Heirloom sorgum experiment

A few years ago I attempted to grow corn on my property.  Rather than either a row garden or a three sisters hill method, I chose a hybrid of those two.  I planted the corn in a spiral.  I took a pole wrapped in string and used it as my row planting guide.  I inter-planted a bean as well, I didn't add squash.

That experiment was a complete failure.  Corn grew, but whatever was produced was destroyed by wildlife before I ever saw it.  So I abandoned the test to the birds & the deer.  I suspect that the root of my failure wasn't the animals, per se; since there were many lots of traditional field corn growing nearby.  I suspect that my property lacks important nutrients to grow corn effectively, and I'm entirely unwilling to resort to artificial fertilizers.

I'm thinking of trying this again with sorgum/milo as my primary grain.  I intend to plant, then largely leave the lot be for the season.  My goal is to find a grain crop that I can grow for animal feed, not human consumption; but one that doesn't require much attention.  Has anyone here had experience with sorgum that might be applicable to this concept?

Creighton Samuels wrote: I suspect that the root of my failure wasn't the animals, per se; since there were many lots of traditional field corn growing nearby.  I suspect that my property lacks important nutrients to grow corn effectively, and I'm entirely unwilling to resort to artificial fertilizers.

Either that, or because you didn't use artificial fertilizers, your corn was much tastier than the nearby traditionally grown stuff. Animals know!

I've grown grain sorghum successfully, although never on a large scale, just more of an experiment. My goats and chickens loved the grain and the fodder, and it certainly was easy to grow and harvest, although I suspect that I have less deer pressure than you. One thing about sorghum, is that the grain is more accessible to birds because it's right out there at the top of the plant.

For what it's worth, I think your corn spiral was an excellent idea. I'd certainly give it another try. I find there are so many variables that can cause failure, it's worth at least several years of experimentation to figure it out.

I also grow sorgum for animals (and have also had many, many corn failures! here field and dent corn grow great, sweet corn and popcorn are so much harder. weather, bugs, heat, rain, everything is out to get it. sigh.). It is very much hardier, i don't think any pests bother it, it can get through drought, I'm in 9b and grow it year round.

I grow for fodder, not grains, so your mileage may vary, but I just scatter it, and frankly I scatter it in the parts of my garden where it's either gravel or rabbit run or fallow areas, because it tolerates most anything. Keep in mind, I want the greens, and I'm not worried about grain quality. In fact I buy it from the grocery store, so I don't even know what kind it is.

Excellent!  So what kind of soil, drainage etc should I be looking for?  And what is the maturity time of White African Sorghum?  Does anyone know this? I keep finding conflicting info on the web.