Extension Report

Baldwin County Extension Office

302A Byrne Street

Bay Minette, AL  36507

Richard Petcher

Regional Extension Agent

Agronomic Crops

January 13, 2009

The Optimum Sugar Cane Planting Date

The optimum time to plant sugar cane in South Alabama is from August 15 to September 15.  There are several reasons why this is so.  Several years ago, two friends of mine from Mexico visited my farm and one acre sugar cane research project near New Brockton, Alabama.  Unfortunately,  my friends spoke little to no English and I very little Spanish.  However, I asked them to teach me the art of growing sugar cane in Mexico. 

On August 15, they helped me cut some seed cane and then plant it.  The August 15 planting date far surpassed the typical  November or late February planting dates that were our traditional planting dates in South Alabama.  August 15 – September 15 is also the recommended planting time in Louisiana, Texas and South Florida.  Planting in August and September allows the seed cane to establish a good root system ahead of its spring growing time.  The fall cane sends up seedling shoots that will be killed by a good hard frost.  However, this does not hurt the cane.  The roots at 2 – 4 inches below the soil are strong and healthy.  This gives the sugar cane a much greater start in the spring.  Sugar cane sprouts when the soil temperatures are around 55 degrees at this depth, but do more sprouting and growing when the soil warms to 65 degrees much like cotton.  When cotton comes up you will also see the sugar cane starting to grow more rapidly.  The more vigorous root system also better protects the sugar cane from spring droughts.  If the cane does not have a good root system a spring drought right after your cane has made good top growth can really hurt the cane.   The reason for not planting sugar cane before August 15, is because it takes about this long of a time for the field of seed cane to joint up and give you enough stalk to plant.  By August 15, the cane will have  stalks around 4- 5 feet in length with plenty of joints for sprouting roots and tillers when planted. 

Why do growers need to know this now?  The Alabama Sugar Cane for Jet Fuel Project is looking very promising.  The project now has 89 acres of seed cane being produced by Eric Hall near Atmore.  The ramp up scale is one to ten.  This 89 acres of seed is expected to produce seed cane for around 1,000 acres for growers to plant in South Alabama this upcoming August and September.  You as a grower may be interested in producing some cane.  My suggestion is learn as much as you can about raising cane.  And then see if the profits in the cane and your farm situation fit together.  Raising sugar cane is not a project to just jump into.  This decision deserves a lot of careful thought and planning.  It requires big equipment costs, or having a custom harvester close by.  Like cotton, because of the economy of size, this crop typically fits the larger farmer rather than the smaller one.  One grower plans to plant one acre this fall and then increase to ten acres using his own cane for seed in 2010.  His investment at this time will still be relatively small giving him a chance to learn and also save on seed cane costs in the future if he does plan to continue.  Quality seed cane costs around $50 per ton and it takes around 4 tons to plant one acre. 

Sugar cane prefers well drained sandy loam over wet land.  During a drought, sugar cane will grow better on bottom land than on the hill side.  However, sugar cane growers years ago, found that cane raised on well drained soil has a much higher sugar content than cane raised on constantly wet land. 

Email address: rpetcher@aces.edu

Phone number: 937-7176 or 943-5611, 928-0860, ext. 2222

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

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