CropStraightforward
Sorghum
Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench
Temperature
24°C to 35°C
Rainfall
298mm to 694mm per season
Conditions
What it needs
Soil
Wide tolerance, including heavy clay. Handles brief waterlogging better than maize.
Water
One of the most drought-tolerant cereals. Can pause growth in a dry spell and resume when rain returns.
What you will need
Tick what you already have; Grow carries the rest into the cost working.
Grow holds no supplier listings and no local prices, so it cannot tell you where to buy these or what they cost near you. Ask at your nearest agrodealer or extension office, then put those figures into the planner.
Through the season
Stages
- 01
Land preparation
14 days- Plough and harrow
- Check for Striga history
- 02
Planting
3 days- Sow with the first reliable rains
- Apply basal fertiliser
- 03
Vegetative growth
45 days- Thin to correct stand
- Weed twice
- Pull any Striga
- 04
Flowering
15 days- Watch for midge
- 05
Grain filling and harvest
45 days- Scare birds
- Harvest and dry heads
Watch for
Common problems
Striga (witchweed)
- What you will see
- Stunted yellowing crop with small purple-flowered weeds emerging near the base.
- What to do
- A parasitic weed, so it must be prevented rather than cured. Rotate with legumes, use resistant varieties, and pull Striga before it seeds.
Sorghum midge
- What you will see
- Blank or shrivelled grain in otherwise normal heads.
- What to do
- Plant the whole field at the same time so flowering is uniform and the window of exposure is short.
Birds
- What you will see
- Stripped heads near field edges as grain matures.
- What to do
- A real and often dominant loss. Use bird scaring at grain fill, or grow varieties with tighter heads.
Follow the label for doses, and ask an extension officer or vet before using a chemical you have not used before.