Kenaf Choosing The Right-Seed
Country Song
Picking the right-seed can be tricky since kenaf seed comes in many varieties. So how do you go about choosing the Right-Seed for you? Knowing what you will do with your harvest, your choices will be one of the varieties types we have selected based on your latitude/location for optimal fiber/core and seed yields.
See our online Kenaf Seed Catalog page that will cover each of our tested and available varieties.
The right seed for you will be based on one of the following 3 types. These types are Ultra Early Maturing (60-70 days), Early to Medium Maturing (70-100 days) or Late Maturing (120 days). Although kenaf varieties can be grown for fiber and wood most anywhere, we feel it is important to be able to harvest your own seed from your own growing operation so you can plant additional acres each year until you reach your capacity.
Our Early to Medium variety Whitten is ideally suited for production between latitudes of 10° to 27° N or S, and if it is grown in equatorial latitudes (0° to 10° N or S) they will flower very early (60 to 80 days) and produce much lower fiber and core yields than at the more northern latitudes.
Whitten seeds are available for purchase and can be purchased here.
When choosing the right seed for seed supply you will need to understand 2 things. One is the planting date when your ground temperatures are at least 60 degrees F and two, no unusual risk of frost for planning your harvest date range. Here is a guide to help you with your harvest date planning: Frost Dates
We are building up our seed supply and adding new and tested varieties at our seed growing sites each year. In a relatively short period you could reach your acre size capacity and have an abundant supply of seed beyond what you need to maintain your kenaf growing operation.
Not Sure What is the Right Seed for You?
You may still have some unanswered questions that need to be addressed before moving forward and getting the right-seed. If so we can meet on the phone and I can make the time to answer your questions. I am usually available 7 days a week at different times of the day. Please give me at least one day advance notice and be sure to pick a time in my time zone (EST). Please allow at least one hour of interruption free time that works for you. Schedule your free consultation by sending an email to Bob
Right-Seed
Insight
Here in the good ole USA we need to have kenaf grown for seed supply for a number reasons.
One reason is there is not enough kenaf seed supply in the world (only 700,000 tons) to supply our commercial corn, soy and cotton farmers in the U.S. as a rotational cash crop. My estimate of 600,000 acres of kenaf seed supply is needed to reach 11% of the acres in the US as a rotational cash crop to these farmers.
All kenaf grown in the U.S. as far as I know and at this time, comes from imported seed and extra seed is not available from current U.S. growers. I believe this is where we need to start so we have a growing supply of seed we can depend on.
Another is market control. How many opportunities will we miss out on if we cannot meet the quantity requirements of manufacturers and processors for fiber/wood?
In 2019 requests from kenaf fiber/wood buyers (2 I talked with) wanted 1 tractor trailer load of kenaf wood core and the other wanted 300,000 plus tons of fiber. That is a big gap in quantity needed between these two buyers. This is my plug to grow kenaf for seed. You can still get fiber/wood yield when you grow for seed and that makes good business sense.