# planting pear millet



## jamesntexas (Mar 7, 2012)

Question is..what would happen if i didnt till it in at all. If i broadcast without any tilling, drilling,discing dragging etc.? Would i just be throwing money away or should there be plenty of time to work its way into the soil?


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

I have had customers do just that, against my recommendation, and the results have not been good. Generally very erratic and thin stands, even when doubling the seeding rate to 40-50 lbs/acre. Even dragging after broadcasting seed had only a slight improvement, but still not good enough.

Any tillage, planting or hoof trampling that gets the seed into the soil would be money and time well spent.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I don't have any experience with pearl millet but if you do not want to work the ground up to plant it why don't you no till drill it. That should give you a heck of a lot better stand than just broadcasting it and hoping it will work into the ground enough to germinate.


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## jamesntexas (Mar 7, 2012)

I would no till drill it if i had a no till drill lol.

Cattle will be on it off and on and i was hoping between them and the rains it would work out. Even if it came up a little later than it normally would that would be ok too.


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

If you got access to a disc,sow your seed, disc lightly and hook a drag of some sort behind disc.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

jamesntexas said:


> I would no till drill it if i had a no till drill lol.
> 
> Cattle will be on it off and on and i was hoping between them and the rains it would work out. Even if it came up a little later than it normally would that would be ok too.


 Would there be any place that would rent a no till drill near you? Here the county extension service rents one.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I rent a drill from the Soil and Conservation Dept. for $7 an acre.

Two years ago I planted half a field in Pearl Millet and the other half in Brown Top Millet. This was in prepared ground we had cleared and put back into pasture.

The Pearl took a little longer to get started than the Brown Top. It did great once it got going.

I believe you could throw Brown Top out on asphalt and it would take root.


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