Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Broomcorn
P.R. Carter1 , D.R. Hicks 2 , A.R. Kaminski 1 , J.D. Doll 1 , K.A. Kelling1 , G.L. Worf1
1Departments of Agronomy, Soil Science and Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Cooperative Extension Service,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI 53706.
2 Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108. May, 1990.
I. History:
Broomcorn (Sorghum vulgare var. technicum) is a type of sorghum that is used for making brooms and
whiskbrooms. It differs from other sorghums in that it produces heads with fibrous seed branches that
may be as much as 36 in. long.
Although the origin of broomcorn is obscure, sorghum apparently originated in central Africa.
Production of this crop then spread to the Mediterranean, where people used long-branched sorghum
panicles for making brooms in the Dark Ages. Broomcorn may have evolved as a result of repeated
selection of seed from heads that had the longest panicle branches. The broomcorn plant was first
described in Italy in the late 1500s. Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing broomcorn to the
United States in the early 1700s. Initially, broomcorn was grown only as a garden crop for use in the
home. By 1834 commercial broomcorn production had spread to several states in the Northeast and
started moving west. Illinois was the leading producer of broomcorn in the 1860s, but production of the
crop in that state virtually ceased in 1967. Some production has occurred in Wisconsin since 1948.
Domestic broomcorn acreage is low because of the limited demand for the crop and its vast labor
requirements, particularly for harvesting. In the early 1970s, approximately 100,000 acres of broomcorn
were harvested in the United States annually, with the highest acreages in Oklahoma, Texas, New
Mexico and Colorado. It is also produced in Illinois and Iowa. Half of the domestic needs for broomcorn
are imported from Mexico.
II. Uses:
The long fibrous panicle of the broomcorn plant is used for making brooms. A ton of broomcorn brush
makes 80 to 100 dozen brooms. High-quality broomcorn brush is pea-green in color and free from
discolorations. The fibers should be straight, smooth, pliable, and approximately 20 in. long. Brush that
is overripe, reddened, bleached, crooked, coarse or flat is considered poor quality.
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The stalks are of very little value for forage. The mature seed is similar to oat in feed value.
Plants of standard varieties range from 6 to 15 ft in height; dwarf varieties range from 3 to 7 ft in height.
Dwarf varieties usually produce one or more tillers, which also bear usable brush. Some dwarf varieties
develop constrictions near the base of the peduncle, which provide a ready breaking point when the brush
is pulled from the stalk.
B. Soil:
Broomcorn does best in warm, fertile soils. Deep alluvial soils usually produce brush of higher yield and
quality than shallower soils. The crop can be grown on rich bottom lands or sandy uplands.
V. Cultural Practices:
A. Seedbed Preparation:
In the Midwest, the land is usually plowed, double-disked and then harrowed prior to planting
broomcorn.
B. Seeding Date:
Broomcorn is usually planted between May 1 and June 15.
E. Variety Selection:
The varieties of broomcorn grown in the United States can be divided into three groups: Standard,
Western Dwarf and Whisk Dwarf. Standard broomcorn varieties usually grow 6 to 15 ft tall. They bear a
brush 16 to 36 in. long. The "handle" or stem of the brush is at least 8 in. long and is cut at harvest.
Evergreen, Black Spanish (Black Jap) and California Golden are varieties of standard broomcorn.
Western Dwarf broomcorn varieties usually grow 4 to 7 ft. The brush (15 to 24 in. long) is weakly
attached to the stalk and can be pulled or jerked off at harvest time without cutting. About one-half to
two-thirds of the length of the brush is covered by the "boot," or upper leaf sheath, at harvest. The
Western Dwarf broomcorn varieties, including Evergreen Dwarf, Scarborough and Black Spanish Dwarf,
are grown in the semiarid western areas.
Whisk Dwarf broomcorn usually grows to a height of 2 1/2 to 4 ft and produces a fine slender brush
about 12 to 18 in. in length. The stem is easily detached from the stalk, and the brush is harvested by
pulling or jerking. Whisk Dwarf is used for making whisk brooms and for the insides of floor brooms.
The only variety of Whisk Dwarf grown in this country is Jap or Whisk Dwarf.
F. Weed Control:
Weeds are controlled by cultivation until the broomcorn plants are large enough to compete with the
weeds.
Sorghum crops are subject to a number of other diseases that can be limiting, especially in wet climates.
These include fungi that cause foliage blights and stalk rots. Rotations help reduce their severity and
keep them under control.
I. Harvesting:
Broomcorn brush turns from pale yellow to light green before maturity. It should be harvested when the
entire brush is green from the tip down to the base of the peduncle. The fibers will be weak at the bottom
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if they are harvested while the lower ends are still yellow. The brush often begins to redden and become
less flexible about 4 or 5 days after the proper stage for harvesting.
Tall standard broomcorn is "tabled" to allow some drying before it is removed from the field. The tabler
walks backward between two rows and breaks the stalks diagonally across each other to form a "table"
out of the two rows that is 2 to 3 ft high. The brush is then cut, pulled out of the boot, or leaf sheath, and
placed on the "table" to dry for a short time (less than 24 hours). The brush is transferred to a curing
shed.
The heads of dwarf varieties are jerked or pulled from the stalks and allowed to dry for a day in bunches
on the ground or between the stalks before they are hauled from the field.
Broomcorn may be threshed either before or after curing. However, threshing before curing results in
better quality brush because the fine branches are less likely to be knocked off when the brush is still
moist and flexible.
When hauling, curing, threshing and baling, the brush must be handled in small bunches to keep the
fibers straight and untangled. Because of the special care that is required, the operations of harvesting,
curing, threshing and baling may take 90 to 130 man-hours per ton of shed-cured brush cut from tabled
stalks.
Crop Production. 1972. H.D. Hughes and D.S. Metcalfe. Third Edition. Macmillan Publishing Co.,
Inc. Chapter 23 (p. 317).
Broomcorn-The Frontiersman's Cash Crop. 1953. J.H. Martin. Econ. BOL 7:163-181.
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