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Asked by Josephine Irvine ·February 10, 2025 ·5.11k readers

Corn As Cover Crop: Drake's Quandary

Context:  KNF Podcast LIVE - 9 February, 2025 @ 48:36 "In Hawaii, in hot weather, instead of rye (as a cover crop), we use corn.  Corn is fastest growing.  Drake says, "Master Cho talks about corn a lot and I've never really had much success with corn because the soil is so acidic.  Maybe I need to do more sea water, but I've never had success with corn particularly, but it would be worth it to give it a go this year, I don't know, we'll see.  But he always comes and talks about corn.  But you know what works well?  Sugar cane.  It's just harder to remove.  "  He goes on to talk about river cane, banana... Question: I wonder if sorghum or Sorghum-sudangrass might work since they can withstand some soil acidity, they are annual, and are used as cover crops typically.

corn cover-crop sorghum soil-acidity sorghum-sudangrass

Top answer

From the KNF library

From the KNF library Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books · Sep 2026 · 3 sources

Drake's own corn never did well in Hawaii's acidic soil. He uses sugarcane and banana as his fast-growing cover crops instead. (Office Hours Feb 2025, 48:25)

He treats any cover crop the same way. Give a leaf solution right before mowing or crimping. Then apply a soil foundation with IMO and a soil formula right after. (Office Hours Ep. 44, 50:05)

For poor soil, Drake's general advice is to try cover crops, add seawater for minerals, and use IMOs to rebuild soil biology. (Office Hours Mar 2026, 17:06) He gave that answer for dusty, low-fertility soil, not for acidity. (Office Hours Mar 2026, 17:06)

The library never mentions sorghum or sorghum-sudangrass. It does not say how either handles acid soil, so Drake would need to answer that himself.

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