Grain Sorghum

[GardenWeasel]

This was my first year growing a small plot of this for the chickens. When is it ripe? I picked some at a light ivory color on the heads and could see seeds formed but the chickens didn't seem to be able to pull off the seeds. Any body got advice? I bought quite a bit of seed and planned to do a much larger plot next year as it was not bothered by pests and grew well here.

 

[erinszoo]

It's ripe when you can barely push a thumbnail into a piece of grain and it should be a brownish color by then. After you clip the heads let them lay out to dry even more for a few days in a shady spot or you can hang them in a bunch somewhere to dry as well if you have a lot of wind. THEN you can feed them to your chickens. Sorghum is one of those amazing crops that does well almost anywhere but especially in the south and if it gets enough water, like ours apparently did, it will even double head for you. Ours actually triple headed this year but we have it in a garden plot where it gets watered every other day.

Oh, it can get corn worms on it that will eat the heads.

 

[GardenWeasel]

We ve not gotten much rain so the heads are small. What do you mean by double or triple head? All on one stalk? I grew broom corn and it sometimes had side shoots is that what you mean? The broom corn was cool looking and if I had lots of extra time would have made neat brooms but produced relatively poor for food amount.

 

[erinszoo]

I don't know if you'd call them side shoots or not. We cut off the first heads when they were ripe and the stalks were already sending up a second head and not they've all got a third head as well. The birds love the grain but they have to work a little to get it off the stalk when we first pick it and give it to them. Once it dries well, it almost falls off by itself.