Millet and Sorghum for Doves

[UPSTATEWATERFOWLER]

I'm taking over the planting of a dove field this year for the first time. I'm debating some fencing for sunflowers but that's a different story. For the sections I plan to do in millet and sorghum, how do you guys prep your field? Plow, fertilize and plant? Do you do any type of spraying of glyphosate a few weeks prior? I've read some old threads on here but thought I'd ask for some ideas. I realize I have to time it out to produce at the right time, but I'm just planning ahead. Thanks.

[Silentweapon338]

Till thoroughly! Plant high rates and let it go. Both are fast growing and will choke out weeds. Skip the spraying.

Be sure and leave a row wide enough over spray from sunflowers cant hit the M&S it will kill it!

[chocolate lab84]

Mow, wait 2 weeks or so and disc in. Spread seed and fertilizer. Then burn the shit out of some of the field about a week or more before you want to shoot. Save the rest of the field until you can hunt again. Easy as can be. I always try to have my millet and sorghum in the ground by Memorial Day.

[Palmetto Bug]

I don't think sorghum is a great dove food. It also seems to take a lot out of the soil. I wish I had taken a picture of the corn field we had that was planted the year after sorghum was planted in strips. The corn in the area of the sorghum was a foot and a half shorter than where the millet was.

I'm curious about how industrial hemp would do as a dove food. I'm not ready to try to navigate the legal bullshit of planting it but I feel like it will probably eventually become more commonly planted.

[Silentweapon338]

It works but it still isnt as good as sunflowers or S&M and or corn.

We hunted over an hemp field the 1st or 2nd year. I cant recall. We had one of the first permits for the hemp stuff in SC. It was after opening day, so I guess it isnt really a fair comparison but I wasnt impressed.

[Palmetto Bug]

Do hemp growers let it go to seed? I guess if they are growing for oil they do but maybe not for fiber.

Hemp seed used to be the major component in store bought wild bird seed. Doves would pick it out of the blend first.

[GMAC]

A problem I've had with millet is over- fertilizing. You end up with plenty of seed, but so much mulch that it's not very available to the birds. Millet will usually head out even with no fertilizer. I think the best result is standing plants (not fallen over due to lush weight), with relatively clean ground underneath. The doves will feed right in the standing millet as it ripens, and the seeds begin falling.

That's a long winded way of saying "don't overfertilize"

[2thDoc]

i aint reading all this and i know someone will say what great shoots they have over milo or millet but I would plant sunflowers only.

and you can build a hot fence in a day.

my opinion

[Otter 1200]

What do you think the cost vs benefit of millet vs sunflowers is. I’ve tried sunflowers, the amount of work, chemicals, fencing etc. for me has not been worth the effort with the deer and rain. Now I just cut, spray, plow, then spread browntop and hope for the best. Usually have a decent field, 4 acres. Only a 1st season field. Probably have $300 in the field, not counting time and diesel.

[quack head 11]

What do you think the cost vs benefit of millet vs sunflowers is. I’ve tried sunflowers, the amount of work, chemicals, fencing etc. for me has not been worth the effort with the deer and rain. Now I just cut, spray, plow, then spread browntop and hope for the best. Usually have a decent field, 4 acres. Only a 1st season field. Probably have $300 in the field, not counting time and diesel.

I think a mixed field is best. My go tos are sunflowers, RR corn and millet. Space them out, plant in rows, skip spots, whateber you decide to do but I just feel like if i was to have one type of crop failure the others will pick up the slack

[2thDoc]

otter--here's my take. In my area, sunflowers rule. I like late season corn, but that doesnt always work out for me...
I've never had any good luck with millets, etc. I know they're cheaper and all, but if you have a 4 acre field, you could plant one bag of sunflowers and fence it in a couple of hours. The costs are not that bad but worth it to me to have a decent chance at having birds. Granted, if I could do it over plain dirt, I sure would....

and the fence is a one time cost. fertilizer will cost more than anything these days....

[YoungBuckTX]

the cost benefit of dove field will never exist. you have to enjoy farming, spending money, and fixing broke shit every day. a fence for deer is a must. I have started growing watermelon and sweet corn in the same field, which has been a fun way to get more of the family involved. you will also have zero friends in April and 30 something in September.

[Highstrung]

Sunflowers, then I like a few rows of corn. Might plant a little millet every so often to satisfy boredom.. I don't care to ever plant and hunt over row planted sorghum... shot the shit out of doves in wiped out fields of it in Mexico

[Quackhead22]

the cost benefit of dove field will never exist. you have to enjoy farming, spending money, and fixing broke shit every day. a fence for deer is a must. I have started growing watermelon and sweet corn in the same field, which has been a fun way to get more of the family involved. you will also have zero friends in April and 30 something in September.

Agreed however thus far we have gotten by without a fence. Deer do get some but very little and we are in a relatively high deer density.


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[2thDoc]

^ a four acre field is different than a 20 acre one....

[Quackhead22]

^ a four acre field is different than a 20 acre one....

Fair point


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[Highstrung]

Agreed however thus far we have gotten by without a fence. Deer do get some but very little and we are in a relatively high deer density.


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On the other side of the river, We've had one forty acre field strictly for doves for around 35 years. It was turned over to me and my cousin to keep food in that field until they made baiting illegal... we had about ten years of untouched sunflowers, then one night it changed. Full grown stalks with the heads eaten off, it didn't take too long for twenty acres to dissappear. We immediately started working on ideas, we're on our second fencing plan. Year one on the new one was great.

A couple times we tested planting some flowers outside of it, during rotations, none made it. Even with poo poo dust applied and pepper, hot sauce spray, everything was tried. We do have an extremely high density as well, infrared is silly.

[Silentweapon338]

I’m a tad confused. They made baiting illegal and the. One night the deer started wiping out the sunflowers?

I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m just not making the connection?

[2thDoc]

they had nothing else to eat and they found they liked to eat the heads off of sunflowers.

i think....

[Highstrung]

They made it illegal, then we started planting flowers, unfenced. We made it ten years before the deer decided they loved them.