New Plant

[eastwoods]

MSU is giving away small seed packs of this new plant called something like "kenish". Anyway the Habitat column on the fuge shows some pictures of it. I did some research and the leaves look like marijuana to me, but the plant grows in 3-4 months to something like 15 foot tall. The stalk is strong and they make rope out it I think. Anyway talk a bout a quick duck blind. Anybody experimenting with it.

[Wingman]

Kenaf, maybe?

Wingman

[eastwoods]

yea that's it.

[Wingman]

They used to (might still grow it) grow alot of that stuff around Greenwood, put it in modules just like cotton. They were experimenting with it one time to make paper with, I think.

You're right, the leaves look like hemp....and when they grew it on the North Farm at State, several people were put in the hospital after smoking it! Seems that after smoking it, your airways constrict

I've seen it planted in long strips in fields to provide....shall we say....road-hunter vision blockage?? It grows tall and thick, much like a cane plant. But I'm not sure if the leaves stay on after frost or not. I had some cane growing on the ditchbank at my old house. Looked great until about 10 days after you brushed a blind with it, then all the leaves were gone and the blind resembled a bamboo torture cage. The fallen leaves do, however, make excellent brushing material for layout blinds in corn or rice fields.

Never fooled with kenaf, though.

Wingman

[SoftCall]

how is Benny going to fit that in his sock?

[Soybean Man]

Kenaf is being used to allow Glycine soja type Soybean plants (which are the wild species that are viny such as "Quail Haven") to grow on. It is planted thin with the soybean to support it. Steve Payne with Southern Wildlife Seed sells both. This is one of the uses I know of.

[SWAG]

Kenaf is still grown in Tallahatchie County. The inner core is used for absorption products and the fiber is used for insulation, paper, and who knows what else. It was brought here to compete with soybeans when a farmer could not make it on soybean farming alone. It lost steam when markets were hard to come by. Then no-till, early planting, and Round-up Ready beans came along and pretty much finished the "kenaf" idea off. Guess you could hide in it though. I know it loves fertilizer. Seed cost for kenaf used to be high (it only makes viable seed way south of here) and it came out of Mexico. I work with NRCS at a Plant Materials Center where Quail Haven Soybeans were released as well as Chiwapa Japanese Millet. If you have never tried any of the Chiwapa, you should. A great seed producer and a later maturity date makes it a great duck plot choice.

[Double R 2]

Kenaf is still grown in Tallahatchie County. The inner core is used for absorption products and the fiber is used for insulation, paper, and who knows what else. It was brought here to compete with soybeans when a farmer could not make it on soybean farming alone. It lost steam when markets were hard to come by. Then no-till, early planting, and Round-up Ready beans came along and pretty much finished the "kenaf" idea off. Guess you could hide in it though. I know it loves fertilizer. Seed cost for kenaf used to be high (it only makes viable seed way south of here) and it came out of Mexico. I work with NRCS at a Plant Materials Center where Quail Haven Soybeans were released as well as Chiwapa Japanese Millet. If you have never tried any of the Chiwapa, you should. A great seed producer and a later maturity date makes it a great duck plot choice.

Where can teh 120 day Chipawa jap millet be purchased in quantity and what does it cost?

[eastwoods]

I'm ready to change this discussion to Chiwapa as well. What is the yield and deteriation factor for Chiwapa as opposed to brown top. I would think since it takes longer to head it would produce a bigger yield, but if the seed rots like jap then I might rather have brown top.

[SWAG]

From what I have seen, the seed rot on japanese millet is less than brown top. Japanese millet being a wetland type of plant, produces seed that tolerates moisture. Brown top being more of an upland type grass does not handle the wet enviroment as well. So many varieties have been crossed that it is hard to know what is what. I will see where you may find some Chiwapa. There is a grower in the state, but seed will not be available till next year. Chiwapa was actually released back in the sixties, but new interest has surfaced and I think you will here alot about it. The 120 day maturity is a plus for waterfowl plots. Yield wise I do not know how it compares. The production field I grew last year yielded +1,100 lbs off 0.7 of an acre. At the PMC, our job is the selection and increase of a species we think has a conservation benefit. We then move the seed on to growers for seed production and commercial use. You may check at you NRCS field office and ask for a vendors guide. There is also a wetland plants vendor guide you may ask to see. Hopefully there will be a good amount of Chiwapa seed available in the future.

[Double R 2]

I've checked alot of those sources you mentioned. Am hoping you'll send me a phone number to call and price. Know some folks that worked with it back in the 60's when it was being developed, if I rember correctly, for hay? At any rate, he says the yield was comparable tto jap millet. It'd be great - in some situations - to get it out early enough to catch the early rains and not worry about reseeding. Please find out what you can and get back.

[eastwoods]

Jap rots about 3X faster than brown top and produces about 50% of the yield that brown top does. I know it aint logical, since jap can live in water and brown top can't.

1,100 hundred pounds is pretty good on 0.7 acres. Probably half of it hit the ground.

If it rots quick and produces a yield like Jap the only real benefit I see is your gonna' catch some more rains on it to assure success. Every now an then a millet patch planted in July or August burns up. Not this year I bet.

[okie guide]

If browntop is planted in August how long will it take to mature and how much rain will it need?

[eastwoods]

60-70 days with adequate moisture.

About 3 one inch rains. You'd do better with more. That's why chiwapa may be great cuz yoiu'd get rain in June and July. Rains are hard to come by in August and September. October is the driest month of the year on average followed by September. I still want to know the deterioration rate as compared to Brown top.

[SWAG]

Besides the seed source listed in the vendors guide, no Chiwapa I know of is available. Next year there should be some as commercial grower(s) within our state increase production. I have seen the tables showing seed rot rates, but do not know personally which millet seeds last the longest. Most wetland type plants have some tolerance to seed rot in order to ensure the survival of the species. Maybe there is work to be done to find out. Browntop being a big yielder will some times give the impression that the seed is not deteriorating as fast when actually it was just a lot more seed out there to begin with. The main thing going for the japanese millet is the ability to withstand water. The yields from the production plot here last year are pretty accurate with almost no lodging. Finding the right plant population as well as fertilizer rate is the key to it standing up. There are many factors contributing to why it may fall down, but in a seed production setting you have to try and curtail that. The seed that will be on the market next year will be pure Chiwapa.