Dove field

[slabhead]

I was real late in planting last year. Is it too early to plant sunflower and millet?

 

[Gunpowder]

I was real late in planting last year. Is it too early to plant sunflower and millet?

From ChatGPT... take with a grain of salt:


No, for most of Tennessee you're actually right in the sweet spot now for both.

• Sunflowers:Usually planted after the last frost when soil temps hit about 55–60°F. In Tennessee that's commonly:
  • West TN: late March–April
  • Middle TN: mid-April–May
  • East TN: late April–May
• Millet:Depends on type, but most warm-season millets are planted once the soil warms up:
  • Japanese millet: roughly May 1–Aug 15
  • Pearl millet: May 1–June 15
  • Proso millet: Apr 15–June 15 in Tennessee guidance

So as of mid-May 2026:

• You're good almost anywhere in Tennessee.
• East Tennessee higher elevations might still get a surprise cool night, but generally you're fine now.

A few quick tips:

• Sunflowers hate soggy soil but love full sun.
• Millet germinates best in warm soil; cold wet ground slows it badly.
• If this is for dove/deer plots, stagger sunflower planting every 2 weeks for a longer seed window.

 

[Gunpowder]

Hope that helps!

 

[CATCHDAWG]

If you plant now, I'd say you're right on time, if not a week late. At least with the sunflowers.

 

[duvhntr]

I spent about $2000 on a sunflower field last year.. it was a disaster.. the sunflowers were huge and beautiful.. but never really dropped their seeds.. bush hogging them just knocked them down and the blades missed the heads.. i worked my tail off mowing between the rows with a push mower, just to try and have a clean field.. the rain messed up my herbicide plans and they got to tall to spray.. I think we killed 14… this year it's going to be brown top millet

 

[deerfever]

I always plant buckwheat and sunflowers the end of April/ first week of May. Buckwheat is the easiest thing in the world to grow and dove love the seeds, picture as of yesterday.

 

[duvhntr]

I always plant buckwheat and sunflowers the end of April/ first week of May. Buckwheat is the easiest thing in the world to grow and dove love the seeds, picture as of yesterday.

In my 54 of dove hunting.. I've never heard of buckwheat being planted.. in fact.. I didn't even know it was a plant.. lol

 

[deerfever]

In my 54 of dove hunting.. I've never heard of buckwheat being planted.. in fact.. I didn't even know it was a plant.. lol

Good stuff! Grows anywhere, good for the soil and the doves love those black diamond seeds.

 

[Redfox]

You have plenty of time for millet. Most of it takes 60-70 days to make. If you do it right and fertilize a little you can get multiple years out of 1 planting.

The problem with sunflower dates is that many varieties are 95-100 days to mature. You add in some prep/dry time and it'll usually point you to mid April until the first week of May. Mine are roughly a foot tall currently and were planted 4/15.

 

[mike243]

I spent about $2000 on a sunflower field last year.. it was a disaster.. the sunflowers were huge and beautiful.. but never really dropped their seeds.. bush hogging them just knocked them down and the blades missed the heads.. i worked my tail off mowing between the rows with a push mower, just to try and have a clean field.. the rain messed up my herbicide plans and they got to tall to spray.. I think we killed 14… this year it's going to be brown top millet

Talked to a few of TWRA field hands last year about how they do the fields in Knoxville at forks of the river, reckon they spray it to kill then harvested and ran through a chopper then spreads it out, then looks like they back burn it. Said the equipment was really old and took a lot of patching up to keep it going.

 

[MickThompson]

Talked to a few of TWRA field hands last year about how they do the fields in Knoxville at forks of the river, reckon they spray it to kill then harvested and ran through a chopper then spreads it out, then looks like they back burn it. Said the equipment was really old and took a lot of patching up to keep it going.

Probably an old silage chopper. Great way to bust sunflowers if you have one.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Good stuff! Grows anywhere, good for the soil and the doves love those black diamond seeds.

We planted buckwheat one year as our warm season crop. It surpressed weeds great and added plenty of organic material to the soil.
Best throw-n-mow plots we've ever done....we actually let it go to seed and the dove and turkeys hammered it...we didnt specifically plant it for dove but I was impressed at how many birds were using the plot.

 

[Chaneylake]

You have plenty of time for millet. Most of it takes 60-70 days to make. If you do it right and fertilize a little you can get multiple years out of 1 planting.

The problem with sunflower dates is that many varieties are 95-100 days to mature. You add in some prep/dry time and it'll usually point you to mid April until the first week of May. Mine are roughly a foot tall currently and were planted 4/15.

they have 75 day seed that I have planted before
I planted 85 day seed this year

 

[slabhead]

I planted Monday afternoon...hopefully I'll get some rain this week.