How to Grow Sorghum Sugar Cane From Seed

Planting Site and Soil Conditions

• Sweet sorghum is a warm-weather grass that thrives on heat and bright sunshine. Look for a planting site with minimal shade and if possible, choose a south-facing slope for maximum sun exposure in the early and late months of the growing season. Most soil types are adequate for sorghum, but if you have limited garden space you might want to plant it in sandier soil that would be too dry for crops like corn or squash. Average garden soil should provide plenty of nutrients for a good sweet sorghum crop, especially if the soil is high in organic matter. Unless your soil is extremely poor, it is probably safer to avoid fertilizer because sorghum is highly tolerant of low-fertility soils and because excess nitrogen contributes to weak stalks that allow the plants to fall over.

Seeding Time

• Sorghum does not grow well in cool conditions, and seed germination is poor in cold soil. Do not plant sorghum until the soil temperature is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit and the weather is consistently warm. Earlier seeding can result in slow seedling growth, which is especially problematic with sorghum because it grows slowly at first and does not compete well with weeds. Later seeding also allows you to cultivate the soil once or twice, which helps to reduce weed pressure.

Planting the Seed

• Unlike other cultivated grasses such as oats and rye, sorghum should be planted in wide rows to allow for weeding between the rows. Rows should be least 12 inches apart if you plan to cultivate with a hoe, but you can also plant sweet sorghum in rows as wide as 36 inches and then cultivate with a rototiller. The seed should be planted at a depth of about 1 inch, but you can plant up to 1-1/2 inches deep if the soil seems somewhat dry.

Planting Techniques

• Plant your sorghum seed to allow for final plant spacing of 6 to 8 inches within the row. When direct seeding, it is usually necessary to increase the seeding rate to compensate for seeds that do not germinate. Sow seed 2 to 4 inches apart to ensure a good stand; use the lower spacing if your soil conditions are not optimal for sorghum germination. If you are working with hand tools, make a 1-inch deep furrow with the edge of a hoe, drop in the seeds at your chosen spacing and rake the soil back into the furrow. You can also plant sorghum with a garden seed drill.

Early Cultivation

• The wide spacing used for sorghum provides plenty of room for weeds to grow. It is essential to cultivate between the rows as soon as the plants are tall enough to withstand the soil that might be thrown on them during cultivation. If your weed pressure is low, two or three between-row cultivations might be adequate. In weedy soil, you will probably want to perform one hand weeding about two or three weeks after sorghum emergence. This hand weeding is also a good time to thin the sorghum to your desired plant spacing.