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Spring has sprung and if you re planting sorghum, it s time to select a preplant herbicide. As most sorghum producers know, we have fewer herbicide options in grain sorghum than cotton and corn, says Agronomist Jourdan Bell, Texas AgriLife Extension, Bushland. Most sorghum producers I work with depend heavily on atrazine and metolachlor herbicides, but our research at Bushland has evaluated other herbicide chemistry for sorghum.
Agronomist Jourdan Bell, Texas AgriLife Extension, Bushland (
Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)
In the Bushland trials, herbicides that contain mesotrione, such as Coyote, Lexar, Lumax and Halex GT, provide added control, especially in fields with heavy residue, Bell says. We ve seen those to be very effective, although they can be pricier than metolachlor and atrazine plus metolachlor options.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is partnering with the Texas Grain Sorghum Association to provide two series of regional updates for Texas sorghum farmers utilizing an online format.
The effort is led by AgriLife Extension agronomists Calvin Trostle, Lubbock, and Ronnie Schnell, Bryan-College Station, both in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
Schnell said they are dividing Texas in two regional updates so each can be tailored to the needs of each region s sorghum growers.
“Grain sorghum in South Texas, if it survived the freeze, or was planted right afterwards, is a month or more old,” Schnell said. “Most sorghum has already been planted as well in Central Texas.”
Variety decisions
“In March 2021, the Texas Department of Agriculture listed 413
approved varieties. This is different from a certified variety,” Trostle explained. “Many are probably about the same. More than 29 have Cherry in their names, spinoffs of the common variety
Cherrywine.”
Production options
Producers also need to determine how they will grow hemp. “There is more than one way to grow CBD hemp,” he said. It can be started with either seed or planting stock. Variety will affect the percent of CBD in the dried material.
He said producers may select various planting patterns, irrigation systems, harvest methods and timing, and drying options.
February’s Texas cold snap dropped temperatures to as low as -12 degrees Fahrenheit in the Panhandle to mid-single digits as far south as the Austin region. Some locations, including Tyler, set all-time record lows, according to a recent Texas AgriLife Extension
Texas Row Crops
Newsletter.
Lubbock recorded -6 degress, only the third time below 0 degrees since 1980, and the coldest since 1963, reported Calvin Trostle, Texas AgriLife Extension agronomist, Department of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock. Furthermore, the temperature was below freezing for a full seven days at Lubbock (and much of that below 10 degrees) allowing temperatures to potentially penetrate any canopy and into the ground.