What to do with sorghum plot

[Khughes2345]

Fellas, need some opinions on what to do this spring/summer with the sorghum plot I planted last summer. It's about 3 acres and is surrounded by white clover about 15 yards wide all the way around. Sorghum came up great and the turkeys are loving it, they knocked a bunch of it down and are feeding on the tops. Would like to plant something more attractive to deer.
Do I need to mow it down and disc it to bare dirt? What should I plant this year? I know the sorghum likes nitrogen and wanted to plant corn there this year, but maybe beans or something else would be the better option. What have some of you guys that had sorghum done the following year?

 

[Central Iowa]

Soybeans ideally but corn is fine as well just adjust inputs as needed. You could also consider the Doubletree rotation on the whole thing. See management forum for details.

 

[OOBoneCollector]

Soybeans ideally but corn is fine as well just adjust inputs as needed. You could also consider the Doubletree rotation on the whole thing. See management forum for details.

I definitely agree with this!

But as far as mowing and disking, I would be cautious of mowing it off first. This a lot of time, creates a bed of the sorghum on top of the soil and if the tractor isn't big enough and the disk isn't heavy enough, you may have an issue getting through that bed on top of the soil... It sometimes rides on top and takes a lot of trips around to really start to work up the soil. Something to keep an eye out for. You could always mow it now and burn it off, with the clover around the whole outside, you don't have to worry about the fire getting away. But definitely if you can just mow and disk, that is the way to go!

Good luck!

 

[Daver]

I definitely agree with this!

But as far as mowing and disking, I would be cautious of mowing it off first. This a lot of time, creates a bed of the sorghum on top of the soil and if the tractor isn't big enough and the disk isn't heavy enough, you may have an issue getting through that bed on top of the soil... It sometimes rides on top and takes a lot of trips around to really start to work up the soil. Something to keep an eye out for. You could always mow it now and burn it off, with the clover around the whole outside, you don't have to worry about the fire getting away. But definitely if you can just mow and disk, that is the way to go!

Good luck!

FWIW, I definitely agree with the advice from Central and OOBone. If you are comfortable burning it off, that is definitely going to give you a "smooth slate" to start from without tilling the soil and bringing unwanted weeds into the equation. But if I was going burn something like sorghum...I would do like OOBone suggested and mow it first to lessen the WOW factor when it burns. 6'+ tall plants on fire is a whole 'nuther level of excitement v. burning something that has been mowed off.

 

[OOBoneCollector]

FWIW, I definitely agree with the advice from Central and OOBone. If you are comfortable burning it off, that is definitely going to give you a "smooth slate" to start from without tilling the soil and bringing unwanted weeds into the equation. But if I was going burn something like sorghum...I would do like OOBone suggested and mow it first to lessen the WOW factor when it burns. 6'+ tall plants on fire is a whole 'nuther level of excitement v. burning something that has been mowed off.

HAHA definitely mow if you are going to burn it... Those babies would shoot flames 15' high! Mowing will keep a slower fire going and get a good burn of those unwanted weeds!

Let us know how it ends up going!

 

[Khughes2345]

Putting it into the dbltree rotation sounds like the best plan to me. We have some brassicas just off this plot and deer ate them down to the dirt. Will let you all know how the burn off goes!