“IT MAY NOT BE TALL BUT IT FILLS IN WELL FOR A CLEAN ROW”: MORE POSITIVES FOR SRA22A

(Centre) Doug Lee, Proserpine grower, with Sugar Services Proserpine’s George Cole (L) and Frank Millar, on Doug's farm at Kelsey Creek. SSP Manager, Frank Millar, chats with Brandy Creek grower and planting contractor, Andrew Holmes about SRA22A .

“IT MAY NOT BE TALL BUT IT FILLS IN WELL FOR A CLEAN ROW”:

MORE POSITIVES FOR SRA22A

Andrew Holmes is a grower on 105 ha at Brandy Creek. He also works as a planting contractor and plants about 1500 ha a year just about everywhere in the Proserpine and Mackay districts.

So, like Doug Lee, he has a fair handle on who’s planting what.

“There’s still not a lot of SRA22A out there but everywhere we’ve cut it it’s done surprisingly better than you’d think.

It’s much better than it looks and fills the bin.

“There’s some weight to it, too.

“Even one of my carters, the first time we loaded it up, he said, ‘oof, there’s weight in this!’

“I didn’t take too much notice,” said Andrew laughing, “but then when he put it in the planter, I could tell there really was some weight.”

Andrew grows all the SRA varieties.

He has a two-hectare observation block where he leaves a variety in for two years, then ploughs it out and starts again.

For his business Andrew has two planters and tractors with GPS, but the 12 rows of SRA22A on his farm were planted using “the pride of the fleet” a 1960 whole stick drop planter.

“A stick’ll go a long way with this,” he says.

“I planted SRA22A into some poor soil when I first got it – we call it the ‘quarry paddocks’ – but it didn’t do well.

Then I planted four or five hectares in better country where it did better. It doesn’t like being in too deep, either. It’s now in a pure white clay loam and the planting followed two crops of soybean. It’s looking very good in that,” he laughed.

“What I can say about SRA22A is it fills in well and gets a canopy. When we cut plants the row’s as clean as a whistle, not a blade of grass weed to be seen.

“The cane never gets very tall and has a narrow leaf, a bit like a Q208A or Q240A, but there’s a real volume of sticks in every stool.”

Andrew is a busy man and can’t find the time anymore to grow from tissue culture although he was considered one of the early adopters of it in the district.

“I used to do it but I’m just never home now and don’t have time. I just go and cut sticks. I let Frank do all the hard work!”