What it is
Sorghum-Sudangrass (Sorghum × drummondii) is in the Poaceae (Grass) family. A massive summer biomass cover that smothers weeds and breaks compaction. Mow it once to thicken the roots.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it low — drought-tough, and give it tolerant soil. Target a soil pH around 5.5–7.5. Space plants about Broadcast apart. Expect roughly Summer biomass. Warm-season annual.
How it's used
Sorghum-Sudangrass is used: cover crop only.
🔎 How to identify it
- Tall corn-like stalks
- Dense fast canopy
- Huge root mass
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate sorghum-sudangrass
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate sorghum-sudangrass
Grasses and grains are sown where they grow — they germinate fast in warm soil and don't like having their roots disturbed. The ornamental and native bunchgrasses can also be divided in spring. For the grain types, plant in a block rather than a single row so wind-pollination fills out the heads.
Growing sorghum-sudangrass in Texas
Give it full sun and tolerant soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
This one thrives in heat that flattens other plants, so it earns its space through a Texas summer. Get it established before the worst of July, keep water steady, and it'll produce when little else will.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly summer biomass before you're harvesting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.