Planting sesame (benne)

cutman

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Staff member
Anyone ever planted benne for doves? I’ve read everything I can find on the subject but still not sure exactly how to set my drill.

My drill is a Great Plains 706NT. I’m going to block off every other row to give me 15” spacing. I assume that means I calibrate it to plant 12 lbs per acre if I’m shooting for 6 lbs?

Also, there are no seed charts for benne. What would be a similar size seed? Brown top millet? Bahia grass?
 
We planted it one time. We did 15" spacing but I don't remember what the rate was

The seed is tiny and we didn't have the right size plate for our planter (think we used the one for grain sorghum)

It came up, but it was too thick within the rows so it was stunted some.
 
I’ve answered my own questions so will post them here.

My drill put out about 84% of the published seed chart for rape in the main seed box. And since the germination rate for my benne is 85%, I set the drill to put out roughly 18 lbs per acre (of rape). This will work out to about 6.4 lbs per acre with every other row plugged up.

I also talked to Sesaco, and they recommended 1.33 pints of Dual as a pre-emergent. However, herbicides need to be used with caution. Dual in the root zone while the sesame is germinating will damage the stand.

I’m waiting for rain before planting - sesame needs a moist seed bed.
 
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