Milo

iowathumper · Apr 29, 2014

Cooper's Seeds looks to be out of business now. Tel # disconected and web site down.

Was looking to buy some KS989 Sorghum.

Any other places to buy it out there?

nemohunter · Apr 29, 2014

I bought my milo from welters seed, was shipped to my door pretty quick too

Jbohn · Apr 29, 2014

Welters- good people

Daver · Apr 29, 2014

Jbohn said:
Welters- good people

And fast too! ^^

Just another comment on milo...this coming after being at my farm this past weekend. I was very happy to see lots of carryover quail, and pheasants too, as I putted around on the ATV while I was spraying, etc. I had begun to wonder if the long, tough winter had put a hurting on the quail. Well, if it did, there's still plenty of survivors there this spring. There are easily more quail on my place this spring than at any similar time in the past 12+ years. I dare say that I am predicting an outright QUAIL BONANZA this fall!

While I cannot speak from the perspective of a biologist or as a resident expert like Dbltree...I can say that I feel pretty certain that a BIG reason why I am seeing so many quail at my place these days, where there were very few even a a couple of years ago, is the milo that I have started planting in the last couple of years.

Combine the milo plots, some adjacent switchgrass plots, some nearby edge feathering, a little bit of EW, a few acres of leftover rye and disked up bare ground and VOILA...quail everywhere!!

Daver · May 27, 2014

I had a visit yesterday from a food plotting celebrity...Jesse Knox, Paul's son.

Jesse is planting milo for me and was at my farm yesterday while we were there and I snapped a few photos to prove to his dad that he really is working out there!

The first picture below I told him that I was going to post it under the title of "Trespasser Alert". But alas, if I did something like that he may not return to drill the seed!

He is like his dad, always working hard. Here he is in between plots while spreading urea.

Here he is later in the day, after returning with the tiller to till in the urea.

And a close up...

I knew that his dad would like seeing these pics, so I sort of got him to pose for me.

I saw and heard quail all day long yesterday and these milo plots should be just the ticket for them come this fall/winter. I had about 2 to 2-1/2 acres total of milo last year and after seeing how popular those seed heads were, this year I will have about 5 total acres for those little beasts.

dbltree · May 27, 2014

Thanks Dave

Daver · May 27, 2014

dbltree said:
Thanks Dave

I knew you would like the photos Paul. I even have a couple of short video clips that I will try to post too. You and Lori have much to be proud of there!!

Hardwood11 · May 28, 2014

nemohunter said:
I bought my milo from welters seed, was shipped to my door pretty quick too

I bought some today as well. Plan is a nice combo of Milo/Sorghum screened by E Wheat (Plot Screen from Frigid Forage) and one acre of corn, and another 1/2 acre of clover.

Cover and food...variety (all sitting next to timber and CRP)

dbltree · Oct 26, 2014

We don’t plant much milo but it is a favorite of mine for many reasons. Grain sorghum has a short growing season of 60-90 days and is very drought resistant. It does well with a crop of weeds which is a perfect combination for upland game birds and whitetails.

Grain sorghum generally grows 3-4 ft tall so it easier to hunt then corn and can be drilled or broadcast at 6-8 lbs per acre. Atrazine is favored herbicide but Concep treated seed is available which will allow the use of Dual II Magnum. Dual is non restricted use herbicide so that is an advantage over atrazine which is restricted.

Milo comes for our purposes with either white or red seed heads, white is sweet early on and birds decimate it long before hunting season. Red seed has a high tannin content which makes it bitter until fall frosts sweeten it, making the preferred choice for both whitetails and upland game birds.

Shown in pictures is a mix from Pheasants Forever planted with Egyptian Wheat but I prefer WGF sorghum from Welter Seed.

If the goal is to attract and hold whitetails alone, milo holds no great advantage, if however you enjoy a diverse array of wildlife then I encourage you to add milo
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Jbohn · Apr 12, 2015

May 1st is the only planting date I have for Milo that I can do. Going to do 4 acres any thoughts fellas I know that is a tad early , what is going to be the Issues ?

Daver · Apr 12, 2015

Jbohn said:
May 1st is the only planting date I have for Milo that I can do. Going to do 4 acres any thoughts fellas I know that is a tad early , what is going to be the Issues ?

Disclaimer...I am not an expert, but I do consider myself somewhat of an "experienced amateur" on the subject.

I suspect you will not have any trouble getting your milo to grow by planting on May 1, but I think you may run into your seed heads ripening earlier than you really want. I plant milo for both the food(seeds) and the cover, particularly since milo will stand well through the snowy months. Although some deer may use my milo, I am really trying to boost the pheasants and quail...but there are many other birds that freak out on the milo seeds when they ripen...starlings and blackbirds in particular.

What I have found though is that the early planted milo gets hit extra hard by migrating blackbirds and the seed heads don't last so long with swarms of blackbirds wipe them out. So I prefer to plant milo later, around June 1st. I think it helps to get more seed heads further into the fall for the birds I am really trying to feed.

Jbohn · Apr 13, 2015

One more question I am seeding about 12-15 Lbs a acre broadcast, so for urea should I put down 400LBS of 46-00-00 urea to get about 180LBS of nitrogen or would 200LBS of urea do the trick per acre for MILO, said fertilize like corn but I see some people are not putting as much N to it.

LoessHillsArcher · Oct 16, 2018

Did our first milo/sorghum plots this year since CRP wouldn’t let us do corn or beans. They got very weedy and I thought they were a complete loss. But they came through strong! I’m very happy with how they’ll double as cover and food. Going to be a little hard to hunt over but we will find a way.

*the green milo was mowed twice and kept growing and is in an earlier stage of growth. The mature stuff in the middle isn’t green

arm · Oct 16, 2018

Milo is the best food I've planted so far. Every day, no matter what, deer passed thru and ate it.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Bassattackr · Jul 22, 2021

June 6, 2021

WGF Milo with some japanese, pearl millet and soybeans, sunflowers thrown in. (Real World Upland Blend) - I intend to both attract gamebirds as well as help have a taller section to frame in the lower portion of the field. Going to be fun to see what all uses it this fall.

All lightly disced in.

- 300# 13-13-13
- 100# Urea (46-0-0)
- 80# Calcium Sulfate (Per Soil Test)
Praying for rain tonight, so the seed will take off before the turkeys find all of it

Right side going to be converted to a fall plot. Cereal rye, daikon radish & maybe some buckwheat. Just want the rye to come back in spring to no-til beans into.

Bassattackr · Jul 22, 2021

June 27, 2021

Milo really starting to get going in the upland blend. A stray sunflower and soybean here and there, for the most part I believe the turkeys got to them when the forecasted rains went around us

Disking in was not ideal compared to a packer, but did a "decent" job in some areas, irregular in others..

Bassattackr · Jul 22, 2021

July 11, 2021

Milo finally starting to get some good growth, this past week of 90 degree temperatures and heat really helped! A few grasses here and there, but nothing too bad yet.

Sligh1 · Jul 23, 2021

Bassattackr said:
July 11, 2021

Milo finally starting to get some good growth, this past week of 90 degree temperatures and heat really helped! A few grasses here and there, but nothing too bad yet.

View attachment 121078

Looks awesome!! Keep those updates coming!!!
what herbicides did you use?
following.

Bassattackr · Jul 23, 2021

Iron

The field was an old clover/fescue pasture hayed to death for over 10 years. Used a bottom plow to flip it all and kill the fescue. FWIW - This is the only "organic" way I've found to get a good kill on fescue, left the field very clean.

Some say milo hates weeds, others like a "weedy" milo field for additional cover. I guess time will tell..

C-LINE10 · Jul 23, 2021

Sligh1 said:
Looks awesome!! Keep those updates coming!!!
what herbicides did you use?
following.

Speaking of this, I had a 1 acre plot like this last year and have left it since, so now it is old milo stocks(fairly heavy yet) with many beneficial weeds etc. for pheasants. I assume it worked for nesting and brooding this summer as I saw a hatch close to it. It looked so good this spring that I couldn't get myself to tear it up. Its in the middle of a 50 acre field in a wetland contract of natives with many birds, and we have 2.5 acres of soybeans butting up to the milo. There is also about 7 acres of wetland water right up to the beans,(dike in between) Any thoughts on what to do now for the fall in this milo patch? I was thinking of broadcasting some rye grain right into it in late August/September possibly. Could probably even add some turnips then too, to give the deer some added options. If I do that, I would probably have to mow it maybe high to get some mulch/sun onto my seed and let the rain do its thing. Last option would be to disk it in, then seed, but I really don't want to disk. My thinking is that deer may get some food benefit out of it this winter with the turnips, and then in the spring I can again plant something for the birds right into the rye. Opinions welcome--thanks. (also, its a good spot, my son shot a 165" buck in the beans here last Christmas eve

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It is going to be a good fall!

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