This GRASS Makes AMAZING Garden Soil

Sorghum-sudangrass has the potential to generate massive amounts of biomass above and below the soil surface. You can harvest the above-ground portion for hay, mulch or compost, while the roots break up the soil and put a lot of carbon into the soil. Composting in trash cans - • The Beginners Guide to...
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[@thelovepig]

There's a guy down here in central texas (thigh high gardens) who uses a sterile hybrid of this so the seeds don't go crazy. He can plant it thick, keeps weeds from growing that he can't deal with (mesquite thickets, sunflower, etc), and he can manage it with a tractor by just shredding it into mulch. He basically transformed soil into black gold in a couple seasons on a broad acre level. I've never seen anything like it.

[@Flowmaster925]

@@HoneybeeHollowGardens depending on your location, you may have to breed it out yourself

[@JerryB507]

@@HoneybeeHollowGardens Amazon, first hit was for a sterile variety. US$82.00 for a 50lbs bag.

[@BeyondBiochar]

@@JerryB507 and i think i read 11 ? pounds per acre can result in a real jungle, so that cheap really, even alfalfa seed can cost x's 3

[@hosoiarchives4858]

Link?

[@bonniesanchez9010]

I 88l

[@j.b.4340]

I grow milo in my yard, because nothing really eats the seed. I even grow a stand of it to provide shade for my chickens. Love it

[@macw2234]

Ground sorghum grain makes very tasty porridge. It's also the main ingredient for Zulu beer.

[@macw2234]

As kids we would eat the stems when the plants were three quarters grown. It's a bit like sugar cane. Its so good to see someone growing this.

[@nunosilva2910]

I love your work Diego, thanks so much for bringing knowledge to the farming community. Big Hug from Portugal. 🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏

[@davidsawyer1599]

Thanks for the insight Diego. The time and energy you used is quite evident in the sunlight. You busted your back and still made a video with a pleasant attitude and then uploaded it.

[@LearningfromNature]

Diego great description of the value of giant biomass accumulating cover crops. Thanks! I also recommend using the sorghum as a climbing frame to grow legumes that fix nitrogen and produce extra biomass.

[@martinklawinski2933]

Very good idea! I will try it.

[@travelismyhappypill.6623]

Thank you Mr Diego Footer!

[@charlesbale8376]

Great information, enjoyed the video.

[@pierrefpv]

Amazing stuff!

[@RandyKleinman]

Love the stock analogy!

[@PDXGardenHome]

Fascinating! I'm imagining where I can grow that in the garden. Like a temporary hedge on the curbside maybe.

[@roflstomps324]

Came for the video. Stayed for the suggestions on mulching Sudan grass. Hilarious. This stuff will stop a tractor fitted with a brush hog... lol riding mower.

[@victorivas4897]

I really like your approach

[@ronaldwilliams1750]

Thank you for the video.

[@jshkrueger]

Chicken bedding is not a brown. It's literally one of the greenest compost additives, because chicken manure is extremely high in nitrogen. So high, in fact, that adding it directly to plants will burn them.

[@peaceandlove5214]

It's obvious how you fall in love with this planet and you know what I started to fall in love with this plant too.

[@tomrobertson3236]

Also cover crop shades the soil , keeping the bugs active and happier longer

[@timbaker6033]

Inspiring mankind ,I like your authentic content so different we need originality and diversity , well spoken im gonna subscribe

[@kaitzu4560]

I think you would be able to cut down your compost to 3 months or less if you were to shred your sorghum in some type of shredding machine

[@TheRainHarvester]

Use it in pathways to break it down.

[@paulgeary531]

Nice video, I like to cut up the grass more, then run a lawn mower over it with a collection bag, and then put in compost bin. Just breaks down really fast

[@xTBCGx]

Nice simple little compost bin! I didn't know they were so easy to make. I think it would be good to fasten a little puck to the bottom of the can to hold the center pipe in place, and pick up a little pvc cap for the top so you can just dump the organic material in without worrying about clogging it up

[@composthappens1400]

I’ve always wanted to try Sudan grass, thanks for the video. Trash cans are great for aging compost for fungal domination too. I have several kept in shade, after a year of rest they make amazing compost for tea.

[@alexmoreaux645]

Do you also put holes in the lid of the trash can?

[@composthappens1400]

@@alexmoreaux645 I don’t put holes in the lids I do put small holes around the bottom and sides though

[@alexmoreaux645]

@@composthappens1400 thank you

[@k0mm4nd3r_k3n]

"It's a win-win situation. You don't get a lot of these in nature, so when you do, take advantage." I have good news for you buddy, this win-win of cover cropping is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to nature's win-win situations that we can use to our benefit! Great video, looking forward to watching more of your content.

[@jakenewman6133]

The Kevin O'leary of grass

[@ChristopherPisz]

I really want to know if it grew back if you cut to ground instead of where you left some behind? Got a follow up video? I was thinking about using this exact same cover crop, but am concerned if it will get out of hand.

[@dancompagnari4946]

How far apart do you space each seed? I haven't had any luck with this growing beyond a foot tall with extreme attention unfortunately. In Florida here maybe it likes cold?

[@claud1542]

Great vid and content!! I live in BC on vancouver island. When would be a good time to plant this grass. thank you

[@g.y.o5419]

The growth this grass puts on is huge!!! I had never heard of this grass before your video, I definitely want to try it on my heavy clay soil here in the UK next year. A question I have about the stems is, how easy are they to chop up? Are they more like sweetcorn that are pretty hard? My idea would be to cut them down, lay them on the ground, run a garden mower over them. Or would it take something more to chop them up, like a wood chipper?

[@DiegoFooter]

Not as hard as sweetcorn, but pretty hard along the lines of a kale stem. I’m not sure a mower could handle them. I don’t think a wood chipper would work either because most wood chipper’s are actually hammermills and this is likely to fibrous and will just gum it up.

[@ross6343]

I have a chipper/shredder combo with the chipper side having blades on a flywheel and the shredder side having the flying anvils. I've run kale and brussel sprout main stocks and corn and sorghum sudane grass stocks through the chipper side without any problems [the chipper will handle tree trunks/limbs up to four inches in diameter]. I compost everything. I do know that when left in the ground, the root mass produced by SSG is rich food for the soils microbiome [any non-diseased plant root mass does the same thing, which is why I cut all my biomass (plants) just below the soil surface - a rich carbon store as well]. Hope this helps! Stay safe - be well - many blessings.

[@DiegoFooter]

If you can grind it, it will definitely break down faster. If I had an easy fast way to grind it I would.

[@g.y.o5419]

@@DiegoFooter Thanks for the reply Diego. Lawnmower idea is out the window then, I will just have to cut it up with hand tools haha.

[@g.y.o5419]

@@ross6343 Thanks for the reply Ross. Very helpful :)

[@doncook3584]

That SSG is so cool. Miles of tunnels when you finally terminate. Biomass to the max. Will see if home gardener can buy small amount to seed 30” bed 10 feet long.

[@timross3841]

You might try the WebCajun technique for composting (make a big pile of stuff with your front loader and let it go.) Don't know why you would mess with trash cans - hard to get any scale on that at all, even for a medium sized home garden. If that was my pile of material, I would go over it with the riding lawnmower to shred it - composting would happen much faster that way. Thanks for the nice video.

[@DiegoFooter]

Normally I wouldn’t compost these in trash cans, but I wanted to show the technique. The mower isn’t a bad idea, but the thick stalks would worry me. And I don’t have a mower.

[@Naggstek]

This grass is intense. Just getting started with summer in Australia, i want to put some in one of my gardens. The websites selling it are super big scale, i just need a handful of seeds!

[@talkingjoseph5582]

If can afford it. Buy it and feed the rest grains to your chickens. Because, who in his/her mind don't have chickens

[@kolapyellow7631]

i need them for my clay soil. will it grow on clay?

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

Do you think you may let some of the stand run to seed next time you grow this? Or does your licence with the vendor forbid that?

[@growingyourvegetables]

Which type of sorghum-sudangrass is that? The seeds I'm finding online only grows 5 to 7 ft tall which seems Dwarf size compared to your Godzilla grass your growing! Thank you! Btw your channel rocks!

[@seriousorry]

Would this be a good first crop to start a new garden?

[@the_shadow_healer]

Yep builds the soil and provides nutrients.

[@catlindarnell2367]

Great video man thanks👊 Just curious if you've found out if it's better to cut an cover or compost it or a mix of both?

[@DiegoFooter]

Thanks. What are the two choices you are asking about? I need more clarification.

[@catlindarnell2367]

@@DiegoFooter Is it better to cut and leave in place an cover with a tarp while it breaks down. Or use it for a green layer in hot compost?

[@DiegoFooter]

Both are options. It depends on what you want to do, but it will take a while to break down under a tarp if it isn't chopped into small pieces.

[@glimmergrun4164]

Dude, you sound like Frank Gallagher from Shameless! Love your vids tbw!

[@jewelerjef]

i wonder if this could or even should be planted in raised bed boxes?

[@juklehto]

Wow, nice growth. Can you say what difference is layering compost or make mixed compost? All compost guides told to do layers. If I shred everything and mix it, to me, it's sound even better. Okay, mixing and shredding need much work, but if we not concentrate to the work what needed to make compost pile.

[@DiegoFooter]

I don’t really think it matters. Mixing is probably better but it’s gonna work either way.

[@WillowShenlin]

Any chicken bedding for the composting? And do you pull the roots out when you are ready to plant your seasonal crop? Or just turn the ground with roots and all, and then plant your seasonal crop in that?

[@DiegoFooter]

No bedding in this case. No I think you could leave the roots in the ground and plant around them once you terminate the crop.

[@The_True_]

Mark from Self Sufficient Me uses a plant shredder on things like this before composting. Would that be beneficial in this trash can system?

[@DiegoFooter]

Reducing the particle size always helps, but shredding fiberous stalks like this can be a challenge. I’m not sure there’s a shredder out there that would work on a home scale.

[@The_True_]

@@DiegoFooter Thanks for the info! I may give this sudan grass a go, since I have a crazy chipper\shredder that may do the trick with some persuasion.

[@chantallachance4905]

Question and I now gardening its almost time and big effort, I dont now if you put down half or less of your green cover crop on the grown under a black plastic and let decomposed and the same amount in compost bin I dont now wich pile is going to be decomposed more faster My préférence is directly on the soil under a black plastic for winter season. I have a small urban garden next summer and for the first time I will grow cover crop and put it small place here and there in the garden its going to be good for shade on lettuce (manage the top and the leaf) and The next year I will change the place for the new cover crop At the automn season I will put down the crop put on surface and plant my winter garden under a harvest cover I’m in zone 5 Quebec, Canada

[@DiegoFooter]

If I had a long winter, then I would chop it off at soil surface and leave it there in place to protect the soil and break down.

[@ross6343]

The only suggestion I'd add is wear safety glasses when working with sorgham-sudangrass...

[@AJ-ox8xy]

Why? Because it grows so quick it'll poke you in the eye?🤣

[@mr.fringeminority5426]

Have you considered getting one of those garden shredders for your composting? I found it increased my composting speed by 2x at least. Especially with big stuff like corn stalks.

[@DiegoFooter]

What’s a good shredder? I haven’t found a good one that works. The wood chippers on the market are hammer mills and don’t work great for green veg. Maybe you have had a different experience?

[@mr.fringeminority5426]

@@DiegoFooter I've been using one of those electric shredders. It's a bit slow, but it works just fine. Mine is a yard works 15 amp. Shredded corn stalks into nothing with minimal effort. I ran several tons of kochia weed (picked a bunch of weeds at work and took them home to compost) through it the first year and it's still going strong. They say you can put wood in them, but I found that to not be the case. Haha what can I say, I had to test it out. The blades come out, and sharpen easy enough. Flip and sharpen often, I found that was the trick to getting work done.

[@DiegoFooter]

What is the brand and model?

[@mr.fringeminority5426]

@@DiegoFooter www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/yardworks-15a-electric-garden-shredder-0603779p.html This is what I bought. Edit: bear in mind, we have different stuff & stores here I'm Canada.

[@DiegoFooter]

Thanks.

[@jordyking597]

i wonder if you could use like a wood chipper or something to cut it in to silage more or less and use that as composting material or just even feed it to live stock, asking because i have some acreage id like to grow this on and an old industrial 90hp wood chipper.

[@dennisferlito1622]

When still green cattle will only eat a small amount before they become bloated due to high levels of prussic acid. After Sudan is killed due to frost or freezing can it be chopped for insilage.

[@davidkottman3440]

@@dennisferlito1622 Prussic acid is only a problem in some conditions, usually drought. Cattle can eat the SoghumXSudan hybrids as their primary feed for extended periods of time if grown under favorable conditions.

[@fartunadan8297]

❤❤❤

[@TheVigilantStewards]

If you were to try to at least get back as many seeds as you used so you have replenished or grown your supply , how would you have done that? Just left one to go to seed and then tied some type of bag around it to catch the seeds?

[@DiegoFooter]

Probably. Makes sense.

[@BeyondBiochar]

it appears a bountiful and easily harvestable seed head could be remover intact if your timing is right

[@lilycardoso4679]

Where do you get the seed and what time of year would you plant it?

[@DiegoFooter]

www.seedranch.com It’s going to need warmer temperatures to germinate. I wouldn’t be planning this if your nights are going down under 45° F.

[@vonries]

That's crazy fast! I don't know if I can swing that one past my HOA, lol. I've done a lot of things that would really piss off most HOA's, but just barely within the guide lines. I don't think I can do this one no matter how cool it looks though.

[@leeknivek]

You could use cereal rye .... probably works just as well, but not quite as large. It's still pretty thick and tall, about 3 4 feet tall, but not so bad.

[@vonries]

@@leeknivek can you imagine the cut your grass notices if get? I'll stick to my strawberry and fruit bushes and trees. But if not for the HOA....

[@darianbentley3125]

Nice knife where did you get that

[@kolapyellow7631]

what kind of plants are they?

[@TwistedTornsTirade]

#LoyalToTheSoil

[@CmakCerkno]

Great video, great idea for cover crop. I'd also add that shredding the sudan grass would probably speed up that decomposition by at least a couple of months.

[@magapefarmshomestead6453]

So where is the link to the trash can composting video you indicated in this vid?

[@DiegoFooter]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmSciJmerrSWbJI

[@magapefarmshomestead6453]

@@DiegoFooter ty

[@annburge291]

I thought you were going to shred it first before composting...or shredding and adding it to your chicken pen and composting afterwards...I would have cut the Sudan grass off at ground level. The old stems might be a nuisance.

[@DiegoFooter]

I’m not aware of a reasonably priced commercial shredder that could handle this. I left a stems because I want to regrow. 😃

[@titosrevenger]

@@DiegoFooter why do you need a commercial shredder? A Sun Joe electric chipper/shredder will mulch that grass all day long. You would be able to fit 5 times as much grass (or more) in one of those garbage cans after shredding it.

[@gufroniars8342]

I just wondering if you used artificial fertilizer for this plant or what was actually soil management for it, thank you

[@DiegoFooter]

No fertilizer applied of any type.

[@gufroniars8342]

@@DiegoFooter it's interesting, your own experience will provide approval evidence of sustainable on healthy soil, great work, thank you

[@southcentralpaagent6661]

What is the exact name of the grass called...what month did u plant it?

[@DiegoFooter]

Read the description. 😀 Planted in September.

[@Luke-xx1ri]

This guy has stocks in grass wigs for Shaw 🧐

[@greensnapper1602]

would like to see after the 9 m. mark..

[@emac1177]

Would it be feasible to leave a few to go to seed, rather than buying new seed every year?

[@DiegoFooter]

Probably.

[@philandhannahslittlefarm1464]

We have really sandy soil and will definatly be trying Susan grass this year.. if I can find some seed!

[@adolthitler]

Sorghum "Sudan grass".

[@BeyondBiochar]

say to Susan for me

[@harrymills2770]

I'm not sure that the worry about seed is necessarily justified, if you have a good thickness of mulch above the soil. The original book I read on the subject was by an old lady who just got too arthritic to do anything more than drop the weeds where she pulled them. To get seed to germinate, she only cleared off a small spot where she was actually planting. I'll show myself to the door.

[@DiegoSinMiedos]

Ey Diego look a Jorge Arbeleche, is a Argentinian.

[@JerryB507]

Am I the only one that thought, "If you build it, they will come," during the opening few seconds?

[@ArtIsLife3]

invest in a shredder it will be worth your time and money

[@DiegoFooter]

Most shredders are actually hammermills and I don’t think that they would be able to process this. It’s two fibrous. Do you have any suggestions on a shredder?

[@ArtIsLife3]

@@DiegoFooter in my experience the shredder worked fine with this type of material

[@tahanlaoboy]

It turn sunlight into carbon and soil

[@richstone2627]

It's amazing how much the leaves resemble maize (corn) leaves. I don't know anything about sorghum but I've grown Indian corn for decades. A little off topic, good video. Thank you

[@deepas7576]

What can I use instead of chicken manure

[@rufia75]

What's your tube made out? It didn't look like PVC from the brief glance we got. Am curious because I'd like to avoid PVC if possible for aerating my pile with pipes.

[@DiegoFooter]

HDPE

[@kamilakrupiarz7]

@@DiegoFooter would you not recommend using a blue polypropylene drainage pipe?

[@DiegoFooter]

I don’t think it matters what the plastic is made from.

[@phattdaddy2974]

hum, I hear what your saying but, why would I grow this during my grow season when I want to grow my food crops? I can only see/use a cover crop during the months I cant grow food, my zone is 4b and my ground has to be 60/70 degrees, that's food crop time.

[@DiegoFooter]

That’s a fair point. This isn’t the only way to build soil so there are other options. If your season constrained than one way to do this would be to add more beds and do a crop rotation. I’m in no way saying that this is the only way to build soil. 😀

[@phattdaddy2974]

@@DiegoFooter Thanks for the reply Diego. I understand the benefit but, I would like to grow a cover crop in my off season, any ideas for something for my zone, 4b?

[@DiegoFooter]

I believe some wheat varieties can survive up to like -15°F. You could see something like that in the fall and then just let it sit there over winter.

[@phattdaddy2974]

@@DiegoFooter ah, winter wheat? Thanks, I'll look into that, great idea.

[@markjakubek5040]

@@phattdaddy2974 Winter Rye, works great!

[@chantallachance4905]

We see all the good green grass over the soil but what about the roots in the soil did you going to let the soil in rest for few weeks or months how can a plant or a seed grow in all this roots because it look like a forest? Did you going to put a black plastic to let it decomposes! Because I prefere no dig garden. Thank You so much Diego with you we going to be expert in soil. If I have this green, I will do a brew green compost tea (green - sugar- and rain water).............. free fertilizer !

[@DiegoFooter]

I’m letting it regrow. At the end of the day I will likely cut it off just below the surface leaving most of the roots in the ground rot. Then plant into that.

[@BeyondBiochar]

this video was about harvesting and composting a cover crop, your inquiring about a diff method of use of cover crops

[@dr.froghopper6711]

Chop that stuff up a lot smaller and it’ll compost down tremendously faster!

[@DiegoFooter]

I agree.

[@DX100HHH]

Get yourself a shredder man :)

[@DiegoFooter]

Send me an example of a shredder that would not bind up when fed with these. 😉

[@DX100HHH]

@@DiegoFooter I usually use regular wood chipper for such plants. Sometimes it comes out not entirely cut through but still in better shape than the whole thing. Have you tried?

[@krzysztofrudnicki5841]

@@DX100HHH Uprawiasz sorgo?

[@DX100HHH]

@@krzysztofrudnicki5841 Nie. Mam zamiar posiać parę metrów jako poplon w '21.

[@adolthitler]

You'll get better results with oily crops. Like canola or sunflower.

[@DiegoFooter]

Interesting. What would be better?

[@BeyondBiochar]

oily crops for composting, seriously ?

[@JIBZANify]

What type of grass it is I though it was corn

[@JerryB507]

Sorghum-Sudan Grass.

[@BeyondBiochar]

read, watch and listen

[@khandam7709]

wayy too much work, takes the fun out of gardening IMHO.

[@DiegoFooter]

Then don’t do it. 👍

[@timcent7199]

I really enjoyed this. Very practical. Only suggestion, a minor one, is keep an eye on repeating yourself and please try and get to the point. Over 5 minutes in and not much was said that was new. Sorry just my point of view.

[@DiegoFooter]

Not everyone watches every video so it’s hard to always say something new. 😉

[@pyrorc]

I am very greatful for the indepth insite. Good shit

[@jimmydykes7961]

Been farming nearly 50 yrs.and I got tired just watching your video...you need to write a book on how not to farm or garden,respectfully,you make it waaaay to complicated

[@vontinkles]

me thinks you need a hug, my friend. 🤗

[@jimmydykes7961]

@@vontinkles hug back to ya

[@vontinkles]

@@jimmydykes7961 thank you 🤗🤗