16 May Double Team Sorghum – The perfect tool after abandoned wheat

Double Team Sorghum – The perfect tool after abandoned wheat

When dry weather forces you to abandon your wheat acres, being ready to plant the next crop when the drought is over is front of mind. Double Team Sorghum is an excellent tool to use in abandoned wheat acres. When it rains again, wheat seed may finally sprout and begin to grow and become a problem. New Double Team Sorghum provides excellent weed control—eliminating volunteer wheat to make way for bigger yields. And while soybeans can also provide the necessary weed control, only grain sorghum can handle the high temperatures and drought. These three crop attributes make double cropping sorghum an easy management decision.

Hybrid Selection

Double crop hybrids include: ( SP 24C20 DT, SP 30A30 DT, SP 31C06 DT)

Weed Control

Volunteer wheat is one of the biggest threats in double crop sorghum. FirstAct™ herbicide, which is part of the Double Team Sorghum System, provides excellent control of volunteer wheat. Pre-emergence herbicides that contain a chloroacetamide herbicide are required with Double Team, and are recommended to provide early season grass and broadleaf control. Including atrazine in pre-emerge applications will improve broadleaf weed control to the level that additional broadleaf post-applications may not be necessary.

A single 8 oz application of FirstAct will be very effective in controlling volunteer wheat as well as other troublesome grassy weeds in the field. Be sure to follow labeled rates for any target weed.

Fertility

Applying 100 lbs of N is recommended for double crop sorghum figuring an 80 bu/acre yield goal. If yield goals are substantially different, vary N rate depending on. Nitrogen must be applied despite the temptation to try and hedge your N applications based on carryover from wheat. If enough straw was grown for 40 bu/acre wheat, regardless of final yield, most of the N applied is tied up in straw. Relying on carryover N from your wheat may result in disappointing sorghum yields. In abandoned wheat, due to lack of emergence, nitrogen previously applied to this wheat ground will likely be available and can be counted toward the sorghum crop.

Since P and K levels are managed in a long-term fertilizer system, take this opportunity to add more P and K to build soil levels as needed. If P and K levels are at or above appropriate soil test levels, applying P and K to your double crop sorghum is optional.

Seeding rates

Tiller production in double crop sorghum is normally very low because of high night time temperatures. To compensate (for lower tiller production), it is recommended that you increase seeding rates 15 to 20% over seeding rates used earlier for full season sorghum production.