White Millet

White millet is a warm season, cultivated grass species. It has been grown for centuries for it seed, as a forage and human consumption. In the UK it is generally used as a game cover component, or in a winter bird food mixture to provide food during the hungry gap, when natural resources are exhausted.

Uses

Game cover.

Persistence

It is an annual species.

Strengths

In terms of game cover and farmland bird food, white millet produces a larger amount of seed than red millet and flowers slightly earlier.

Frost Tolerance

Not frost hardy.

Sowing Rate Advice

10kgs per acre / 25kgs per ha.

Sometimes sown as a pure stand.

Mixture Sowing Rate Advice

0.5kgs - 2kgs per acre / 1.25kgs - 5kg per ha.

When sown in a mixture with other seed bearing and cover species.

Ideal Sowing Time

The millets are normally spring sown, when soil temperatures are rising, from late April onwards.

Management

Plant in the spring to ensure the seeds are available going into the winter.

Distinguishing characteristics

Seed
White millet is a rounded, lemon shaped seed, it is a beige colour. It has a shiny, smooth texture and is approximately 3mm in size.

Seedling
The seedling produces a hairy, short but wide 1st true leaf, before developing much longer leaves as it matures.

Flowering Plant
The plant produces upright, stiff culms. White millets tend to stay a pale white to green colour as it matures before terminating. The leaves are long, broad and hairy, with a short often hairy ligule. Notably the leaf sheaths and nodes are also hairy. The inflorescence is a compact, upright shape, unlike the loosely nodding red millet panicle. The plant has shallow, but fibrous roots.

Additional Info

It may also be used to thicken up areas of maize, to create 'flushing points'. If this is the case the millet is broadcast after the maize has be drilled. The seed heads of white millet tend to stay more clustered and compact, while the red millet seed head becomes more open.

Works well with

White millet combines well with red millet, to widen the seed shedding window for farmland and game birds.

You can find White Millet in the following mixtures

• Seed & Shelter Millet Mix
• One Year Winter Bird Food Survival Mixture (AHL2/AB9)
• One Year Winter Bird Food Survival Mixture 70% ORGANIC
• Two Year Wild Bird Food - CEREAL SEPARATE (AHL2/AB9)
• Two Year Wild Bird Seed Mix 70% ORGANIC CEREAL SEPARATE
• General Purpose Game Mix
• General Purpose Game Mix 70% ORGANIC
• Flexi Game Cover 2 Year Mix 70% Organic
• FlexiCover Two Year Game Mix
• FlexiCover One Year Game Mix
• Flexi Game Cover 1 Year Mix 70% Organic
• Cotswold Partridge Game Mix
• Cotswold Partridge Mix 70% Organic
• Short & Sturdy Game Cover Mix