Sorghum

Sowing: Sorghum is direct-sown or transplanted once soil temperatures reach roughly 60–65°F at a 2–4 inch depth, usually in mid-to-late spring, with seed placed 0.75–1.5 inches deep in rows spaced 15–30 inches apart; rates range from about 6–12 pounds per acre for forage types to 60,000–80,000 seeds per acre for sweet sorghum.

Siting: It wants full sun and tolerates a wide soil pH range from about 5.5 to 8.5, growing in clay, loam, or sandy soils that are occasionally dry to very dry. Its finely branched roots and waxy leaf cuticle let it outlast drought better than corn, though steady moisture through the season still improves yield.

Feeding: Nitrogen needs run around 100–120 pounds per acre with more modest phosphorus and potassium requirements, but pushing nitrogen too high can increase lodging and lower sugar content in sweet types.

Rotation: Sorghum fits readily into crop rotations, tolerates atrazine, and adapts well to no-till planting.

Pests: Aphids, bollworm, and stalk borers commonly attack sorghum, and fall armyworm can appear as well; ripening seed heads also draw birds and rodents, which can become a nuisance in the garden or field.

Diseases: Fungal, bacterial, and nematode diseases affect the crop and can spread easily between plants, with anthracnose and sorghum rust appearing on leaves and stalks.

Toxicity: Sorghum carries low-severity poison characteristics, and regrowth after cutting or a killing frost can build up prussic acid, making grazing of young shoots or regrowth risky for livestock. Left unchecked, the plant also grows aggressively and can outcompete neighboring plants.

Grain sorghum is harvested at physiological maturity after passing through soft-dough and hard-dough stages following flowering, with seed ripening from September into October in many growing areas.

Sweet sorghum is cut near the soft-dough stage, often about 120 days after planting, with a Brix meter used to check sugar content; traditionally the stalks were hand-fed through a press to extract juice, and because the juice does not keep like grain, it must be processed soon after cutting.

Culinary: Sorghum grain is milled into flour or meal for porridge, bread, pancakes, and cakes, or cooked whole like rice; being naturally gluten-free, it is used in gluten-free baking, and it is also fermented into beer and other alcoholic drinks or processed into oils, starch, and dextrose.

Feed: The grain, stover, and the bagasse left over from sweet sorghum processing are widely used as livestock and poultry feed.

Industrial: Sorghum grain is fermented into ethanol, and the stiff stalks of broomcorn types are used as building material or bundled into brooms.

Sorghum originated in Africa and has been cultivated in southern African regions for more than 3,000 years. From there it spread into cultivation across Asia and the Americas, becoming one of the world's leading cereal grains.