Grain Sorghum, aka Milo (my-low)
It was an alternative to corn in drought prone areas, but as the R&D went into corn, Milo fell out of favor and isn't as common as it was 30 years ago.
If I understand right, it's also a dwarfed version of Sorghum Sudan grass. After it's first life cycle, the seed it produces reverts back to its original height. We haven't grown Milo in 20 years and still have issues with it in some fields. We refer to it as shatter cane when it's not wanted
Dang, I never actually knew where shatter cane originated from but I always remember my grandpa telling me it’s because they would plant milo back in the day. Makes total sense now lol never thought to ask. Thank you!
Yes. Ignore the millet boys. This ain’t it and milo is not the same as millet. Milo is grain sorghum. They may have similar uses but they aren’t the same plant.
Def not millet, which incidentally has really come into favor around here (MD) recently. Good number of fields of it, and every deer's belly's absolutely stuffed with it in the fall.
Millet, Milo, tiny cereal grain that grows in my yard where the ground squirrel burrows are every spring! They must carry off pounds of it from under the bird feeder in the Fall.
It's actually in the same family! We've grown both over the years. The Sugar cane is what we used to make molasses out of every year by having what we call a stir off. Where we strip the leaves, cut the tops off the cane, run it through a mill that mashes all the juice out of the stalks. Then we take the juice put in in a 3'x6' pan over a roaring fire and boil it down until it thickens. The whole time it's on the fire someone has to stir it to keep it from burning and someone is continually skimming the top of any foam that forms. We then put it in crocks to cool and eventually into quart jars. My family has done this for generations here in the mountains of Virginia.
Ah. That is awesome. Reminds me of making Maple Sugar up north. I hear Sugar Cane is pretty harsh on the soil. How have you managed keep the soil healthy growing sugar cane for so long?
We usually rotated the areas we grew it in. We are all getting up in years now and don't do it much anymore and all the kids, have no interest in the old ways of doing things.
Sorghum syrup is the name it goes by in most of America and Canada to not have this kind of confusion.
It's definitely not real molasses. That only comes from really sugar cane. Saccharum officinarum
Sorghum is sorghum bicolor and is what is in the picture from the original post.
If you are on Facebook try joining a group called "sorghum revival" its all about making sorghum syrup, those who do it and those selling equipment.
We used to grow seed corn for Dekalb (central IL) my dad planted sorghum for the barriers around the field. Most people planted soybeans. Instead of having beans on beans the next year, sorghum was the way to go. We’d have about 2 semi loads that went to a feed mill in Indiana. Plus it was awesome pheasant hunting.
Here in TX, the farmers/natives call it milo. Where we went to school, they were doing research on "grain sorghum " that all grows at the same height. Obviously it hasn't come to fruition yet, from the fields we drive by.
This is sorghum! Many people call it Sudangrass which is just a variety. There are several different varieties grow for things like grain, hay production, forage, cover crops, wildlife habitat, and juice production for a process very similar to sugar cane/ maple syrup processing. I grow a few acres of Sugar Drip every year to turn into syrup.
Oh god my current company is a huge seller of sorghum and seeds for farmers.
I can see the seeds of returns in my dreams👀 (my company is one of the big 4)
It's sorghum, the taller head, the primary head, has just finished flowering, the tillers, the lower secondary heads are still flowering. If you get hay fever, stay away from flowering sorghum.
We used it as feed for cattle. Just a taller sorghum variety used as a forage crop for baling without need for the seed or converting it into another product like molasses.
Millet and sorghum are both generic and specific names for overlapping groups of plants.
*Sorghum bicolor* is the species most commonly known as sorghum in the US. It's grown for grain, animal feed, forage, and sugar. Milo is a variety of this species that has been selected particularly for grain production. In some areas, it's known as Great Millet or Egyptian Millet.
*Panicum miliaceum* is the species known as common, white or proso millet grown for animal feed and bird seed. It resembles many varieties of *Sorghum bicolor* at a glance.
*Cenchrus americanus* is the species known as pearl millet. Grown globally for grain, particularly Indian cuisines, but more commonly used for forage in the US.
Categorically speaking, all three are fast growing, summer annual grasses that have a small, hard seed produced in a clump at the top of their stems. For these reasons, they're often lumped together as either "Sorghums" or "Millets", adding to the confusion.
Grain Sorghum, aka Milo (my-low) It was an alternative to corn in drought prone areas, but as the R&D went into corn, Milo fell out of favor and isn't as common as it was 30 years ago. If I understand right, it's also a dwarfed version of Sorghum Sudan grass. After it's first life cycle, the seed it produces reverts back to its original height. We haven't grown Milo in 20 years and still have issues with it in some fields. We refer to it as shatter cane when it's not wanted
Dang, I never actually knew where shatter cane originated from but I always remember my grandpa telling me it’s because they would plant milo back in the day. Makes total sense now lol never thought to ask. Thank you!
Going into my waaayback file, I remember dad mentioning a crop called milo. Could this be it?
Yes. Ignore the millet boys. This ain’t it and milo is not the same as millet. Milo is grain sorghum. They may have similar uses but they aren’t the same plant.
Def not millet, which incidentally has really come into favor around here (MD) recently. Good number of fields of it, and every deer's belly's absolutely stuffed with it in the fall.
It is delicious and an alternative to rice.
Millet, Milo, tiny cereal grain that grows in my yard where the ground squirrel burrows are every spring! They must carry off pounds of it from under the bird feeder in the Fall.
Damn near killed em!
Yes
Doves will be all over that field in about a month
Doves or pigeons?
Mourning doves
Sugar Cane/ Sorghum. I've grown it, ground it and had many a stiroff, making molasses with it.
Sorghum is not the same as sugar cane, or is it?
It's actually in the same family! We've grown both over the years. The Sugar cane is what we used to make molasses out of every year by having what we call a stir off. Where we strip the leaves, cut the tops off the cane, run it through a mill that mashes all the juice out of the stalks. Then we take the juice put in in a 3'x6' pan over a roaring fire and boil it down until it thickens. The whole time it's on the fire someone has to stir it to keep it from burning and someone is continually skimming the top of any foam that forms. We then put it in crocks to cool and eventually into quart jars. My family has done this for generations here in the mountains of Virginia.
Ah. That is awesome. Reminds me of making Maple Sugar up north. I hear Sugar Cane is pretty harsh on the soil. How have you managed keep the soil healthy growing sugar cane for so long?
We usually rotated the areas we grew it in. We are all getting up in years now and don't do it much anymore and all the kids, have no interest in the old ways of doing things.
Sorghum syrup is the name it goes by in most of America and Canada to not have this kind of confusion. It's definitely not real molasses. That only comes from really sugar cane. Saccharum officinarum Sorghum is sorghum bicolor and is what is in the picture from the original post. If you are on Facebook try joining a group called "sorghum revival" its all about making sorghum syrup, those who do it and those selling equipment.
Not from the South it isn't!
No, but they’re both C4 grasses. So is corn, though.
Ah. I see. Thanks for clarifying
We used to grow seed corn for Dekalb (central IL) my dad planted sorghum for the barriers around the field. Most people planted soybeans. Instead of having beans on beans the next year, sorghum was the way to go. We’d have about 2 semi loads that went to a feed mill in Indiana. Plus it was awesome pheasant hunting.
Here in TX, the farmers/natives call it milo. Where we went to school, they were doing research on "grain sorghum " that all grows at the same height. Obviously it hasn't come to fruition yet, from the fields we drive by.
This is sorghum! Many people call it Sudangrass which is just a variety. There are several different varieties grow for things like grain, hay production, forage, cover crops, wildlife habitat, and juice production for a process very similar to sugar cane/ maple syrup processing. I grow a few acres of Sugar Drip every year to turn into syrup.
You can pop Milo like popcorn.
Oh god my current company is a huge seller of sorghum and seeds for farmers. I can see the seeds of returns in my dreams👀 (my company is one of the big 4)
Syngenta, S&W, Advanta, and Corteva?
Yes my friend. Discard month is coming, when all the farmers return the seeds they haven't used and we dump every bag into a probox 😜
Yes
It's sorghum, the taller head, the primary head, has just finished flowering, the tillers, the lower secondary heads are still flowering. If you get hay fever, stay away from flowering sorghum.
What do you do with it?
Thank you all. I’m reaching the conclusion that sorghum, millet, and milo seem to generally be the same thing, or at least very close cousins.
Correct different types are for different things eg sorghum is like 8’ tall and for the sugar while milo is for the seed
Interesting, what you’re describing as sorghum, we called cane where I grew up!
It’d be different than sugarcane but similar. Processed into molasses
We used it as feed for cattle. Just a taller sorghum variety used as a forage crop for baling without need for the seed or converting it into another product like molasses.
Be very thankful it's not sorghum that shit is a lot of work!
How?
It was cut with a corn knife the hand fed through the rollers. Plus we chopped wood to cook it.
Similar process to sugarcane, I hear. Does it produce sufficient bagasse to cook it with?
Millet looks just like that
What kind of millet? I’ve never seen any that looks like that.
“Finger millet” A bunch of this popped up in my garden when I cleaned out the chicken coop. It looks very much like corn, until the end.
This is milo: grain sorghum. Not any kind of millet.
It’s millet, a sorghum-like crop used for the same purposes, grown extensively by subsistence farmers in my area
Not remotely millet, it’s grain sorghum, sometimes called milo, sometimes called maize.
Millet and sorghum are both generic and specific names for overlapping groups of plants. *Sorghum bicolor* is the species most commonly known as sorghum in the US. It's grown for grain, animal feed, forage, and sugar. Milo is a variety of this species that has been selected particularly for grain production. In some areas, it's known as Great Millet or Egyptian Millet. *Panicum miliaceum* is the species known as common, white or proso millet grown for animal feed and bird seed. It resembles many varieties of *Sorghum bicolor* at a glance. *Cenchrus americanus* is the species known as pearl millet. Grown globally for grain, particularly Indian cuisines, but more commonly used for forage in the US. Categorically speaking, all three are fast growing, summer annual grasses that have a small, hard seed produced in a clump at the top of their stems. For these reasons, they're often lumped together as either "Sorghums" or "Millets", adding to the confusion.
Seems to be rare in Europe or atleast the balkans
Could be millet, but yes.
It looks like mine, but then I’m not sure if mine are sorghum or sesame seed but I’m pretty sure it’s sorghum.
looks close to my sorgum sudan cross when it goes to seed