[Crops 101] Sorghum - How to sow and harvest

Are you in the dire need of a tutorial about planting and harvesting sorghum? Well, we got good news - in this tutorial we tell you everything you need to know about this crop

What Is Special About Sorghum?

• Feed sorghum to your pigs, horses, and chicken
• Sorghum can be processed into flour
• Deliver flour to a bakery to gain bread and cake
• Plant your sorghum during April and May
• Sorghum is ready for harvest from the start of August until the end of September

What You Need For Sorghum

This chapter is all about the necessary equipment, skip ahead if you are looking for instructions on growing sorghum.

• You need a tractor with front loader attachment to operate tools and transport resources.
• You need a pallet fork to transport your resources.
• You need a cultivator to prepare your field for seeding.
• You need a planter and seeds. 
• You need a fertilizer spreader, fertilizer, and lime. These things are optional, as they are only needed to increase your harvest. 
• You need a weeder to prevent weed from growing and spoiling your harvest.
• You need a combine harvester with a fitting grain header to harvest your sorghum.
• You need a trailer to transport your harvest.
• You need a special trailer to transport your grain header.

Let’s Go To Work!

Before we start with the tutorial, we explain how you correctly connect your tools with your tractor:

How To Operate Your Machinery

This instruction also works for your combine harvester and the fitting header.

1. Align your vehicle: Drive your vehicle next to the desired tool. Press the designated button to connect. 
2. If necessary, fill your machine with the required resource (seeds, fertilizer): Place the machine you want to fill next to the required resource and press the designated button to refill.
3. Drive to your field and use the machine: Just unfold the implement, lower it (if needed) and you are ready to go!

Step By Step: How To Plant Sorghum

This simple instruction will help you to grow your very own sorghum:

1. Applying Lime: Fill your fertilizer spreader and cover your field with lime.
2. Cultivate your field: Switch to your cultivator and work your field.
3. Plant your sorghum: Fill your planter and start planting sorghum.
4. Fertilizing: If you apply fertilizer, you increase the yield of your harvest. To get a fertilization rat of 100 %, you need to apply fertilizer twice on two different stages of growth of your plants.
5. Weeding: Soon, weed will grow between your crops. Take care of those plants as soon as you can. The longer they grow, the harder they are to terminate. In the first stage, you can still use the weeder to remove weeds. After that, you need a hoe or field sprayer.
6. Harvest: Use your combine harvester to get the job done. As streets are often narrow and crowded, we recommend transporting the header on a trailer. 
7. Selling and using sorghum: At this point, the question arises: What shall we do with the sorghum? Sell it at a selling point, feed it to your animals, or process it into flour. Your harvest, your choice!

That’s It!

Take care of your machinery and don't forget to clean them sometimes. Head back to the Academy for more tutorials. Keep on farming!