{"id":2421,"date":"2023-12-11T16:13:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T16:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2023-12-11T16:13:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T16:13:03","slug":"we-shouldnt-plant-our-grain-sorghum-the-way-we-plant-our-cotton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2023\/12\/11\/we-shouldnt-plant-our-grain-sorghum-the-way-we-plant-our-cotton\/","title":{"rendered":"We Shouldn\u2019t Plant Our Grain Sorghum the way we Plant our Cotton"},"content":{"rendered":"

This item is adapted from an AgriLife submission to Texas Grain Sorghum Association\u2019s \u201cSorghum Insider\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

–Don Peterson, Dawson Co., TX (~2000)<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy\/TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

December 2023<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I was a new Extension agronomist in West Texas when I met Mr. Peterson, who was in his 60s.\u00a0 He farmed his first grain crop in the 1950s as a teenager.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you think Mr. Peterson meant?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I posed Mr. Peterson\u2019s question this past Wednesday in a North Region AgriLife Extension agent planning meeting.\u00a0 To help our discussion I emphasized consideration of the type of root system grain sorghum has compared to cotton.\u00a0 That is the key.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grain sorghum has a fibrous, grassy root system.\u00a0 There is no taproot like cotton has.\u00a0 What Mr. Peterson was complaining about in 2000 is how too many farmers (then, and still now) plant grain sorghum in fields that are listed (Fig. 1).\u00a0 In contrast, cotton will be routinely planted on top of the bed.\u00a0 You can knock off dry soil to get to moisture, but the cotton seed, germination, early growth are all still in an elevated position.\u00a0 Cotton taproot growth is vertically downward.\u00a0 This is not a problem for cotton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fig. 1.<\/strong>\u00a0 A listed field (dryland) prepared for summer crop planting of cotton or grain sorghum, Dawson Co., TX.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But in Fig. 1 (and now also Fig. 2) at planting and until a sorghum crop has grown enough to shade the ground, from furrow to furrow, where is the soil hotter?\u00a0 And where is the soil dryer?\u00a0 On top of the bed!<\/em>\u00a0 This different grain sorghum root system is trying to grow and establish where the soil is hotter and drier.\u00a0 This is a disadvantage.\u00a0 You can see the results of difficult brace root penetration of bedded soil (Fig. 2).\u00a0 The brace roots are arching upward because the tips have been unable to penetrate the soil mostly likely due to hot, dry soil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fig. 2.<\/strong>\u00a0 Difficult grain sorghum brace root penetration on top of a bed, Dawson, Co., TX.\u00a0 Hotter, drier conditions at the top of the bed have led to arching of some brace roots upward because the brace tips have failed to penetrate the soil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where did Mr. Peterson still (and many others historically) plant their grain sorghum?\u2014IN THE HOLE!<\/strong>\u00a0 That is, the bottom<\/u> of the furrow.\u00a0 Or at some point that is relatively low in the soil profile.\u00a0 This enables the sorghum rooting to be much more effective.\u00a0 Soil is cooler.\u00a0 Sorghum roots establish better.\u00a0 Furthermore, cultivation the field moves soil around the base of the plant (Fig. 3) for two potential valuable outcomes:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n