The Splendour of Sustainable Gardening/Farming: Establishing -Growing Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana) in the MidWestern Region - Mansfield Ohio

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Peter Emau
One objective of EMAU FARM's sustainable agriculture program is to establish and preserve grains such as finger millet- that has been used for many generations as stable food in many regions of the world. Birds, including poultry, also love to eat millet.

 In May 2017, we started with the initial goal of testing if finger millet and sorghum can grow in gardens of Mansfield, Ohio. This hypothesis was based on the hot summer seasons in Ohio - closely similar to tropics- which we confirmed by measuring the rates of spring warming and summer temperatures (see http://amukurat.blogspot.com/2018/09/comparison-of-rate-of-spring-warming.html). 

Therefore, we planted a few seeds of finger millet (India origin) and sorghum (Russia, origin) - received from the National Plant Germplasm Service- USDA. Planted the seeds on 22 May 2017 after the last frost and when both soil and ambient morning temperatures were above 55F (seehttp://amukurat.blogspot.com/2018/09/comparison-of-rate-of-spring-warming.html).  The initial experiment was successful, as shown in the pictures below- with at least 50% germination of the 100 seeds provided and final seeding and harvest of at least 10 millet or sorghum plants in October 2017. 



Finger Millet - flowering in early August 2017

Seeds starting to mature
Seeds

Seeds starting to mature by early August 2017

Sorghum - flowering in early August 2017
Seeds almost mature in early September 2017

Seeds ready to harvest in late September 2017



 In May 2018, I expanded the seeds (obtained in 2017) by planting onto a bigger plot by mid May 2018 (when soil temperatures were above 55F).  The planting was successful with greater than 90% germination and harvest starting last week of September 2018 ending in November 2018.  Pictures are shown below.  Harvesting was made easier by allowing the mature millet heads go through winter frost- to wilt the leaves, leaving the heads easier to harvest.

Millet Plots


Germinating Finger Millet- planted 17 May 2018 germinated within 2 weeks

Finger Millet ready to harvest by 23 September 2018

Finger Millet - ready to harvest by 23 September 2018
Research Proposal for 2019:  The objective is to expand further the millet seeds (India origin) harvested in 2018.  In addition, since the previous seeds tested were from India, the goal will be to test varieties of Finger Millet from Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zaire, Zimbabwe, South Africa) and compare their growth with that from India an also with each each other- for suitability for growth in Ohio.    

Growing Season in Mansfield, OH supporting the hypothesis: My research shows that the last frost for Ontario - OH was after 15 May with first frost in by October.  
See illustration:

Monitoring daily morning soil and ambient temperatures to predict growing seasons


Results show that, in Mansfield, Ohio, the rates of spring warming of morning (6 - 10AM) ambient and soil (12 inches’ depth) from March 21 to June 21 is fast even though the winters are cold. The faster spring warming and higher summer soil temperatures makes millet growth suitable in Ohio.    Through various adoptive mechanisms, plants respond to changing weather/climatic seasons of each region of the World and thus should be able to grow in new regions if the initial conditions are favourable.That is the basic research hypothesis I am  testing.

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