I've mentioned Sunn hemp on here several times so I figured I'd post some picts for newb hobby farmers such as myself. A seed company pushed it when I was looking for some other stuff. I gave it a try and loved how it did. It's a high protein forage plant that fixes nitrogen and leaves a lot of compost for soil. It also supposedly leaves some chemicals in the soils that are antagonistic to pigweed. The deer like it but can't keep up with it and over browse it. It will shade out everything else if it gets a head start. I have been planting it on a powerline right of way as a visual buffer to deter night hunters/road shooters. It grows to around 8' tall. It's an annual variety of crotalaria (crotalaria juncea) but won't produce seeds in our climate so it won't volunteer and become a noxious weed. I find the leaves pretty tender and tasty and have even considered trying it in a salad. It gets tougher when it matures and the deer don't browse it as much but I have seen them eating full grown plants in early Fall. It dies after the first frost but the stalks will stay standing to keep blocking the view from the road.
Sunn hemp.jpg
deer hemp.jpg
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