mennonite sorghum yesterday. They are quite pretty! I think I'll place them in a vase to finish drying down, and then if I am able to thresh out the seeds I might just try cooking some of it. Sorghum is not common here, so I have never tasted it before.