GardenAnnual Grain · 12 varieties
Sorghum
Sorghum bicolor
Poaceae — the same plant family as sweet corn, cereal rye, oat, lemongrass and 1 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an annual grain. It wants full sun and pH 6–7.5 soil, with about 1 in of water weekly. It matures in about 90–120 days from sowing. Watch for aphids and anthracnose. Below: its full sourced profile from 4 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is direct sown. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6–7.5
- Soil texture
- Clay, Loam, Sandy
- Frost tolerance
- Tender
No published figure for the temperature frost starts to hurt it, the temperature that would kill it and a heat limit. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 2–4 ft
- Mature spread
- 2–3 ft
- Growth rate
- Fastest
- Spacing in row
- 6–12 inest
- Between rows
- 30–40 in
- Planting depth
- 1–2 in
- Container size
- 3–5 gal — low end is the minimum, high end is betterest
- Support
- Self-supportingest
- Grown from
- Direct sow
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Low
- Water per week
- 1 in/wkest
- Critical water
- Floweringest
- Feeding
- Moderate
Timing & fruiting
- Days to maturity
- 90–120 days from seed
- Harvest cues
- Fruit coloring
Planted again for autumn
- Sow by
- late Jul typical · zone 6b
90 days to maturity from sowing, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.
Edible parts per source: seed.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
Different parts differ — the edible part is the seed; the notes below flag other parts or preparations.
PeopleToxic leaves, Toxic stems
Petshorses
Recorded exactly as the source states it — not medical or veterinary advice. If a person or animal may have eaten a toxic part, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or your vet / the ASPCA line (888-426-4435).
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | Color | Disease | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Amber Heirloom | Sweet Sorghum | 100 | Black | |||
| Black Broomcorn Broomcorn Heirloom | Broomcorn | 85–110 | Black | Purdue University Center for New Crops & Plants Products records this asgrown to look at | ||
| Dale | Sweet Sorghum | Upright | 100–120 | Brown | ANTHRACNOSE | University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service records this asgives a heavy crop |
| Della | Sweet Sorghum | 114 | Red | ANTHRACNOSE MAIZE_DWARF_MOSAIC | ||
| Honey Drip Heirloom | Sweet Sorghum | 102 | Brim Seed Co. describes this asgets by on less water · takes the heat · gives a heavy crop | |||
| M81E | Sweet Sorghum | 135 | Brown | ANTHRACNOSE DOWNY_MILDEW | USDA ARS / Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station records this asgives a heavy crop | |
| Mennonite Heirloom | Sweet Sorghum | 95–110 | Red | Sand Hill Preservation Center describes this asgets by on less water · gives a heavy crop | ||
| Red Broomcorn Broomcorn | Broomcorn | 105–110 | Red | Holmes Seed Company describes this asgrown to look at | ||
| Rio | Sweet Sorghum | 90–120 | NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox records this asgets by on less water · takes the heat | |||
| Sugar Drip Heirloom | Sweet Sorghum | 120–140 | Red | Hudson Valley BioFuel describes this asgets by on less water | ||
| Theis | Sweet Sorghum | 90–120 | Brown | ANTHRACNOSE DOWNY_MILDEW | USDA ARS / Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station records this asgives a heavy crop | |
| White African Heirloom | Sweet Sorghum | 120 | White | NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox records this asgets by on less water · takes the heat |
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Purdue University Center for New Crops (NewCROP)
- Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 13 of the 19 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
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