# Learning about Pearl Millet



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

I planted April 2 waiting on the soil to warm up. May 7 was the first rain that would germinate anything. Today is June 18 and I got my first (detected) maturing shoot making the seed pod. the plant (first to germinate and first to mature) is about 3' tall, leaves about 1 1/2" thick and lots of them, lots of stems from the one root system, and stems aren't all that big.

Da....Da.....in comes the first seed head. It is in the early boot stage, about 4" of seed pod showing and it is coming up over the plant like Milo. The stem this suck is on is about the size of a dime and stiff as a board. I unwrapped the boot and the seed pod is about 14" long, 10" of which hasn't emerged, but it is there to come out.

Looks like the guys that said you really need a crimper/conditioner for this are right on! I think I will cut it before too much of it starts heading out.

QUESTION: I have Foxtail millet in the hay patch along with other things and it is volunteer. Beins, Pearl is not a perennial, does anyone have any experience with Pearl and the fact that it can annually reseed and once established go on it's own?

Thanks,
Mark


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

I cut the field on Monday, this is Friday am. My drum mower is set up for a 3" cutting height and I was pre-warned by a lot of sources that you needed a minimum of 6" of stubble for stem sugars to promote regrowth.

Well...............so much for myths! I had detectible regrowth the day after I cut and yesterday afternoon it was already 3" average above the cut stem. This is great news meaning I can cut this stuff before the bad stems (seed pod stems) develop and still get at least a second cutting.

Will tell you this. This is not for the heavy production commercial/custom baling operation in my opinion. Although the plant is vibrant with lots of thick foliage, with 2" leaves and practically no stem prior to the boot shoot arriving at about 3' plant height, it is short and from a volumetric point of view, no way can it compete with sudan/sorghum which a lot of folks let grow to 6-7'. Buttt if you cut your SS in the tender stage before it developed it's stemmy top, which few do, it can compete.

So, I'm happy with it and to see if it will reseed itself like it's Foxtail cousin, I'll let the last of it just head out and shred it after it dies off.

HTH,
Mark


----------



## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Thanks for the update. I am glad to know that cutting below 6" is not as necessary as we have been told.


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> Thanks for the update. I am glad to know that cutting below 6" is not as necessary as we have been told.


This is almost amusing, as I have flipped the ww's over several times after cutting since the volume wasn't all that much, (my decision due to the big seed stems I mentioned) and I combined roughly 4ea 6' wide cut rows into each ww. This afternoon I checked it and the smaller stems were ready. The Pearl wasn't completely, but at the rate it is curing day after tomorrow it ought to pass the 3 twist test.

I have a new camera coming that will readily adapt to my imac so I can send some pics to substantiate what I said about PM recovering nicely having been cut as low as 3".

Not throwing rocks at anybody, but each of us are in a different area, under different conditions, soil types, bla bla bla and all. We have to take what info is available, make our own decisions and go for it. Being a small operation, now that I am retired, if I goof, it's not that big of a deal. For the big guy, it could be catastrophic....hope his County Ag. Agent. is more responsive than mine is. I don't even bother to contact him any more.

Mark


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Well, I baled yesterday and the regrowth was about 10" now, enough to get in the way of raking and rolling. I had a full week of curing and without a crimper the stems did take their time; the Johnson grass stems didn't help. Looks like I will have a nice 2nd cutting even though I cut it only 3" high.

In all honesty I couldn't decide on whether to tedder or not. The field didn't get that tall because of the seed pod stems mentioned, and there were other smaller/shorter grasses so the ww's the drum mower left were small and many. Other thing is the cutter only cuts 6' which is ok for my small operation, but when combining wws it takes some moving over.

Anyway, day before yesterday, I bit the bullet and tedded it. Well didn't take but one day in the hot sun, 100 degree weather, and they gave up. I baled it one day earlier than I figured as a result. So next time I will probably rake a few rows together and immediately ted. I think that will work just fine.

The quality of the hay is fabulous. Nice and leafy, smells great and all. I am happy with the grass.

HTH someone,
Mark


----------



## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Thanks for the update.
I believe my PM would do much better if I could keep the cows off it.

I may plant some strictly for hay next year.


----------



## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

Mark,

First let me say that it's been interesting to read about your experience with PM. I'm glad you're happy with the results. But.........

Please be careful of the conclusions you've reached with this experience. As far as determining myths were told to you about cutting height, you need to realize that you were given the info in regards to common production techniques. I think you strayed a bit from "common" practices. Wasn't this the plot you were going to sow together with beans of something?

Anyway, there's no doubt in my mind that you didn't have enough population to fully realize the potential of PM. And the fact that you're considering raking 4 six foot windrows into one substantiates that. They don't make rakes or balers big enough to handle a 24 foot windrow of good PM.

How much N did you apply? That might also provide an answer for your low production.

Anyway, point is that I expect that you would find some of our advice to be questionable if you deviate from normal population and fertilization methods.


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Don Pine said:


> Mark,
> 
> First let me say that it's been interesting to read about your experience with PM. I'm glad you're happy with the results. But.........
> 
> ...


On fertilizer, I don't remember the amount. I took a soil sample and sent it to TAMU and taking their reply for what I told them I wanted to do, I fertilized. Then I harrowed the fert into the soil (this spring), and waited for the soil to warm up. Fert had been in the soil for at least a month and field was powder. Had some really nice rains so sub soil moisture was excellent.

On height, and regrowth, as I said, we are all under different circumstances and no doubt that data that are taken are taken off a certain portion of the population of fields and conditions do vary. I only reported on what happened to me and the conditions under which they occurred. Readers could make up their own minds if it applied to them.

One reason for the light crop was that as stated, I had mixed grasses and I didn't plant all that much seed in the first place. Secondly I was planting a millet which required a shallow planting and Bahia requiring 2-3 times the depth. I attempted to drill at an average depth which may not have been the best for either. The only grasses that had any height were the PM and JG. The rest was in the 10" category'. As I said, I cut early because I didn't want to deal with the seed pod stems.

Sooo, my sharing this experience with readers was just that; sharing my experience. Having been pre-warned of he stubble height and worrying about it was part of the experience so I shared that too.

HTH,
Mark


----------



## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

I drilled PM about 6 weeks ago. Should be cutting now, but it was -dry- when I planted it, and it hadn't rained since. The field ranges from 2 to 6 inches high with a few dead spots. To be honest, I'm amazed it's been able to survive at all. We got a 3/10 rain last evening so I suppose there might be hope for a cutting yet.


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Sorry for your lack of moisture. We had a fluke tropical disturbance in the Gulf which was due south of TX. and came ashore due N. It brought us a little over 1" Sunday afternoon....rained all afternoon. Really nice and on time.

I was going to post a picture of my field when I cut it showing how short it was and the little wr's my 6' drum mower puts out but the site software said the file was too big to upload. It was 523 kB and the site will only allow 83ish.

Mark


----------

