Category Archives: Sorghum
Freeze Injury, Low Temperature Stress and Chill Injury in Corn and Sorghum
Dr. Ronnie Schnell Cropping Systems Specialist – College Station Introduction Recent cold weather has affected newly planted, emerging or emerged corn or sorghum throughout south and central Texas. Corn and sorghum will experience similar types of injury although tolerance to low temperatures does differ between the crops to some degree. Sorghum generally requires warmer soil temperatures. Three types of injury may be observed, depending on stage of growth and temperatures experience above and below ground. This includes imbibition injury, cold stress, and frost/freeze damage…. Read More →
Grain Sorghum Pricing for 2021 & Managing Your Crop
Updated from the November ‘Texas Sorghum Insider’ (Texas Grain Sorghum Assn.) Prospects for grain sorghum acreage in Texas in 2021 are more favorable than the past several years. Pricing is up with adjustments relative to Dec21 corn ($4.18/bu as of this writing). Depending on your Texas location this puts the hundredweight price in the range of $8.00/cwt and even $9.00/cwt near the Texas Gulf Coast. Of course, there is a lot that can happen between now and planting time let alone harvest time in 2021. These… Read More →
Fall Concerns about Prussic Acid & Nitrate in Sorghums
Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu When our next Row Crops Newsletter is published in early November, a large portion of Texas will have seen heavy frost and a freeze on some sorghums. So, this is good time to update Texas on prussic acid (a plant form of cyanide) and nitrates in sorghums. These include sorghum/sudans (haygrazers), forage sorghums, and also grain sorghum where cattle will graze after harvest or on drought-failed grain sorghum (Fig. 1). Sorghum after… Read More →
Summer Annual Forages for Texas—Sorghum/Sudan & Hybrid Pearl Millet
Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, TX (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu February 10, 2020 I have written previously for Texas Row Crops Newsletter about hybrid pearl millet (HPM) in May 2015 and June 2017. The focus of then was the tolerance if not near absence of sugarcane aphid (SCA) activity in HPM. We continue to regard HPM as a poor host for SCA. Additional evidence in several Texas locations since 2017 reaffirms this. For Texas forage growers, HPM remains a potential alternative… Read More →
Soil management considerations for upcoming pre-emergence herbicide applications in corn and sorghum
Many farmers across Texas will be thinking about planting corn in just a couple of months, and sorghum shortly after that. Managing soil for good seed-soil contact and for fertilizer nutrients are common concerns as the time for planting nears, but understanding how the management of soil works into integrated pest management (IPM) programs can be helpful to ensuring the effectiveness of expensive pre-emergence (PRE) herbicide applications as well. There are two concepts presented in this article to consider for how soils effect PRE herbicides. 1. Activity –… Read More →
Causes of Blank Heads or Unfilled Kernels in Grain Sorghum
Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu This past week I received digital pictures and sorghum head samples from two different fields where grain sorghum fill was incomplete. This highlights the most difficult field situation I encounter in grain sorghum for 20+ years. What is the cause? What is particularly frustrating is production conditions often appear to be good. Often it is difficult to pinpoint any reasonable cause. Weather often is not a known factor, e.g. there were no extremes… Read More →